Hi guys,

Woke up yesterday morning to a flat tire on my C4. Jacked up the car, took the wheel/tire off, threw it in the back of my other vette and headed to the local merchant tire place to get it fixed.

After waiting for 15 minutes, the guy comes out, takes one look at it and tells me he can't fix it because the nail is close to the edge. It was about an inch and a half from the edge. He doesn't even touch the tire but says he can sell me a new tire. Then he looks at my other vette and says "how old is that thing, it looks like you could use a set of four tires on it instead of fixing this one".

I politely tell him that the tire was off of a C4 and not this C6. I then say I'll just get special tires for the C4 and have him mount and balance those. I then ask how much he would charge to do that, he then looks at the C6 AGAIN and says " for that car right there, it'll be around 39.95 for each tire".

I remind him again that they would NOT be for that car. I then say why that much? Walmart charges 11 dollars per wheel/tire. As soon as I said the word WalMart, he just shrugs then simply walks away without even looking at me or saying a word.

Needless to say, I put the tire back in my car and went home. I pulled out the nail, found another nail in the center of the wheel then plugged both holes with my emergency kit and in 15 minutes I was done. The tire held up to 36punds until this morning when I deflated it back down to 30 and drove the car to work with absolutely no problems in the rain.

The moral of the story is that there are more unscrupulous people working in the automotive service business and that it's getting more and more difficult to find honest people. I felt very proud that I fixed my own flat for now. I'll be getting tires from the tire rack on Momday when they get Firestone Wide ovals in 245/50ZR16.

Any reason I should worry about installing 245's instead of 255's ? I don't race or autocross or even hot rod. I just want quiet tires that hold up in the rain. Sorry for the redundant question but I'd like to hear from tire experts if there are any problems with mounting those.

Thanks All

 

I own oil change shops....I get tossed in the same bag as azzholes like this all the time. In Kentucky, we are supposed to pull the tire off the rim and do a mushroom style plug from the inside. I do not have the equipment to do this, but I put emergency plugs in very often. I might do 8 a week depending on the highway traffic. I tell my customers that my plugs are temporary, emergency fixes and that they need to get them fixed correctly. More often than not the next time that car comes back in the temp plug is still in it. I would not worry about the 245s if you dont get too crazy. You might notice some more front end wash out in hard corners in addition to the front end sitting a touch lower.

 

You should of let him change the tires on the C6! LOL

 

I have had very good luck with plugs as well. My system is to fill the hole as best I can, leaving a little extra on the outside, using The Right Stuff. Then I insert the plug and leave for a day if at all possible. The tires I've done this way lose no more air than the ones I have never touched.

Also, be sure to shave the extra length of strand even with the tire surface.