Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting repaired tire suitable for long-distance driving?

The tire was puctuated by a snail yesterday.

I got it repaired with a simple kit from
wal-mart.

I will drive long (about 1500 miles) in the
following weekend. So I am wondering if the
tire is still safe enough, especially on the
hot southern highways.

thanks for your suggestion.

I would take it to a repair shop where they would take the tire off the rim and put a rubber patch inside it, which will make it good as new. -Nick

I assume you meant nail, not snail?

I have had a few nails in my tires over time since I live and drive through new neighborhoods that are always growing with new houses. I have always had them professionally repaired at a tire shop where they remove the tire from teh wheel and patch or plug the hole. I have no worries about them. I suppose if you have confidence in your work and the kit and followed the instructions that came with the kit, then you shoudl be fine. Just to safe though, I'd make sure your spare is well aired up or grab a can of that tre-slime from Wal-Mart as a just in case. Its probabaly safe to do both regardless if you have had any problems with your tire or not.

I've personally used those DIY repair kits 3/4 times in last 10 years with no problems.
Any replacement tires I put on my cars have free flat repairs (incl. balancing) so in those cases I get the proper inner patch type repair.
Always wise to check pressure in spare at oil change intervals.

hi,

Thanks for all your nice input.

I feel much easier now. :-)

The nail just stuck into the tread of
the tire. From its cap I guess it's a
small one as 1.5mm in diameter.

I'll leave it there now to plug the hole
before repair.

By the way, how much does it generally cost
for an internal repair (paste) ?

if u mean getting the tire patched as others have mentioned i had my right rear tire patched after a nail a couple yrs ago for 7-10 bucks i think...was nervous about driving on a patched tire (routinely did 200-300 miles round trips) but drove the thing so long i actually forgot it was a repaired tire

i finally bought a full set a couple months ago, but that patch, held up very well...would trust myself patching a tire and driving around the block though

A repair kit from your auto part stores will do the job but if you are not comfortable to do it yourself,a repair shop should charge no more than $20

Around here its like $3.50. Watch out for that tire slime stuff, it can mess stuff up from what I heard, and its only good for temporary solutions suposidly. -Nick