Hi I’m new to this area in SW Florida and have picked up a nail in my RR tire. It’s a very slow leak but I do need to do something. My question is I don’t know any shops that I trust to jack or lift the car and R/I wheel without borking something up. I’ve plugged tires several times but I don’t like to unless it’s absolutely necessary. Is plugging a simple small nail hole an acceptable flat repair. If I was at my other place I’d take the wheel off and take it to a place I trust but I don’t have my tools /Jack down here. Should I run down to Oreilly’s and buy a plug kit and plug it myself and call it good? The tires (Bridgestone Potenza RE760’s)are several years old but have very little mileage on them. With the luck I’ve had at tire shops in the past they will probably tell me the tires are too old to repair. Any thoughts?

 

I wouldn’t worry about letting them jack it if it’s a rear tire…just get a proper patch and be done with it….if you’re near Cape Coral bring the car here and I’ll remove your tire !!

 

Plugging a tire on a C5 is no different than any other car. I purchased a brand new set of NT555's and in under a year (maybe 1500 miles) I picked up a nail in one of my rears. Plugged it and the tire lasted 20k miles with no issues.

I did replace the barely used tires at 20k miles because they aged out. If your tires are old the smart thing to do is replace them. As mentioned I had 20k miles or so on mine but they were on that car 10 years. So I tossed them.

I have a buddy that took a chance on 10 yr old tires with his 72 vette. Two summers ago a rear tire came apart at 60mph and ripped his entire rear fender off.

$800-$1200 turned into a few thousand and he almost got killed. Your call.

 

Actually I’m not far, I’m in Port Charlotte. Is there a reputable tire place up herethat you know of. There’s a Tire King place not far from me, My other concern is I’m wondering now if they tire places will touch it because the tires although like new are 9 years old. I took my daily (GTI) to get a patch and they wouldn’t touch it. They measured the tread depth (they’ve got plenty of tread, they are summer high performance tires though) and said they couldn’t fix it I’d have to buy a replacement, then they said they couldn’t sell me the same size because the tires I have are too wide for the car. They are a good bit wider than stock but fit fine. Because of this same kind of stuff I usually won’t let many places work on my cars. But I don’t have, many tools down here yet.

 

Don’t know any shops up that way…my tires were 6 years old when I took one to get patched…one shop said they couldn’t do it but I went up the road a bit and they patched it and didn’t charge me !!…if you have any diagnostic needs you can bring the car here…most shops and dealerships around here are just parts changers and are clueless !!

 

Thanks for the replies fellas, I appreciate the help, I think since they are pretty old I will just plug this one. I’m planning on a new set of wheels and tires soon anyway I dont want to replace this one now.I’ll hope I can make it last with a plug in it a couple months till I can get the car back to my other place.

 

That's the route I'd take, especially at only 9 years with new ones coming in the near future. You should be fine. Plus the plug kit costs under $20 and literally takes 3 minutes to do.

 

'Several' years old is OK IF you're talking 6 or 7 years old, or newer. If several means 8+ years, you're pushing your luck, especially if you're drag racing or road racing. Today's tires are far superior than 1970s radials, but they still deteriorate with age, just the same.....

EDIT......Plugs in tires have been used for decades. They work fine. A patch is probably better, but plugging still works damn good.......

 

I ended up plugging it last night. I still had to end up buying a Jack and removing the wheel as I couldn’t get enough leverage to push the probe trough the tire with it still on the car. While this is my first Vette I’ve built and raced cars for decades. I’m not the kind of guy that babies my cars or is afraid to run them hard. I bought this C5 basically to see if we would like a Vette before stepping up to a newer or more expensive Vette if we decided we really liked it. (Although I like the C5’s And C6 looks best of the newer styles)It’s been babied by it’s previous owners. The OG owner was a service manager at our local dealership, he kept a log book of everything even when he drove the car. When I took the wheel off it was marked with date and mileage of the tires. They were 8 years old but only have 4500 miles on them and have been stored inside and in climate controlled storage. I’m gonna buy new wheels /tires soon anyways if there are any problems with the plug I’ll report it back on this thread. It had a roofing nail in it which was no surprise to anyone living in this part of Florida. You can’t drive around the block and not see 3 roofing jobs going on. The nail removed and remains of cut off plug.

 

I have 2 roofing jobs going on just on my street…LOL !!

 

What part of Florida are you in? I'm in the Hudson area. Not that it matters pertaining to roofing.......

 

Yikes. That story confirms what I tell people about old tires. When I bought my Vette last year it had 10 yr old tires on it and I opted to skip the highways and drove backroads home because I was worried about the tires splitting apart on me. Ordered new tires as soon as I got home and didn't drive it until they showed up at the shop!