Rate my tire damage: repairable?

[Bandito440]

The nail goes in at an angle to the left in the photos. What say ye, BITOG community? Can this be repaired with a patch or plug? Thanks in advance.

 

[Rolla07]

Fixable. Got a flat in exact spot 2 yrs ago. Plugged it myself..drove it 2 winters since no air loss..best to have a tire place do inside and outside plug for best results...if they are willing to do it. Which they should..since its not in sidewall.

 

[Jimmy9190]

It's real close to the top of the sidewall but looks to me like it can be patched. Just be sure they do it the right way and patch it from the inside.

 

[Kuato]

Sorry but IME, too close to sidewall for regular use. Some places might not even repair it.

But - IMO ok to keep as a full size spare, which is what we did when the Wrangler's brand new (less than a week old) tire got very similar damage.

 

[lugNutz]

Serviceable by yourself... Sure! I would try it.

Serviceable by repair shop? Doubtful. Most places wont touch it unless it's a minimum of an inch off the sidewall. At least this is the case in my experiences.

 

[SnowDrifter]

At my shop, we wouldn't bother. Need to be about an inch away from the sidewall due to the shape of the patch

 

[raytseng]

Places near me use the rule of needs to be 1 tread block in from the sidewall.

 

[Mackelroy]

Most shops would not fix that, to close to the side wall, you could do it yourself , if you want to risk it.

 

[Jimmy9190]

The bottom pic makes it look like the nail is further away from the sidewall than it really is. Still would not hurt or cost anything to ask a couple places if they would patch it, worst they could do is say no. Looks like an expensive tire; if it were mine I would try to save it if at all possible.

 

[The motor guy]

If it isn't leaking i'd just cut it off flush with the rubber. It's in the perfect spot for you to do that. A shop won't touch it, it has to be at least a thumb width away from the edge.

 

[hattaresguy]

Plug it, if it fails replace it.

 

[spasm3]

I've plugged a lot of tires with the rubber rope plugs, but i would not want to drive on that. Too close to the shoulder. You might plug it and it hold air , but i would worry about a later catastrophic sudden failure.

 

[friendly_jacek]

Lets face the risk. 1:1,000,000?

 

[OneEyeJack]

Keep the picture. If something happens leave a not to have your next-of-kin let us know what happened.

 

[y_p_w]

I wouldn't do it.

I had a shop patch (no plug) a hole that was maybe 1/4" from the edge of the top tread. The owner of the shop said he'd only do it because I'd ordered tires that he didn't have in stock and I would be riding on them for less than two weeks.

 

[sdan27]

Yeah, they should be able to fix that. I picked up a nail in some nearly new tires that was just about the same spot, maybe a little further down yet. Got it patched and been fine for better than two years now probably at least 50k miles.

 

[michaelluscher]

I'd absolutely just call that safe. With a plug and patch.

 

[Bandito440]

Thanks for the responses! I'm going to stop by the local tire shop in the morning and see what they say about patching it.

These Yokohama Geolanders have just 24,000 miles on them. I'd rather not buy a whole set right now, as they have plenty of life left. Unfortunately, they all need to be the same size to keep the AWD system happy, so four tires would be necessary.

 

[bvance554]

I'd plug it myself, air it up and watch it for a few days and then call it good if its holding air.

 

[stephen9666]

It's definitely not repairable according to the RMA guidelines.

So, if you're looking for a quality repair that's endorsed by the manufacturer, then no, it's not repairable.

I've personally plugged tires for myself that were on the cusp of being repairable, but the picture in the first post shows a tire that is well into the area of non-repairability.

I've personally repaired hundreds of tires in my tire shop days and since then. Our shop rule was 1 inch from the edge of the tread.