Newish tires.. Worth it?

[Tha_Ape]

A relative of mine with a MY got a nail in a tire a few months after he got his car. Tesla wouldn't fix it so he got 4 new tires without the acoustic foam.

Later, he took his tire with a nail in it to a tire shop and they plugged/ patched it. He offered to give me the set of 4 for free (one with a patch, see below)

I've had my tires since I got the car 2 years ago and the tread is getting low, does this tire look safe to use? The set only has 1800mi on it, and I'd just need to pay for 4 wheel mounting/ balancing.

Seems like a good deal, but it don't want to pay to put a problem on my car

 

[P3dStealth]

That tire is 100% fine. Your relative got ripped off. I would have plugged that tire myself with a $7 kit from homedepot and not even taken the tire off the car. I currently have two plugged tires on my Tesla.

Congrats on the new tires. Save one of your old tires so you have a spare to carry in your trunk during a road trip.

 

[Ken_Y]

You are good. It is perfectly fine to use. I would say each of my tire has been plugged and one of them has similar cut out of the foam due to being patched.

 

[Tha_Ape]

You are good. It is perfectly fine to use. I would say each of my tire has been plugged and one of them has similar cut out of the foam due to being patched.

Thanks! I was leaving that way, but looking for confirmation (or someone to say I was crazy)

 

[hmadsen]

That tire is 100% fine. Your relative got ripped off. I would have plugged that tire myself with a $7 kit from homedepot and not even taken the tire off the car. I currently have two plugged tires on my Tesla.

Congrats on the new tires. Save one of your old tires so you have a spare to carry in your trunk during a road trip.

You can not do a decent patch or repair on the tire from the outside using cheap tyre "repair kits"

I dont know what the rules are in the US, but here, any of those "put some glue onto some rubber sticks and poke them through the hole from the outside and let it cure" is considered emergency repair kits, and it has been illegal since 2018 to use them for anything else than "emergency repair to transport at low speed to the nearest repair facility".

If the puncture is on the threads of the tyre, it is allowed to have it repaired with a patch from the inside like it has been done on the tyres in the picture.

The reason it is not legal is, the repair from the outside has been known to blow out and cause accidents,

 

[CaseyL]

You can not do a decent patch or repair on the tire from the outside using cheap tyre "repair kits"

In your opinion.

In my younger days, service staions routinely plugged tires from the outside. That was the way it was done.

I dont know what the rules are in the US, but here, any of those "put some glue onto some rubber sticks and poke them through the hole from the outside and let it cure" is considered emergency repair kits, and it has been illegal since 2018 to use them for anything else than "emergency repair to transport at low speed to the nearest repair facility".

If the puncture is on the threads of the tyre, it is allowed to have it repaired with a patch from the inside like it has been done on the tyres in the picture.

The reason it is not legal is, the repair from the outside has been known to blow out and cause accidents,

I carry an inflator and two types of plug kits.

I plugged one of my tires at about 18,000 miles. It now has over 45,000 miles on it. I drive 75-80 mph on the Interstate with no worries. At the worst, the tire could develop a leak. It's really not going to cause a catastrophic blowout that wipes out multiple vehicles on the highway.

Just another opinion.

 

[hmadsen]

In your opinion.

In my younger days, service staions routinely plugged tires from the outside. That was the way it was done.

Not only in my opinion.

As said, this way of patching a tyre is now only legal as an emergency repair and you are allowed to go to a repair shop at reduced speed.

If you do this here and police stop you, you will be written a fine and the car will get a driving ban until the tyre is replaced of fixed properly.

Back in the day brakes also contained asbestos, but also there, "we" found out, that this was a bad idea.

"We did it like that, back in the day" is not the same as "This is a good idea", sometimes it is just "This was the best we knew how to, back in the day"

I carry an inflator and two types of plug kits.

I plugged one of my tires at about 18,000 miles. It now has over 45,000 miles on it. I drive 75-80 mph on the Interstate with no worries. At the worst, the tire could develop a leak. It's really not going to cause a catastrophic blowout that wipes out multiple vehicles on the highway.

Just another opinion.

Here, if you were to cause an accident and you had your tyre fixed like that, the insurance would be coming after you to get the money they had to pay to the other parties involved, if you do illegal stuff, and this causes an accident, it's all on you.

Back in the day when i was a kid i was probably driven 45.000 miles in the back of my parents cars, i never wore a seatbelt and i still survived....

But that's not a good excuse for not having the kids in seatbelts today.....Much in the same way as "I have lucked out with a bodge repair job on a tyre that has not given me problems for many miles".

But then again.....Watching some Youtube channels it seems that the general state of cars in the US, is far worse than here, partly because there are a lot more poor people, that can not afford to keep their cars in good working order, and partly because it does not seem like there are much in the way of regular inspections.

Oh yeah, we have mandatory inspections every 2 years....If the guy doing the inspection sees one of those patches you use, in a tyre, it's an instant fail.

 

[CaseyL]

But that's not a good excuse for not having the kids in seatbelts today.....Much in the same way as "I have lucked out with a bodge repair job on a tyre that has not given me problems for many miles".

Wow. Yes, kids need to be in seatbelts. Always.

I gave some history because I have had many tires plugged over the years, which means I have a somewhat informed opinion. My guess is that you have no such experience.

Plugging a tire is not a "bodge repair job". Yes, it's legal here. It's also not dangerous or reckless.

For the record, I just drove another 300 miles today on my bodge repaired tire that was plugged 27,000 miles ago. Yeah, I guess I'm just extremely lucky and living on borrowed time.

But then again.....Watching some Youtube channels it seems that the general state of cars in the US, is far worse than here, partly because there are a lot more poor people, that can not afford to keep their cars in good working order, and partly because it does not seem like there are much in the way of regular inspections.

Maybe you are just better, smarter, and wealthier than we are.

YouTube is never wrong.

 

[zoomer0056]

A relative of mine with a MY got a nail in a tire a few months after he got his car. Tesla wouldn't fix it so he got 4 new tires without the acoustic foam.

Later, he took his tire with a nail in it to a tire shop and they plugged/ patched it. He offered to give me the set of 4 for free (one with a patch, see below)

I've had my tires since I got the car 2 years ago and the tread is getting low, does this tire look safe to use? The set only has 1800mi on it, and I'd just need to pay for 4 wheel mounting/ balancing.

Seems like a good deal, but it don't want to pay to put a problem on my car

View attachment 962616

View attachment 962617

Tire looks good. Free tires, nice! Try to get some foam from another tire shop.

 

[Tha_Ape]

Mounting/ balancing cost me $100, just put 1000mi on them (road trip). No issues, held pressure

 

[dafish]

Casey, that’s… I mean. Sigh.

H:
Apologies sir. Interesting your nation outlawed them. As you can surmise, their danger in not familiar to everybody. Can you elaborate on the issues? They were originally used as aircraft tire fixes, so they seemed to be legit..

today most tire shops here use what’s called a plug patch. A plug integrated into a patch Installed from the inside. I have zero reservation on those.

 

[dafish]

Huh. Learned something again.

NTB - Tires & Routine Auto Maintenance

www.ntb.com

 

[hmadsen]

Wow. Yes, kids need to be in seatbelts. Always.

I gave some history because I have had many tires plugged over the years, which means I have a somewhat informed opinion. My guess is that you have no such experience.

Plugging a tire is not a "bodge repair job". Yes, it's legal here. It's also not dangerous or reckless.

For the record, I just drove another 300 miles today on my bodge repaired tire that was plugged 27,000 miles ago. Yeah, I guess I'm just extremely lucky and living on borrowed time.

Your anexdotal evidence that you never had an accident on a poorly plugged tyre is just about the same as my anecdotal "I never wore a seatbelt and was not killed" one.

I guess that here the lawmakers saw that there is an option now that is

1. Done by professionals, not someone on a dark highway layby in poorly lit conditions trying to fix his flat tyre with some goo and a piece of plug string.
2. Something better and more safe, means we dont need to rely on old outdated and far less reliable methods.

The plug from the inside with a patch and a stem going through the hole is a very good and stable patch and its not even that expensive.

I think i paid the equivalent of $40 to have a tyre repaired using this technique at a professional tyre repair facility, i wonder who would want to gamble with their life to save a measly $40

Maybe you are just better, smarter, and wealthier than we are.

YouTube is never wrong.

With regards to the state of our cars, it is mainly because the inspection is mandatory, if i dont take my car to be inspected and passed within set dates, the car will go on the police computer and if i get stopped,they pull the plates on the spot.

Before the inspections were made mandatory we also had people driving around in dangerous cars, rusted out, old tyres, worn down tyres and such.

In that regard it does seem like we are quite a bit ahead of you guys.

Not to mention the whole road tax deal. The whole "receive a sticker in the mail" seems so 1980s.

Here its fully automatic, my road tax is paid automatically every 6 months, all i have to do is check the mail from the bank with the list of items being paid in a given month, no stickers and if i dont pay....Plates gets removed.

 

[Pianewman]

hmadsen: "In that regard it does seem like we are quite a bit ahead of you guys."

Uh...for sure. Here in TX, the legislators have totally abandoned safety inspections on passenger vehicles. The reason? Blatant corruption, inability to keep the inspectors honest.

 

[hmadsen]

hmadsen: "In that regard it does seem like we are quite a bit ahead of you guys."

Uh...for sure. Here in TX, the legislators have totally abandoned safety inspections on passenger vehicles. The reason? Blatant corruption, inability to keep the inspectors honest.

Wow, here there are inspections of the inspection stations.

They go to a random inspection station and "snatch" a car when it exist the inspection station, the car is brought back in, and a government employed inspector goes over the car.

If there are any discrepancies, the inspection station gets written up, and if this happens more than X, they lose their license to operate.

Also, if a car accident happens and it is deemed to be because of something failing on the car, the accident inspector will look at the parts that broke and look at when the car was last inspected.

If for example an accident were to be because of a rusted through part and the car was inspected, say 3 months prior, the inspection station has some explaining to do, as to why this was not detected at the last check.

The risk of losing their license to a lucrative inspection market means that they are usually very thorough.

Before this was introduced there were inspections but only if a car changed owners, so you could buy a brand new car, drive it for 20 years, and never have anyone inspect it.

In the beginning there were a few inspection stations where they had a rule that if you stuck X amount of money into the glovebox in an envelope, anything would pass, but these were quickly removed because they failed the random state popup inspections.

If they had passed something that was obviously not fit for the road, they lost their license to do inspections on the spot.