Pete, good job on READING!!
I never said it was on the sidewall! It's actually ON THE TREAD!! Be it, on the treads closest to the sidewall. What I didn't know, was that the steel belts are usually from the center of the tire, to the outer most tread groove.
Here is an example from discounttire.com
My tires aren't all season's, so the tread to sidewall transition isn't so rounded. The picture above has treads continuing down into the sidewall almost, so I can see why they wouldn't repair that.
Mark
