Toyota plugs tires?

Chill. They've been plugging tires for years and years. Plugging is fine. I've had tires go 40,000+ miles AFTER the plug to a natural wear out Fagehdaboudit and keep on truckin'....

Plugging can be just fine, as long as it's done by a clueful person

- but they can just as easily wreck a tire by doing it wrong, too. Plugs are good in some cases because it seals off the injury from the outside, keeping water out of the steel plies.

But they can cut more cords and do more damage poking around in the hole with a rasp, or horsing the plug in like a gorilla. This is bad.

And if you don't take the tire off the rim to patch it, you can't check for debris left inside the tire (which will damage the butyl 'tube' lining of the tire) or see how big the damaged spot is. If the damage is larger than just a simple nail or screw hole they make fabric reinforced tire patches, but you have to know to use them.

I don't know who regulates them - Rubber Manufacturers Association? But if they follow proper industry practices to the letter, plugs aren't the preferred tire repair, but they are acceptable.

-->--

The only reason I can think of to do a plug alone is to avoid the expense of dismounting and balancing the repaired tire or as a short-term fix if you've got your own kit. I suppose the chance of the plug shooting off is slim, but I'd worry about that too.

I've heard that the inside of the tire should be inspected for additional damage. There's a lot you can't see from the outside, including if the gouge is larger than the limit of 1/4" or if the puncture is too close to or damaged the sidewall. And once the tire is dismounted to inspect the inside, it won't cost much more to do it right.

"Plugs vs. Patches

A PLUG BY ITSELF IS AN UNACCEPTABLE REPAIR. The repair material used-for example, a "combination patch and plug" repair -must seal the inner liner and fill the injury to be considered a permanent repair. Never use a tube in a tubeless tire as a substitute for a proper repair."

The inner liner is supposed to be made of a material that seals air better than the more porous rubber treads. A plug alone won't do the trick, and will likely result in a slow leak.

America's Tire will put in a plug that is a patch. There is a cord-kind-of-thingie with a patch-like base. They dismount the tire and clean it up on the inside. Then they poke the cord-thingie through until the patch makes contact, and the whole thing is gluedj into place. They then cut the excess cord-thingie off and remount the tire and send you home. And they do it all for free. Unless you actually watched the dealership do the tire repair, I suspect they do it pretty much the same way.

I've never seen it done that way, what I'm familiar with is all done with the tire mounted...they blast a bunch of pressure in, find the hole, ream it with a round rasp, thread a needle device with some kinda cord, dip it into some kinda cement, shove it into the hole, twist it a few times, pull it out till the cord appears again outside then clip off the excess...seems pretty permanent.

Speaking of free...I'm damned sure that I've seen ads for 'free' windshield repair...istr that they 'fix' a stone chip, charge your insurance company ~$50. The Ins. co. is happy because almost every stone chip will develop cracks which will trash the wind shield resulting in multi hundred $ repairs...my wife says that I'm nuts...am I?

If your insurance co pays for a new windshield without deductible (most new windshields cost about $250), then you are paying way too much for insurance. Better to raise your deductible and get rid of windshield replacement insurance. you will save thousand of dollars over the life a car (5-7 years), more than enough to pay for any windshield or other minor damage you may incur.

I've done tire repairs this way many times although I agree that a patch is the preferred repair method. Basically, I'll plug a tire if it is already at the end of its life span. I don't know the dynamics of tire punctures, but is seems like tires with less than 4/32" of tread remaining are more prone to picking up nails and screws, or maybe it is just my bad luck.

I've never seen ads for free windshield repairs but I have seen mobile windshield repair guys that cut a deal with insurance companies and actually do the repair for free. The insurance company is happy because they spend less money, the owner is happy because the repair was free, and the repair company is happy because they got some business. Basically they apply an epoxy-like substance to the chip, cure it with an ultra-violet light mounted on suction cups over the repair, dress the repair, and they're done. The repair is almost impossible to detect unless you are looking for it.

As far as whether you are nuts, your wife knows you better than me...

snipped-for-privacy@tristarassociates.com

As I mentioned in another post, a chip repair does not necessarily involve replacing the entire windshild. Transparent goo is injected into the chip and cured with a UV light. The void is filled and stress cracks are avoided.

Where are you? I just put a $900 heated windshield in a Subaru Outback. My '99 Wrangler has a crack, and I'm getting $700-800 USD quotes to buy replacements out of pocket.

My policy has a totally separate, and optional, charge for "glass coverage", of $18 US each six months. If I keep the car 25 years, I might save a thousand dollars. My insurer (Met Life) drops my rates for each six months I don't have a claim, excluding glass. My current rates are lower than Geico and Progressive, as I bundle with other coverages.

I totally agree with high deductibles for everything else, carrying $1k myself.

Auto insurance rates and rules can vary greatly state to state.

Barry

Mark A wrote:

I don't see it that way at all. In the last four years, my comprehensive has paid for three windshields, repainted one door (hit by flying debris), one fender (hit by flying debris), one wheel (more flying debris), and one bumper cover (again hit by flying debris). I have four vehicles and the comprehensive for all four is less than $400 a year. It is much less expensive than the collision damage insurance, which I have not made a claim against in over 20 years. Why would I get rid of coverage that has proven to be very valuable at covering the sort of risks that actually impact me, and keep coverage that seems to never pay off? I have had one claim against my liability insurance in the last 25 years (I backed into my SO's Van) and it is required by law anyhow, so no option but to keep it. I personally have always found comprehensive coverage to be a real bargain. Over the last 25 years I have been driving I have had at least 6 windshields replaced (two of which were very expensive Insta-Clear Windshields) plus multiple claims due to flying debris and hitting animals (deer). The wonder to me is, that my current insurance company doesn't cancel my comprehensive insurance. Of course if my current company refused to provide ACV (actual cash value, zero deductible) comprehensive coverage to me, I'd go looking for a new insurance company. Given the amount of crap flying around on the roads around here, I feel like I am in a war zone. I have decided one of my problems is the fact that I don't like to tailgate other cars. I think if I rode other people's bumpers like many of the drivers in my area, I'd have less problems with flying junk (rocks, exploded tire pieces, sheet metal - heck I even had to duck a "flying" road work ahead sign one day).

Ed

I suspect that Mark has not priced windshields for most new cars. Anything larger than a Corolla - sized windshield will cost more, especially if it has features like heat, tint, antenna, etc.

Holy flying debris! Are you a flying debris magnet? Do you tailgate junk haulers? I've been hit by flying debris only once in 33 years - by a re-capped tire that threw its tread, was able to polish out the black mark. Well, if you count birds, then twice. No comprehensive claims.

I have four vehicles and

Reminds me of what a Chicago P.D. friend of mine told me about police cruisers. His beat used to be near high-rise housing projects and people would throw stuff at the cruisers from balconies, shoot BB's or shoot something more potent. He used to carry duct tape and tape an "x" across the rear window and rear side windows so the glass wouldn't come flying in as fast when it was hit. It was a weekly occurrence, and he said that their maintenance shop could replace the blue lights, door glass or rear glass in under 30 minutes because they had so much practice.

No no, you seem to have missed my point, I'm not talking about replacement but 'repair'...

Of course, that's exactly what I'm referring to...I was curious enough to stop into Apple Auto Glass today and ask the guy there about it. Oddest thing, he seemed to hedge around it, seemed like he didn't want to discuss it. I told him that I had seen ads to this effect, he mumbled something about 'awhile ago' and said that he had no brochure when asked. What the 'ells going on here?...

I'd bet that most auto glass shops would rather replace the glass than repair a chip because of better profit. Another possibility is that their ad was a little misleading and they were told to stop advertising that way by someone like the attorney general or whoever supplies them with the magic goo. Repairing chips this way is not rocket science and the ones that do only those repairs out of the back of a van that visits dealers are the best at it.

I've seen the results of many repairs firsthand and I'm impressed. The chip repair is definitely the way to go, regardless of who is paying for it.

Replacing windshields often causes leaks, wind noise, or a urethane mess from a sloppy installer. Someone dropped a rock from an overpass on to my mother's (now my) LS 400 and the windshield repair person did not bother to cover the defroster vents with tape before removing the old windshield. I had to use one of those computer vacuum attachments to try to get the glass fragments out of the defroster vents. To this day I can hear some glass fragments rattling in there when the fan is on high. One of these day's I'll get motivitated and limbered up and crawl underneath and clean out the glass.

"Ray O" wrote: snip

Exactly and precisely...This makes good sense, because apparently almost every stone chip WILL turn into a crack which WILL trash the windshield at many times the cost. I called and checked with my insurer, I've got a sour old biddie there who thinks that everyone is out to get into her knickers to steal 'her' money and all she would say was that if a customer had 'a number of claims' (which she wouldn't define) then they 'may' lose their glass coverage. New company next year *for sure*.

Yup, insurance claims people must go through that "NO" training like on that commercial!

"Jeff Strickland" wrote: snip

Of course..."There ain't no free lunch", I've always believed that...I'm pretty sure that the insurance companies gain by this procedure too but I find it strange that nobody 'in power' will willingly discuss it...it's almost like it might be a bit shady but I don't see why...

Especially in view of the fact that no other insurable area (that I'm aware of) separates 'repair' from 'replacement' with respect to the deductible.

Because there is a certain amount of Snake Oil that is being spread around with a windshield crack repair. If the insurance company can pay $50 and make you happy as opposed to spending $250, then they are in a much better place. My personal experience with windshield repair is very limited, and it didn't work - the crack still progressed all of the way across the glass. But, if the crack can be stopped in its tracks for 50 bucks, this beats a replacement for 250 bucks. The quick math is that this is an improvement of

5 dollars for every dollar spent. Perhaps it is only an improvement of 4 dollars for each dollar spent because the spent dollar is gone in either case, so the savings is 200, not 250. Either way, if they spend 50 bucks 15 or 20 times, and once turns out to be a repeat that demands replacement for 250, they have saved a ton of money but still collected the premium dollars. Can you say increased profits?

And it never looks quite the same. With the low cost of windshields these days, it's best to just have it replaced.