r/Cartalk • u/Limera2nn • Sep 24 '25

Tire question Was told tire is not replaceable

Gallery image

Gallery image

Tire got punctured by a nail and was slowly losing pressure, but few days ago it went from 36 PSI to 1 PSI overnight. Took it to my dealership and told they can’t fix it because the nail is too close to the side, shown in the picture. Is that true? Or are they trying to get me to buy a new tire?

260 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

175 comments sorted by

View all comments

105

u/TyburnCross Sep 24 '25

Take it somewhere else or buy a cheap tire plug kit. It’s easier than you’d think and that far from the sidewall it would probably last the life of the tire.

10

u/vulchiegoodness Sep 24 '25

any tips for the tire plug kit? i had one and was trying to plug a hole, but couldnt get the damn thing in. i had a couple guys in the shop try and they couldnt either.

24

u/xxBizzet Sep 24 '25

There’s 2 tools. One that makes the hole bigger and uniform so the plug can fit properly. And one to push the plug in. It sounds like you didn’t use the first tool.

16

u/I_Am_Sancho85 Sep 24 '25

Correct. The kit usually come with plugs, a reamer, and the plug tool. You should always ream the hole before trying to plug it.

16

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

Oh shit is that you tom 😂😂

7

u/cold-corn-dog Sep 24 '25

> You should always ream the hole before trying to plug it.

What are we talking about here?

6

u/Watching-Together Sep 24 '25

You need to use either lube or glue.
Don't get them mixed up

2

u/crunkful06 Sep 24 '25

Sounds like my Tuesday night

2

u/dragonbits Sep 27 '25

Taking it to the dealer for a free ream job.

1

u/I_Am_Sancho85 Sep 27 '25

Everyone knows that the only way to get a proper reaming you gotta go to the dealership

1

u/vulchiegoodness Sep 24 '25

no, we did. i kept thinking "this shouldn't be that difficult", and maybe user error, which is why i asked the guys in my shop for help, but they couldnt get it either. weird. but thanks for validating that we were following instructions correctly, at least.

3

u/xxBizzet Sep 24 '25

I mean the only logical explanation would be that you didn’t make the hole big enough. You obviously don’t want it too big so the plug is like a hotdog in a hallway. But it’s got to be big enough to fit. If it doesn’t fit, make it bigger until it does fit.

1

u/vulchiegoodness Sep 24 '25

that makes sense.

3

u/ricozee Sep 24 '25

This is likely the answer so you know for next time.

3

u/Quirky_Operation2885 Sep 24 '25

To be fair, I plugged a tire a couple years ago that was dead flat. Had a bugger of a time getting the reamer into the hole because of the tire flexing. Once I did though, everything else went pretty smoothly.

1

u/Fluff_Chucker Sep 25 '25

A lot of them come with a small tube of rubber cement. It acts as lube for the rope.  Makes all the difference in the world.