S03: Born 22-Mar-2003 Died 29-Mar-2003

[naith]

I am nursing an anger of biblical proportions.

Eight risings of the sun, and the setting of the same have passed since I fitted two rear S03s at £250 apiece.

And it came to pass that on the Eighth day, I ran over a great nail measuring about 6 inches - you know, the big ones that taper from the head - and suffered a mighty puncture.

Verily, I took it to Kwik Fit who decreed that they could not repair the puncture as the nail was indeed a mighty nail. For this, there was great wailing and a gnashing of teeth.

I am finding it difficult to accept that I have to throw away a 7 day old £250 tyre over a nail. I have had things causing slow punctures embedded in my tyres before and always been able to repair them. Is there anything/one I can try, or do I have to face another sacrifice from my chequebook?

Naith the Greatly Frustrated

[trefor]

Er, you're paying twice as much as the rest of our for those tyres, assuming std Chimaera sizes.

[raceboy]

Firstly bad luck, but £250 for a rear SO3 someone saw you coming, you should be able to get them for just over £100 each
Edited to presume you've got 16's on the back and not 20's or something equally big

>> Edited by raceboy on Monday 31st March 16:06

[atg]

And the fool who knew little of cars said unto Naith, "Have you confidence that the mob known as Kwik Fit are on the level?" Yea, an honest independent's second opinion might be worth attaining.

[Graham]

£250 quid a pop, methinks a main stealer in our midst

[JonRB]

The same thing happened to my Dad in the early 80's on the rear tyre of an Esprit. The tyre was £300 and in those days that was an awful lot of money.

(Not that £250 isn't mind)

[mrsd]

atg said: And the fool who knew little of cars said unto Naith, "Have you confidence that the mob known as Kwik Fit are on the level?" Yea, an honest independent's second opinion might be worth attaining.

Quoth the ancient yet occasionally wise woman. "Yea, verily thou art being shafted by the Fitters who art Kwik. 250 for an SO3 being daylight robbery. Where art thou ?"

If you've had the tire removed closely examine the damaged area. If it's got a line of torn fibers surrounding the nail inside then the tire's had it. If the nail has gone straight in leaving a fairly neat hole a specialist should be able to repair it. Kwik Fit usually spout some guff about repairs to high performance tires being unsafe, but aircraft tires experience much higher stress and they are routinely plug repaired. Even if a plug repair fails the tire will just deflate slowly it won't 'pop.' Any decent tire shop should be able to manage this if the tire is repairable. Don't know how big Chim rears are, but 235/45/17 SO3s are available at £145.

[naith]

Whoops. It was £250 a pair, not each. Typing on keys whilst looking at them through the red mist of incandescent rage makes for many typoes.

Okay, I'm not incandescent per se, but it is annoying to be told 'I know the tyre's new, I can see the yellow and white line still on the surface - but chuck it away'.

The nail has gone straight through - i.e. no damage around the puncture area. I'm more than a little relieved to hear some of you say that it might still be too early to chuck it on the heap. I just need to find a tyre specialist who won't be so kwik to dismiss the possibility of repair.

[mrsd]

I said:Where art thou ?

[ribol]

As long as it is a clean hole, not near the side wall and on the flat part of the tread it can be repaired. A decent tyre shop (if you can find one) will drill a hole through where your nail went and then plug it with a mushroom plug. Done properly it is a 100% repair had loads done in the past.

Ivan

[GingaNinga]

I don't know where you are based but Kwik Fit on the A12 (near Romford, Essex) sold me a pair fitted, VAT, Valves, etc for £85 each, which was nice. Don't know anything about fixing them though sorry.

[naith]

GingaNinja,

That's interesting to hear; because I'm based in London (sorry mrsd, forgot to let you in on that earlier) and the Kwik Fit I visited was right on the East London border - not a million miles away from Romford Essex, and they wanted £220 for one!

I live right on the A12, incidentally - in Bow.

>> Edited by naith on Tuesday 1st April 11:39

[P7ULG]

naith said: Whoops. It was £250 a pair, not each. Typing on keys whilst looking at them through the red mist of incandescent rage makes for many typoes.

Okay, I'm not incandescent per se, but it is annoying to be told 'I know the tyre's new, I can see the yellow and white line still on the surface - but chuck it away'.

The nail has gone straight through - i.e. no damage around the puncture area. I'm more than a little relieved to hear some of you say that it might still be too early to chuck it on the heap. I just need to find a tyre specialist who won't be so kwik to dismiss the possibility of repair.

Hard as it is to bear do you really want to be driving a 150mph car with a repaired rear tyre.Bad luck but buy a new tyre or it could be the most expensive 125 quid you never spent!!

[mrsd]

It's really not a problem having a repaired tire if the repair is competently done. The major manufacturers publish guidelines as to what problems can and can't be repaired (which boil down to what ribol and I have posted above) A plug is at least as strong as the surrounding tire and they do not fail suddenly, rather the tire would develop a slow puncture if one went (not that I've ever had this happen.)
BSAU guidlines for combination plug patch:
Repair can be anywhere within 70% of the car's nominal section width. (translation-anywhere other than the outer edges of the tread)
Any number of repairs may be carried out, providing none of them overlap.
Maximum diameter of hole = 6mm
None of the following problems:
Non-legal tread depth (UK car: 1.6mm across central 3/4 of the tyre tread throughout the entire circumference)
Run-flat damage
Secondary damage - caused by the injuring object
Ageing/deterioration of tyre rubber
Bead damage
Exposed cords
Faulty/poor previous repairs

What you ideally want, if the tire is repairable, is a Harvie Easi-seal plug patch or an Easi-seal stem and patch, fitted competently.

[P7ULG]

All very impressive MrsD but can you guarantee that the aprentice that gets the job will repair it to the exact spec.IMHO I would never feel safe with a repaired tyre on a high performance car and would value my life and that of other road users at considerably more than the price of a new tyre.

[mrsd]

That's why you look for recommendations etc. Job's exceedingly straightforward btw. If you're not happy with it don't do it. I'm sure naith's capable of reading the above and checking whether his tire fits the criteria for repair, then finding a decent outlet who will give him their opinion.
Incidently, tire failures arising from inadequate fitting of new tires are not all that infrequent - you don't know the apprentice won't get that job either. (Unless you bring them to me, Ian, our guy, has been a mechanic for 30-some years)

[atg]

I really can't see how a repaired tyre could possibly put you at risk. I watched a bloke fix one of my tyres with a mushroom wotsit. It's like a golf tee with a big flat head. It gets glued in place from the inside of the tyre and then is trimmed to length on the outisde of the tyre. There is no way it could come flying out to cause a quick deflation.

[mrsd]

That, the golf tee thing, is an easi-seal plug patch. The head has adhesive (epoxy from a mixing syringe) on the side facing the outside and is simply pushed through a pre drilled 3 or 6 mil hole where the puncture was, the area doesn't have to be post treated, but a bit of heat from a lamp speeds up the glue. It's held there by the glue and the air pressure in the car. Hard to see how it would fail once the tire was inflated.

[naith]

Very impressed with your thorough knowledge of the area there, MrsD. I did happen to ask about Easi-Seals when I was at the Kwik Fit garage, and the young lad pulled one out for perusal. But his concern was that the diameter of the stem would not meet the diameter of the nail (around 4mm at base). But I'm sure Easi-Seals are used in bigger holes than this.

By the way P7ULG, I appreciate your concerns about safety, but I wouldn't be cutting a £125 corner if I thought there was a possibility I might accidentally wipe out some pedestrians. I don't think there's any more chance of a blowout from a well repaired tyre than there is in one that hasn't seen repairs and gets regular wear.

[mrsd]

As I say, you can get 6mil ones.Your local Kwack Fix clearly knows nowt.