Is this tire UNREPAIRABLE?

[Black_Thunder]

I've plug-patched several tires with the nail in that area in the first photo shown.


as long as the patch doesn't ride against the sidewall a repair should be fine.

 

[Excel]

I would plug and roll along. I have plugged nails closer to the side wall than that
and never had an issue..
Tireshops take on little risk as they can,keep that in mind

 

[bigjl]

I had punctures repaired that close to the edge load of times before the Regulations/rules changed.

I don't remember anybody having a problem or blowout.

I would repair it if possible and probably use it as a spare.

 

[CapriRacer]

A couple of thoughts:

The reason why the first photo is unrepairable is that it is in the vicinity of the belt edges - and damage to the belt edges tends to lead to failures - very bad. This is NOT a 100% thing and many folks claim to have successfully repaired tires that look like that - and they probably have. But if even one of them had failed, that would be grounds to declare this area as an unrepairable area as the consequences include fatalities.

Same for the 3rd one - except we are talking about size, and the size of the damage is what leads to the failure.

That is why the Rubber Manufacturers Association has issued the guidelines of what it repairable and what is not.

So do not be surprised that a shop will not repair tires that look like those photos. It's their shop that is on the line and it only takes one failed repair to destroy their business.

And I would advise anyone who wants to do those types of repairs themselves that while the risk of failure is low, the consequences can be quite severe.