Hi Scotti
I have a Kia Sorento with ten thousand miles or so. Over the weekend I got the dreaded tire low pressure icon. One tire was reading 19 pound while the rest were in the thirties. We just had a snow storm and I had 2 feet of snow in my driveway making it impossible to work. I jacked up the car and brought the tire still mounted on the rim to a local STS. They found a 1/4" allen wrench embedded in the tread. They patched the hole and after two days it's holding. They only charged me $25.00. Is it safe to patch a puncher in a radial tire?
In case your wondering it's not my allen wrench.
I think I meant puncture not puncher.
Yes, it is safe. Hopefully they let you keep the allen wrench.
They gave it to me but it was from one of those cheap thrift store sets. The ones made in Taiwan that bend the first time you use them. This one looked like a pretzel. I have know idea how long it's been in there. Thanks for the answer.
I have a friend who ran a tire store for 50 years. About 8 years ago a customer came in complaining about noise from his tire. Turned out there was a small pair of needle nose pliers inside the tire. No punctures.
If done correctly, it's perfectly safe.
It's fine as long as it's not a sidewall puncture or near the very edge of the tread.
Patches are great. I've had this done many times and never had an issue. Sometimes they even do it for free as a company courtesy.
Thanks. It's 4 days now and the pressure has not changed.
Great to know this. I'm trying to work out if I've got a slow puncture myself at the moment. Sometimes I lose 1psi a day leaving it sitting for 3 days or so, other times nothing. Could be the cold, or I could keep hitting potholes when I go out on the motorway on that front tyre.
But nice to know it can be plugged as I just replaced all 4 recently.
