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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 11:25 AM
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Default run flat tires

hi all , sorry i've been buzy with work and driving,just got back from the firestone repair shop, thought i would let u all no what i found out. i bought my frist vette 2 wks ago today and got my frist flat tire, the prevoise owner just had new firestone firehawks installed, they look great . now for the bad news that i found out. run flats can not be repaired. have to buy another new tire, because the tire got a hole in the tread from a nail i persume. is this corect? please let me no if anyone has seen this proumble.
jimmy
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 11:41 AM
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Originally Posted by jimmymc
hi all , sorry i've been buzy with work and driving,just got back from the firestone repair shop, thought i would let u all no what i found out. i bought my frist vette 2 wks ago today and got my frist flat tire, the prevoise owner just had new firestone firehawks installed, they look great . now for the bad news that i found out. run flats can not be repaired. have to buy another new tire, because the tire got a hole in the tread from a nail i persume. is this corect? please let me no if anyone has seen this proumble.
jimmy
You can not repair a firestone run flat, but The Goodyear EMT's are repairable... Although I would personally think you could plug a firestone... they won't do it because they are already in deep litigation over other product liability issues.. a nail in the tread is a perfect place to plug it.. Do it yourself... I ran with two external plugs in one EMT and never had an issue or loss of tire pressure... and I put almot 40,000 miles on those two plugs.
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 11:50 AM
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thanks evil twin, the dealer has offered me a deal,haha they will replace the tire for a hunderd bucks, and then give me road hazzaed for 45 bucks a tire, if i can get 40k out of these tires that would be a grt deal.consiring that a new tire is 488.00, or is that price to high for a new tire?
jimmy
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 11:53 AM
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That seems pretty high for just one tire, but I sent you an E-mail because I have two front firestone runflats that I don't need anymore.

Thanks
James
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 11:58 AM
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Originally Posted by jimmymc
thanks evil twin, the dealer has offered me a deal,haha they will replace the tire for a hunderd bucks, and then give me road hazzaed for 45 bucks a tire, if i can get 40k out of these tires that would be a grt deal.consiring that a new tire is 488.00, or is that price to high for a new tire?
jimmy
$488 is outrageous for any C5 tire. Have you checked out TireRack.com? That will give you an idea what tires should run. By all means plug it if you can.
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 12:19 PM
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Originally Posted by jimmymc
... if i can get 40k out of these tires that would be a grt deal.consiring that a new tire is 488.00, or is that price to high for a new tire? jimmy
You must have misunderstood him, $488 was for TWO tires.....Or, I'm in the wrong line of work!!
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 12:25 PM
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My Firestone dealer has twice repaired nail holes in my Firehawks. The nails were in the tread pattern and not near the sidewalls.

I don't know why yours is saying Firestones cannot be repaired or patched.
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 01:10 PM
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I had Firestones put on my car back in April. They quoted me around 300 for the fronts and about 350 or 375 for the rears. Asked them if I bought them from tirerack and had them shipped would they install them for a fee.
They then said if I could supply quotes from tirerack they would match the price.
Try talking to the manager and see if that will work
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 01:19 PM
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I have had two of my Firestone Firehawks repaired for nail holes and they have worked just fine. Been about two years since that happened. The repair shop used the plug and patch method.

I see no reason why they can't repair yours. Would hate to think that just because I had a nail in the tire I had to buy a brand new tire (unless it was so large it could not be repaired or in the sidewall).
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 01:39 PM
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thanks to all of u,
i went and bought a plug kit for 10 bucks and it is holding air amangin that, think when they saw the vette they saw a sale, thanks agin
jimmy
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 01:42 PM
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Originally Posted by leadfoot4
You must have misunderstood him, $488 was for TWO tires.....Or, I'm in the wrong line of work!!
they gave me a print out that was for ONE tire
thanks jimmy
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 03:11 PM
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Originally Posted by jimmymc
they gave me a print out that was for ONE tire
thanks jimmy
I hope that you understand that I was kidding.....And that you left the tire store promptly!
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Old Aug 27, 2004 | 11:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Cajun99
My Firestone dealer has twice repaired nail holes in my Firehawks. The nails were in the tread pattern and not near the sidewalls.

I don't know why yours is saying Firestones cannot be repaired or patched.

According to Firestone, their run flat tire uses a different sidewall technology than that used by Goodyear. (to accomplish their smoother ride quality/50 mile MAX limit) IF you drive on the tire DEFLATED, it SERIOUSLY degrades (heat damage/cord separation) the SIDEWALL (cords/construction) strength for ANY future high speed use.


Last edited by Old Timer; Aug 28, 2004 at 12:02 AM.
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Old Aug 28, 2004 | 01:10 AM
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Excellent article here by Hib Halverson that you might want to read: Technical Article: Run Flat Facts

In his article, Hib talks about the Goodyear and Michelin run-flats being capable of repair and why Firestone and the others can't or shouldn't be repaired.
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Old Aug 28, 2004 | 01:26 AM
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hi all , sorry i've been buzy with work and driving,just got back from the firestone repair shop, thought i would let u all no what i found out. i bought my frist vette 2 wks ago today and got my frist flat tire, the prevoise owner just had new firestone firehawks installed, they look great . now for the bad news that i found out. run flats can not be repaired. have to buy another new tire, because the tire got a hole in the tread from a nail i persume. is this corect? please let me no if anyone has seen this proumble.

thanks evil twin, the dealer has offered me a deal,haha they will replace the tire for a hunderd bucks, and then give me road hazzaed for 45 bucks a tire, if i can get 40k out of these tires that would be a grt deal.consiring that a new tire is 488.00, or is that price to high for a new tire?

thanks to all of u,
i went and bought a plug kit for 10 bucks and it is holding air amangin that, think when they saw the vette they saw a sale, thanks agin


Spellcheck - It is a good thing.
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Old Aug 28, 2004 | 07:53 AM
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Are your roads made of foam rubber - how do you get 40k miles out of any tyre on a Corvette. Mine last less than 10k, but then I do only drive the 'vette when I am serious about being somewhere else pretty quickly . .
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Old Aug 28, 2004 | 02:58 PM
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Originally Posted by GrayC5
Excellent article here by Hib Halverson that you might want to read: Technical Article: Run Flat Facts

In his article, Hib talks about the Goodyear and Michelin run-flats being capable of repair and why Firestone and the others can't or shouldn't be repaired.
Great article. Thanks for the link.
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Old Aug 28, 2004 | 03:04 PM
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Wow, I didn't know that about the Firestones! I had my GY EMT plugged at Discount Tires about 3 months ago for about $12. Still holding fine and with a few 130+ mph runs.
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