I have a tire w/ 3K miles on it and a screw in the tread. With the balance woes we seem to have with the ar, what should I do to repair the tire?

It should be under or around $10.00.

My opinion, and this was validated the hard way when I lived in Germany, is that tires should only be patched from within for safety reasons. This holds especially true for a car with the speed and sustained speed potential of the allroad.

He should take it to the local tire place that can do work without scratching rims and get a proper internal patch for $20-25.

Back to the Germany story. I had my 1992 VW Corrado SLC shipped over when I was stationed there. Since I was on temporary duty somewhere else before heading to Germany the woman who is now my wife had the Corrado for a while. She got a flat near a little service station who happily charged her a few bucks to fix the tire with an external plug. It was fixed so easily that she didn't even mention it to me.

So when the car comes to Germany all is fine for a while but one day I do a pull on the Autobahn. 100mph....110mph..........120mph.............130mp g.......still pulling and whaaaaOhhhh! Things get very loose and I suddenly have a big problem. Luckily even in my younger days I was smart enough not to go for the brake and managed to bring it down from speed while maintaining control. The tire lost its plug and I think the only thing that kept me alive was that they were low profile tires with stiff sidewalls.

Anyway - it was extreme circumstances for sure, but I will never get a tire fixed that way.

<img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ryanjen1/corrado/pics/6.jpg">

<img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ryanjen1/corrado/pics/one.jpg">

and get it patched. Better yet- have them use a patch-plug. That way you have a proper patch from inside, and the hole has been filled as well so no elements get into the tire layers.

If I remember correctly, you can ONLY maintain the speed rating if the tire is <u>patched</u>.

The link below is Goodyear's Police Tire authorized puncture repair procedure to maintain the speed rating. If it's good enough for Goodyear speed rated tires on a ppolice car, it ought to be applicable to us too.

This link is to TireRack's site which documents their take on puncture repairs. The main difference between their info and Goodyear's, is that they don't specifically say that you can maintain the speed rating with ANY repair. But then they represent a variety of tire manufacturers and must consider all factors ( and I'm sure liability too.)
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=77

But the common theme is that you have to patch the tire, even though Goodyear specifies patch AND plug. (Can you say winter snow, water and salt combined with steel belts??? Yes, a tire can rust and delaminate)<ul><li><a href="http://www.policedriving.com/article77.htm">Goodyear Police Puncture repair</a></li></ul>

which of course does plugging duty as well. This is what my local tire place uses.

<img src="http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/134731_lg.gif">

We had to finish 2 Rally stages with 2 plugs in a tire, one tire was already flat and we run out of spare tires, furthermore, no time left for Service so there was no other choice to make it to the finish. But that should not be used as an example.

Your experience with plugs in the tire differs entirely and specially on the German Autobahn where others might even go faster, scary thought.

And of course, a plug is a temporary solution but to get the car to a good tire place it should do the job. For Lime Rock last year I had to replace a perfectly good Toyo because it had a plug, no chances taken.


Now that you've left your pants down....where have you been driving in Germany? This Corrado looks pretty fast and I buy the 120MPH....but not the "130MPG" ;-).....go get some Coffee :-)

My modded car would bury the needle past the 140mph mark but I guess you are right. The fuel economy at that speed was a little lower than 130mpg. Did you ever see the "poor man's Porsche" ad campaign that had in print that the Corrado SLC was a 140mph car right out of the showroom.

Being that I was living in Bamberg, Germany for 3 years I was centrally located in Europe. In addition I was able to buy fuel ohne steuer (without tax) so I drove that car everywhere. It has been to Rome, Paris, Madrid, Coppenhagen, Budapest, Poland, Portugal, the Rock of Gibralter, all thru the German/Austrian/Swiss/French Alps, Venice, etc. etc.

What a great time in my life. Such fond memories and I would love to one day move back to Germany for a while.

plug installation invariably must involve "roughing up" the puncture hole using a sharp auger to get more grip on the plug material. This rips at the rubber and belts, making it impossible to properly plug/patch with the internal repair item. Again, the internal item both fills and covers the puncture. Do not make the puncture worse with an external plug.

Cassidy Tire in Naperville, insisted on a combination patch plug to ensure the hole was sealed inside and out.

It took 7 phone calls to find a tire shop that used this approach.