Tire repair yea or nay?

[redhotv8]

My '01 picked up a nail in the rear tire (Dunlop 285/35-ZR-18 Sport 9000). The car/tires have only 3,500 miles on them and when I brought the tire to a local tire store, they plugged it and put an internal patch to repair it. The thing is when I decide I want to go 130MPH+ I don't want to be thinking about that tire! Is this repair safe for occasional short duration high speeds or should I spring for a new tire while they are near the same tread depth? Nail was .15 (4mm) dia about 2" (5cm) offset from outer sidewall.

Gary M- CT
'01 V8
1973 Europa Twincam Special (for sale)
'01 740i
'02 XTYPE
(also my order of preference!)

[lotusguy]

Well...

To quote Harry Callahan: "Do you feel lucky today...??"

Fact is, they may be fine, but, I would never recommend anyone exceed 80MPH on a repaired tire, the potential for bad things is just too great and the heat distribution in the tire can be really messed up. I am willing to bet that no tire manufacturer would make any such recommendation either.

The cost of a single tire is not that great. And compared to what might happen, is it really worth the risk? It certainly wouldn't 'make your day' if something did happen. Happy Motoring! Jim'85TE

[cnh1990]

I went for a new tire with a one week old tire.
I think ones life and car is worth the cost of one tire. Spend the few hundered dollars. The tire is no longer Z rated when repaired.
Calvin

[redhotv8]

OK guy's I guess it's an obvious answer but just needed to hear it from someone else so I didn't feel like it was just me being paranoid! Ordered the tire today from tire rack $227.00. Cheap price to pay for piece of mind. Thanks

[cnh1990]

Good choice, even if you had a tire failure at high speed and all you did was a rapid tire deflation at speed the wheel would surely sustain damage. Our wheels are not cheap not to mention what other damage. Others have had the same thing happen to them, I think even Ernest had something similar happen to him. When it happened to me the rubber nubs and the stripe on the tread had not even worn off, not even 300 miles. Oh well thats life.
Calvin 90 SE