So i took my car to a firestone for a 20 point inspection, i get the news that there is a nail in my tire and it will cost 30 dollars to fix. I know they take the tire off the rim but it seems like this price is kind of high am i right? Can anyone suggest a place in oakland that would fix my tire for less?

 

I just had my brother's tire patched for $20.

$15-25 seems reasonable.

 

Some tire places might plug it for free but there is a chance the plug can come out. 30 is good price considering they have to take the wheel off the car, pull the tire off the rim, grind some rubber away from a smooth surface. apply the glue and put the patch on, then put the tire back on the rim and on the car. Labor is expensive nowadays.

 

Plugs are worthless. Patches are the right way to do it.

I used to do patches. I could probably still knock a patch out in 15-20 minutes and it's been 10 years and I had to do it with a manual tire remover.

 

$30 is a bit excessive. If you're really nice, your local Discount Tires might do it for free.

 

I'm sure they can do it in like 10 minutes but they will probably charge for 30-45 minutes of labor.

 

i remember paying $15 at a local shell gas station. 5-10 minutes at most.

 

george oren usually cost around 20

 

America's Tire Co. does it for free, even if you don't buy the tires from them. They use a plug/patch combo, where they take off the tire, drill out the puncture to ensure the cords are clean, clean the patch area, then they insert the plug patch combo from the inside, where it goes into the tire and has the patch on the inside. Then push out all the air bubbles, seal it, and it's good to go. I used to do them in under 5 minutes.

 

You have to have a road hazard warranty for them to fix anything for free. They will diagnose it for free, but they wont fix it for free.

 

plugs are not worthless. depending on the type of hole plugs work fine. the rubber that they use is so soft and sticky that it becomes apart of the tire. unlike patches that can fall off over time if youre unlucky

 

Where did you read this?


I've never personally heard of a patch failing. I have heard of TONS of leaky plugs. Plugs are TERRIBLE for soft tires. Terrible if you ever heat cycle your tires. In fact I am pretty sure you're not suppose to have plugged tires on a track but patches are o.k.

Plugs are lazy and/or temporary fixes. Like the crap people spray in their tires... fixaflat. Temporary.

Besides the fact that when you plug a tire you can't see what damage was done to the inside of the tire. When you do a patch you can get a look and make sure it's all good. Some tires are not safe to repair and if you just stick a plug in there you won't know until it blows out on you. Plug patches are the best IMHO.

Most of the time plugs work just fine and for a car that just gets commuted on and has high soft sidewalls then sure go plug it. But for a car that sees hard driving, has high performance tires, tires get heated up, I just don't see the point of plugs. You save a whole $5-10 but you risk a massive blow out if any internal damage was done to the tire that you can't see or just risk CONSTANT leaks.



So worthless... no I suppose not but DEFINITELY not the best way to go on cars like ours driven by people like us.


better??

 

Does that include a balancing too? If not, $30 seems a mite high.

 

i just went with it, but mentioned that his price was high. thank you so much guys and thanks for the patching lesson i was thinking about just doing the plug myself im glad i didn't

 

i work at goodyear and we charge $25. we only charge that much because we re-balance the wheel after we patch it. theres actually alot of work (still easy). Take the tire off the wheel, drill a bigger hole where the nail was, buff the inside to smooth surface, clean it, put sealant, let it dry a bit, put patch, pull it, cut it, put tire back on and re-balance the wheel with new weights. So actually $25 is nothing.