WOLFDOGS..... Tire question for you.

[Dave M]

Ken, My wife ran over a screwdriver of all things, and obviously it punctured her tire... a pretty big hole. The tire is a Firestone Affinity H/T "Sealix" tire. As far as I know, it was OE on her Rendezvous. We took the tire to a local NTB and they said repair tires with a patch rather than a plug. I thought I remembered you saying plugs (pulled out from the inside) were better, but it's been several years so I could be wrong. When they discovered this was a self-sealing tire, they said they couldn't repair it at all because the patch wouldn't stick to the gunk on the inside of the tire. They mentioned something to my wife about it not being safe, and now she's refusing to use the tire even if it could be repaired because she's convinced that it wouldn't be safe.

The tire still has about 50% tread left, so I'd like to repair it if possible, rather than replace it. Can this type of tire (self-sealing) be safely repaired? If so, would it be as good as new, safety-wise? What would be the proper method to repair this tire... patch or plug?

Any insight you can give would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[wolfdogs]

he's correct about repairing the tire with a radial flexing patch on the inner linner..but the hole still needs to b pluged to prevent moisture from migrating to the belt package before the inner linner. tell them to use the "mushroom type plug"...its a patch with a long stem, its applied from the inside and the stem is pulled thru the hole, the tip has a metal grap pin on it.