Tyre Repairs

P'raps the other side was knackered too, or the bloke drove like a loony and didn't want to have a repaired tyre on the car?

I`d be interested to know what actually constitutes "unrepairable" damage

- I know sidewall damage is a no-no, as I believe is damage in the main tread close to the sidewall.

Are there any specific guidelines anywhere ?

No. Chances are either it had been driven flat or had been stood overnight flat, either of which would damage the sidewalls internally.

This is one of the reasons you don't get S/H tyres or rescue them from tyre fitters.

There is a British Standard that covers tyre repairs, but basically the only punctures that can be repaired are ones that fall within the centre 90%* off area T that do not exceed 6mm length in any direction.

*the 90% figure is a guideline, but basically the plug has to be safely within the reinforcing plys underneath the main tread. It cannot be on the edge off the main reinforcing plys.

Part off the repair is that you assess the tyre for any other damage, which is basically your legal requirements for the tyre ie- Check for run flat damage (inner tyre lining damage, sidewall damage) Check for any cuts/punctures out with the repairable area. Any visible casing damage. Any exposed cords.

It is possible to repair punctures outwith the area above on some tyres, but it requires specialist equipment, and is generally not economically viable for repairable car tyres.

Moray Cuthill wrote on Sat, 9 Jul 2005 14:39:38

+0100: [...]

I try to avoid grammar correcting posts, but, ARGH.

It's "of" not "off" (unless you mean the opposite of "on").

Possible from a leased / company car! I know when I had my leased car, any puncture always resulted in a brand new tyre. I just presumed the tyre fitter was looking for a tyre himself that day ;o)

Steven.

Or you might be able to do what I did, after buying a set of NC2 Eagles. One was punctured on the shoulder by a small nail within a week. After showing the tyre repair shop the nail head, I was told it was in an area that couldn't be repaired, and that I'd have to buy a new tyre. About £80 at the time IIRC. I removed the nail, and the tyre still took a couple of hours to lose about

5 psi, so rather than scrap the tyre I removed it and patched it on the inside.using a patch from a bycycle puncture outfit. I figured a thin patch would be better on an area subject to flexing rather than a thicker one. Replaced the tyre and there were no leaks. So it went back on the car. Kept an eye on the pressure over the next few days, and the patch was holding. In fact it was still holding 25K later when the tyre was worn out. My feeling was that even if it didn't hold I had nothing to lose by trying to repair it. I was familiar enough with the car to notice any significant deflation on the road before it became potentially dangerous. Mike.

[...]

High speed rating - W+?

The repairs you can do to high speed tyres are much more limited and may all require to be vulcanized, and vulcanizers are getting hard to find.

A

[...puncture repair...]

I had a similar puncture in a lightly worn ~£70 tyre and was also advised, by KwikFit, that they could not repair it...

...so, instead of trying to sell me a tyre they gave me the address of a vulcaniser who fixed it for £15.

:)

Repairable with plugs and glue is a fairly small subset of repairable.

A

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I had sidewall damage. Local tyre dealer quoted £15 for specialist repair. Thats repair, valve and balanced.

Had to be sent away and took a week to get back - cheaper than a new tyre!