Can anyone recommend a place in Berkeley (the closer to campus the better) to get my tire patched?

Ran across a screw earlier today. Tire seems to be holding air for now at least.

 

bump for help

 

do your tires have a lot of tread left? is the screw in the meaty part (the middle) of tread..if you're daring enough just try to pull it out for all you know it did not puncture at all, since the tire seems to be holding air. it could very well be a small screw tahts just gonna leave an indentation and not puncture at all. speaking from experience as this happened to me.

 

you don't want to take it out and find out there is nothing else holding the air in though.

At this hour its gonna be tough, I live down on the west side of town and know of a few places along San Pablo, nobody you could get to tonight-but I don't have any suggestions up near campus.

 

definitely do not pull out whatever punctured your tires. In the morning, check your air and if low, pump it up at a gas station or any other place with an air compressor. If not low, head out to a tire shop (I know America's Tire Co. does repairs for free even if you do not buy the tires from them) and get them inspected/repaired.

 

lol.. OT... but i had a dream where i parked my car and got out (somehow it was aready on a 2 post car lift, and in the air...) and there was a 2x4 with lots of nails in them attaching themselves to each tire on the car... weird....

 

ok well i guess my earlier suggestion prboably wasnt a very good idea. i just lucked out. but anyways id say bring it to a tire center that will plug AND patch it, if indeed there is a puncture. i work at the costco tire center and too many times people have brought tires to me that they have gotten gas station plugged that continued to leak. basically ending up in a run flat, so they had to purchase a new tire.

 

No I definitely won't try to pull the screw out. It punctured the tread but towards the outer part of it. On the inner part of the outside shoulder block on the RE070, if that makes any sense. It looks like it went in pretty straight though, not towards the sidewall or anything so that's kind of good in a way I suppose.

I'd be willing to hear your suggestions regardless. I think it can be driven on for a little bit at least. I carry one of those portable little air compressors that plug into the cigarette lighter outlet so if nothing else I could limp along and keep topping off the air if it starts to leak. If it gets real bad I'll just throw the spare on.

Most importantly I just want to find a place around here that will patch/plug it correctly.

 

Definitely a -1 on gas station patches. Not only can they continue to leak, but they can also further damage the tire, increase the size of the damage, and they can cause the steelbelts to rust.

 

Big-O tires will actually patch the tire from the inside, whereas I've seen several America's Tire Co. locations just install a plug from the outside.

You definately do not want someone to just plug it, these are the "gas station patches" that people are referring to.

Depending on how far "indside" on the tread block the screw is, will determine if the shop can actually patch it, so bring it down to the nearest Big-O and let them inspect it and determine if they can repair it for you.

Good Luck.

 

Give your local Sears Auto Center a try. They are one of the few tire shops that I know of that use the plug/patch combo exclusively.

BTW, the plug/patch combo method is the only repair method endorsed by Michelin, if that means anything to you.

 

weird...
I used to work at America's Tire Co. and we never patched anything from the outside. Hell, we didn't even have patches that could patch from the outside...

I'm sure most big name tire places will patch from the inside of the tire. Like Big-O, Wheel Works, America's Tire, etc.

 

Big O
2625 San Pablo


Auto Options
1445 San Pablo

Griffin Motorwerke
1485 San Pablo

http://www.shopinberkeley.com/type/goods/tires.php

 

Thanks everyone.

Ended up taking it to Big O on San Pablo and Dwight. Called ahead to make sure they plugged it from inside. They repaired it no problem (but at a cost of $30 to me) and assured me it should last basically the lifetime of the tire.

There's a pretty large lump of rubbery stuff where the puncture used to be. Almost like someone wadded up some chewing gum and stuffed it there. Is it supposed to be like that? Does it eventually wear away and is it ok if it does?

 

Not to sure where you heard about America's Tire Co. doing that, but we have been patching tires the correct way(from the inside) forever. Just FYI.