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Not a bad point above, but as I said I do enjoy hard cornering a lot, and the shoulder is the part of the tire that flexes a lot under those circumstances. I don't like the idea of patches in a place where the sidewall is moving around a lot. However, if all you do is gentle driving, it should be no problem. It is, after all, a car designed to carve corners at high speeds, but you're right that the vast majority don't use it that way.
Just because they're runflats doesn't mean there's no safety issue in a ZP situation. All runflats give you is the ability to limp out of harms way at low speeds.
Yes. Tire manufactures sell tires. They'd LOVE for you to buy more. They also have lawyers and legal teams that would like very much to not be liable for repairs, plugs and patches. Especially on high performance tires.
I had a screw in almost the same spot as the one OP posted. Used one of these to fix it:
But I guess if you're a brainwashed yuppie, you can go to a tire place and let them install some scratches and greasy fingerprints on your wheels for ya. Or they'll say it's not reparable.. Or you can drop a grand on two new tires. Obviously a real patch or new tires will give you the best peace of mind. I've even used those plug kits on rear tires before. They work great!
Tire shops in my area are awful. One wouldn't even put my car on the lift because "That's a nice car. You'd be upset if it fell off the lift". Uhhhh, durr?
Let me know if you replace those tires. I'll, um, recycle your "trashed" ones.
I live on a farm in Nebraska and we plug everything. I have a tractor I put a plug in the side of the tire years ago and it still holds air. If you plug it and it holds air you are good to go. Every Corvette I have ever owned was sold with plugs in the tires.
Last edited by robertbruce; 09-28-2017 at 12:07 PM.
Folks here are disagreeing on semantics. According to tire manufacturers, it's "not repairable" because they consider any repair in the tire shoulder area unsafe.
However, yes, it can be "repaired," and it might be fine, or it might not. I wouldn't repair a tire with a puncture in that location, but then again, I do some pretty aggressive cornering. That's the area of the tire which flexes the most. The center section does not.
If the tire was on one of our tin cars that only get used for local trips at moderate speeds and moderate cornering, sure I'd get it repaired somehow.
But that's not how we drive our Corvette, and having a tire lose air suddenly during hard cornering or while passing someone on a back road, could be a really bad thing.
Regarding plugging, we used to have a retired tire engineer posting here who said that when industry/government started gathering data on tire repair failures, only then did they discover how unreliable an external plug repair really is.
It's like my mother, who smoked a pack a day for her entire adult life and didn't suffer from it, saying that smoking is safe because she's ok.
As for those who say the tire companies want you to keep buying new tires, they could simply say that any time the tire is driven below 25 psi, it is junk and must be replaced, even if internal inspection looks normal. Firestone was saying that back in the C5 days, not sure if they ever gave in to reality.
Last edited by Gearhead Jim; 09-28-2017 at 01:33 PM.
You really just need to take it to a tire repair place and let them judge if the repair will hold.
I often depends on how close to the shoulder the patch will be in the INSIDE of the tire.
If patched from the inside they should us a one piece plug/patch which does a much better job of staying in place than the old ones used to.
From the photo, it looks to be repairable for the life of the tire.
Originally Posted by Walt White Coupe
Technically speaking, any puncture in the First Tread Block (inside or outside) is considered unrepairable. Unfortunately that's where yours is.
Puncture repairs are limited to the center of the tread area. If there are punctures or damage in the shoulder or sidewall of the tire, it is not repairable.
Up to now the only place it town I would trust to deal with low profile run flats is the 12 bay Firestone dealer! That is where the Chevy, BMW, Mercedes dealer brings their low profile run flats. Out of ~20 techs only 2 or 3 work on them! They have the correct non-contact tire machine AND these 2/3 have the experience. Have watched them fix flats and change tires in the Vette-not as easy as it sounds.
That said, the Firestone store says the "Company Rule" is any nail in the outer tread is considered side wall! There is different side wall construction but the Vette tires have such wide outer treads, doubt any extra belts, etc go that far!
They will only use a plug patch. Looking at where, whatever is in that tire, would think a plug/patch would work.
I plugged my OEM rear Michelin PSS runflat in the same location at about 15,000 miles. I now have 59,000 on the same tire(!). I have autocrossed on it in a few times after the plug. It, and 8 other tires I have plugged have all been fine, including a Toyo R888 for autocross which I wore down to the threads. I have never used a patch. I do it myself as it is cheap and easy and I have never had to replace a tire. Now if I can only find a way for the construction guys in my neighborhood to stop sprinkling nails around....
I had a Michelen PS+ A/S RF that had a puncture on the very edge of the tread a week (outside the OP's) after I bought the pair (fronts). I brought it back with the screw in place (no low or zp driving), and they said they would patch/plug it, and if it failed, they would replace it. I drove it for 68,000 miles w/o an issue, and I drive around our area (peninsular, curvy) briskly just like you do.
IMO, this falls in the same category as RFs vs. non RFs, as a risk/reward decision. I don't track, and I have yet to hear of a RF having a catastrophic failure due to a repair and fly off the rim, regardless of damage with street use of any kind.
Agree, and to clarify some ambiguity in the various posts above, there is a big difference between an interior plug/patch, which is a generally a very safe repair, and a plug inserted from the exterior, which is a roll of the dice. Sometimes they hold, sometimes they don't.
2017 C7 with 13k miles on tires. I ran over this nail (or metal) last week and since then I lose about 10 psi every day. I read older posts on tire repair and know the correct repair (when possible) is with a mushroom plug per these guidelines from Tire Rack: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=77
The metal is less than 1/4" in diameter so I know it's not too big for repair. My question is in regards to the location of the repair. Per the attached link:
"Repair of larger tread punctures and of punctures to the tire's shoulder and sidewall areas are not recommended."
My puncture is 1 - 1/4" from the sidewall. Is it wise to repair? I will never participate in a track event and if I speed (rare) it would be a very short burst < 130 mph.
Not a problem to fix. The nail is on the tread area so they should be able to fix it with no issues. This happened to me as well. I took it Discount tire and never had any issues with it afterwards.
If it were my tire I'd certainly fix it. Had similar punctures on my other Z06 tires and they have always held up well after repair but I would not be out running at high speeds with it.
I have had good success with just the Walmart plug kit on at least dozen repairs on my Corvettes. I don't drive 185 mph anyway. Takes a little muscle when done on the car like I do.
Puncture repairs are limited to the center of the tread area. If there are punctures or damage in the shoulder or sidewall of the tire, it is not repairable.
That description would have prevented me from fixing 3 of my last 3 punctures. It always seems to be off-center.
Thanks for all the feedback.
I went to my local Goodyear and Firestone shops (no Discount Tire here), both said they would not repair as it was too close to the sidewall. Ended up just plugging it myself. Not an extremely tough decision considering the alternative - spending $700 on 2 new rear tires.
I always have the tire pressure display on and you should do the same. At the first sign of any pressure loss from that tire slow down. It's still a runflat but just drive cautiously till you get where you can deal with it.
Most likely, the patch in a small hole will be good for the life of the tire.
09-27-2017, 11:51 PM
They work great! 
