OzarkCorvetteGuy

First Corvette, first time for run flat tires. I have a 2015 recently bought with 5k miles on the odometer. I've had the car only a short time and the tire indicator today showed 28 lbs in left rear. I stopped at my tire shop and was told they could not repair a run flat tire. They added air to the tire and said just run it till I decided to replace it at $600 a piece for the rear tires. He said there was decent tread on the tire and there was no telling how long the small nail had been in the tire and he would just drive it. I was a little surprised. He said the only way to repair the tire would be to send in to Michelin and that was more trouble than just buying a new tire. Also you certainly would not want to plug it because then you make the hole bigger and the run flats seal good around anything that invades the tire. I would ask you guys with experience if this sounds reasonable?

Foosh

The tire shop guy who told you that doesn't sound very knowledgeable.

First, you had 28 psi in the tire in question, and normal is 30 psi, so you were still within acceptable inflation limits. If there was a puncture, it was a very small one. More likely is the tire is not punctured at all, and your 2 psi loss is just due to the temperature change from summer to cool fall temps.

Secondly, if there is damage, which is not close to the sidewall, Michelin specs approve one repair per tire on PSS runflats as long as the tire has not been run severely under-inflated or flat. Yours clearly was not. Moreover, Michelin specs allow the speed rating to be retained w/ a proper repair, which is an inside patch, not a plug.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete...jsp?techid=226

driver9

Absolute gibberish.

Foosh gave you the good info about patching these tires and that 28 lbs isn't an indication of a leak.

If you're depending on the TPMS for accurate pressure indication, don't. The TMPS is pretty good but get a decent gauge and use it. This one seems to fit the bill: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W5MG8XY

Make sure you torque your valve stems to ensure a good seal with the rims. Here's some info on the correct torque setting: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1592666913 When I first checked mine they were not properly torqued. It's possible yours have never been checked. (And while you're at it be sure to torque your lug nuts. I torqued mine at 200 miles. They were all over the place torque-wise. I recently retorqued them at 5000 miles in preparation to go 175mph and one on each wheel had loosened to 80 ft/lbs instead of the 100 they're supposed to be. Typically one more on each wheel needed torquing though they were higher than 80 ft/lbs.)

Also, get a valve core wrench and make sure the cores are all firmly tightened. Finally, get yourself some decent valve caps that have an o-ring seal inside them.

Once you've done all the above you'll be in a good position to track the tire pressure. Remember to check the tires when cold in your garage without the sun shining on any of them. If there are temperature changes, expect pressure changes as well.

Vetteman Jack

Great info above. Oh, and you might want to consider finding another tire store since that one doesn't seem to know what they are talking about.

rkhegler

Your tire guy is nuts. Yes, the tire can be repaired. Let me guess, the tire guy could order you a tire and have it in a couple of days? Good advice stated above in the previous posts.

Tulsaeasyrider

Jay_Davis

As the others said, they are definitely repairable (depending on where the hole is) and $600 is over-charging you for the tire. I'd avoid that tire place.

And, depending on the size of the hole, you can use a plug.

In summary, you just need someone that's knows what they are doing to fix it properly.

Foosh

Yes, you can use a plug, but that's not a Michelin-approved repair, and the tire loses it's speed rating.

Bill Dearborn

Some tire stores have a policy of not fixing a run flat. When you come in with a tire that has zero pressure they don't know if you drove it 500 ft or 100 miles with no pressure. Michelin says their tire is repairable if it is driven with no air pressure for less than 50 miles at speeds at or below 50 mph. The problem the tire store has is there is no way to verify what the tire owner tells them about how far the tire has been driven. If they fix a tire that shouldn't have been fixed they could face liability charges and the best way to avoid hassles is to just say no.

Bill

Foosh

Good point.

Rebel Yell

Yep, he's nuts. Take it to your local Discount Tire if you have one. They take care of it for you.

JoesC5

Where in the Ozarks are you located?

JerryU

As others have said, find another tire guy, he either doesn't know what he's talking about or is giving you a line! Had Goodyear repair flats on the Goodyear run flats on my C6. As someone noted, as long as it doesn't get to zero pressure it is reparable if it's not in the sidewall or outer treads. Michelin doesn't repair tires, what would they do!?

Pic below what is preferred to fix a run flat. Just had one used on the wife's BMW SUV run flat. It's called a plug patch. The tire needs to be removed. As noted, Michelin allows one repair.




Plug Patch

rmorin1249

Find a Michelin or Bridgestone dealer. They have the most experience dealing with runflats. If it does have a leak they should be able to advise you on whether or not it can be plug-patched. It does take experience and the proper equipment to dismount and mount runflats. Good luck.

jimmyb

A couple of things:

1. The tire store is wrong on so many things, it's shocking.
2. It just got cold here, if the weather has been warm (85 on Wednesday here) and then it gets cold, tires lose 1 PSI for every 10 degree drop in ambient temp. I keep my tires at 32 psi cold. This morning (45 degrees), the tire pressure monitor system showed all 4 at 28psi.

AORoads

There is an awful lot of good info in the above posts esp. Bill D, Jerry U as well as others. Just to stress a point, Bill is right that some stores just can't do it with a runflat. If you have read some of the posts/threads there are stores that literally take hours to do one tire (remove, replace w. new) and charge accordingly. That is (hopefully) WITHOUT damaging the wheel as I have seen (almost) done. So, it isn't the tire being non-repairable; it is very possible the store staff just a) don't know how to do it, or b) don't want to do it.

At some point, you'll just have to find a good store that is competent to do runflat tires to remove/put on, balance, rotate and even do full alignments (that are more than just "within the range of GM factory specs"). I'd suggest to start looking now for that store. Never hurts to have a good one in your pocket, just in case....

JerryU

But if they can't fix a flat they can't mount a tire properly so still find another store!
Wide low profile tires are hard enough to mount but stiff sidewall run flats tougher!

The large, quality Chevy, BMW, Mercedes dealer in town brings their run flats to where I have my tires fixed and mounted! The 12 bay Firestone dealer.

They have a touchless tire machine (expensive) but even with it only 2 or 3 of the ~15 technicians work on wide, low profile run flats! Fixing or new tires! I've watched as they fixed a falt and mounted new tires on my C6. Chatted with the tech from outside the bay and when he apologized for taking so much time told him to take all the time needed! About an hour to mount 4 tires. Fixing a flat with a plug/patch doesn't take much longer than changing a tire if they have the proper equipment. Gave him a nice tip for doing a great job.

Would not let a shop without a touchless tire machine and a skilled tire technician touch my rear wheels. With my planned GS even tougher. In fact even a trained Corvette technician probably doesn't mount enough tires to do as well as someone who does it often as their main job!

FWIW, this is a technician demounting and mounting a wide low profile tire with a touchless tire machine! No tire irons, nothing metal touches the rim:
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...=0&FORM=VDFSRV

rmorin1249

Firestone is Bridgestone. They deal with a lot of BMWs with RFs.

Neil Baker

Tire needs to be vulcanized from the inside. The tire will be good as new if done right. I have had this done on my C6 GoodYears!!! Michlin will probably do it for free....if it is a good tire dealer!

OzarkCorvetteGuy

Appreciate the good info. Just for grins I thought I'd pass this along. I called the dealership today to see what they said. I read what Fosse sent in the link from Tire Rack on the Michelin run flat tire. They passed me thru I suppose to one of the service writers at the door. He listened to the tire info and stated "can't be fixed, you have to buy a new tire." I then politely asked him if he had checked on that or was just grasping an answer out of his ***? I went on to explain that I had read at the Tire Rack web site on that particular tire if it wasn't in the sidewall or near the edge it could be repaired once. So he stated he better check with his tire guy and he was basing that on experience he had with his wife's Honda Odessy van with run flat tires from the Honda dealership. He came back and as a credit to him he apologized and stated his tire guy had corrected him and that I was right but they were closing soon and they would be happy to jump on it Monday. So we will see how it goes. Thanks again for the excellent information.