I have a leak in my left rear runflat tire, looks to be a screw or nail of some sort. The leak is very, very slight and only loss a couple PSI over the course of 24 hours, and the leak may have been there longer than that.

Was never driven flat, it's at about 23 PSI now.

 

If the puncture is in the tread, then yes, it can be fixed. If in the sidewall, then no. If repairable, get it plugged and patched for a proper repair.

 

Yes you can patch a nail leak.
I had the same thing.
I actually pulled out the nail and let all the air out and drove 10 miles to the Goodyear dealer. Sort of an experiment

The side walls are so tough there was no difference in ride.

The tire is taken off the wheel, patched from the INSIDE and then rebalanced

Good as new since then

Dave

 

Funny story (not really) with this. I went to America's Tire with a screw in my Run Flat tire. The store even has a tire in the showroom showing (with paint) where a tire can be fixed and where it can't. The screw in my tire was ~ 1/8" to the outside of the "fix" line. The Service manager said "Sorry Sir, You'll need to replace this tire. The hole is outside of the "fix zone". I said "No problem. It is still under your waranty so, go ahead and replace it. Once they realized THEY had to replace the tire, a miracle occured. It was all of a sudden repairable!!!

Hence, that was the last time I will ever step foot in that rip-off establishment.

 

What about with your standard tire patch kit?

 

i used a standard patch with nooooo problems on mine... but be prepared for the vette community backlash if u tell anyone!

 

They tend to look down on that because it can throw off the balance of the tire, but unless you are driving at very high speeds >120 or so then its not going to really matter Imo.
The same thing goes with the slime stuff but I think its worse and it is just really nasty and there will be a lot more weight in the tire than just your standard plug. So I say go for the standard plug and be done with it.

 

Correct answer.

 

yeap , been there done that...........

 

I would not plug any tire,the only way to properly repair a tire puncture is with a inside tire patch.Runflats should be repaired by a qualified runflat tire shop not some tire guy!!!!! Thats my two cents.
GOOD LUCK
Ed

 

I've had several punctures on runflat tires and in each case, I had a tire shop do the plug and patch repair on the tire. I never had any problems after the repair.

 

 

No matter the repair method,,,,never trust that tire above 175 MPH ever again!

 

That's only a temporary fix. It doesn't cover up the puncture hole on the inside of the tire, only fills in the hole through the tread. Any good tire store will tell you, a properly repaired tire is one done with the plug and patch combo, which seals the hole on the inside and fills the puncture through the rubber. Call around, I think you'll find this is what you'll be universally told.

 

FLAME SUIT IS ON....

My 98 with 18k+ miles still has the original run flats as I have mentioned in other threads. Yes, I do plan to replace them this spring when it's Corvette weather again, but here is my story. When I bought the car, it had lived its life in a climate controlled garage all it's life. Never left in the sun, never seen the rain. Myself, I have kept it covered in my garage every night since I bought it, except the 5 days on the coast at a golf resort where each suite had it's own private carport.
I have been to the local tire store shopping tires TWICE. (Les Schwab Tires). BOTH times, the kid comes out, looks at the tires and says WHY SIR? They claim my tires are perfectly fine and show NO sign of any problem. STILL, I have been flamed here for still running the originals. Just to have peace with myself, NEW tires WILL be on my car around May 1st. This car has yet to ever loose any pressure and has never had a flat. I plan to replace them with the non run flats as everyone claims I will have a better ride. A few here have told me that once you drive any distance on a run flat, it must be replaced.. I find that strange, but Im not going to argue the statement.. I also plan to replace all the original pressure censers with the new tires. Hopefully, these tires and censers will give long service as the originals.. (and no flats)

 

While that may be true I do not see any reason to not use them especially if you dont plan on racing or driving at high speeds. They do their job really well and only cost a few cents where as to get a "proper" patch its going to cost you ~30$.
I personally have about 4 of these style plugs in my camaro's tire, Im guessing about eight total in all four and every single one holds air like it should well besides the LF because it has another screw in it.

 

When i called the place i bought them from, they straight up told me no.

 

It depends on the brand.

 

places won't repair a tire if fix-a-flat has been used. It actually deteriorates the inside of the tire over time. It also ruins your tpms sensor.

 

some places can patch and plug run flats. There are still some places, like discount tire, that won't touch them.

Not really. Just depends on where the hole is, and what the condition of the sidewall is. Even though it's a rft, if it is ridden on long enough with no pressure, the sidewall will start to collapse and tear itself up.