lldknyll26

So i brought my car in for an oil change and to repair the leather seat. After two days of leaving the car at the dealer (dealer at valley stream NY), I noticed my right rear tire was low in air pressure. It indicated 26 psi on the dashboard. So when I went to go look at the right rear tire, there was this rubbery plug thing that you use to prevent air leaks when you get flat on your tires. So i went back inside the office and told the advisor and according the advisor, I came in with a nail stuck on my right rear tire and the tech had to remove the nail and use the rubber plug. I don't remember seeing a nail on the tire and i remember bringing in the car with all psi balanced. Is the dealer F**king with me? Could they have accidentally ran over a nail while driving the car? Or maybe I really did come in with a small nail to the dealer and didn't notice. Suggestions?

BAD DNKY

Anything is possible. They should of told you that they fixed it either way. Kinda hard to prove they caused it

lldknyll26

Yeah i know, Tire is something hard to prove. They should have told me either way but they didn't until i mentioned it to them. That is the reason why im being so suspicious.

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Terribly hard to prove liability, but they should use a plug patch to repair, which means the tire needed to be broken from the wheel, and I always rebalnce even if some they marked and aligned the wheel/tire.

Tripnbeats

wow what pricks dude they fix that as a courtesy at 99% of dealers. not even a phone call they just do it.

LoveMyTL-S

Did they charge you for the tire repair? Either way it should have been on your paperwork and mentioned to you.

Tripnbeats

Love not even..... they dont even have to take the rim off to do it for u and the plugs cost 3 dollars for 10 of them....i mean come on if its a reputable place....they should just do it free of charge....if u see one nice thing done u may actually consider going back no?

01tl4tl

Its a bad idea to use those plugs in a modern radial steel/kevlar belted tires- those fibers can rip right thru the plug at speed and cause a serious blowout
Only supposed to use on atv type tires

The only way to fix a car tire is remove the tire from rim- remove the object, scuff the rubber inside tire- apply glue and patch- seal- remount
Shouldnt hurt the balance but if you RoadForce balance or otherwise have picky tires/rims- rebalance it

lldknyll26

they didnt charge me but i was just mad at the fact that they didnt even tell me about it. I looked at the paper work and had nothing about tire being flat. Funny thing is even before i noticed the plug in my tire, i noticed the low tire pressure alert and when i asked the tech, his response was "its because of the cold weather, hence it has low psi". Seemed as if they were trying to hide it from me. Which makes me even more suspcious about it. Any how, i went to a tire shop that i always go to and had them remove the plug and seal the tire from inside and patch it up. Good as new. Just pissed that my car hasnt even hit 10K and got a flat.

avs007

Could've been worse. In college, my room-mate's girlfriend bought a a new M3. As she was pulling out of the dealer's lot, she got T-boned by a guy running a red light, totaling her M3

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

Usually 100% correct in replies, but got to reinforce the use of a plug patch. A patch alone will not keep the water from the steel belts and that will promote rust.

As with any reply, challenges arise, so I thought I'd quote straight from the NHTSA site on tire repair:

The proper repair of a punctured tire requires a plug for the hole and a patch for the area inside the tire that surrounds the puncture hole. Punctures through the tread can be repaired if they are not too large, but punctures to the sidewall should not be repaired. Tires must be removed from the rim to be properly inspected before being plugged and patched.

Tripnbeats

01 ur absolutely right.....that def is the correct way.... sadly the dealers dont care enough for that

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

Dam I wish this was posted F'n 2 days ago. The shop that I went to was trying to tell me that you don't do it like that when I was telling him that's how I thought it was done. So Right now they patched it from the inside and thas it. Maybe I should tell them to plug it from the outside too now but this would require them to dismount the tire and crap cuz you prolly can't tell where the hole was ne more. W/E.

hata_61

picking up screwes and nails can happen at any time and any where. i just had nails pulled out of both right side tires. i noticed both of them dropped in pressure. and what doyou know 2 big a** nails sticking out of it. i was kinda laughing and pissed at the same time.

but back to your situation, its a common pratice to repair nails and screw's if a tech notices it.and it should of been noted on the work order, or else the tech wouldnt of gotten paid for removing and repairing your tire. the service advisor probably screwed up and didnt note it.

01tl4tl

plugging a tire can be done on the car in seconds
If the tech had left something on his workspace floor and caused the flat--a secret repair is not unheard of

Why the air pressure was not properly set is a bigger question- the car was in for service- the tires are always supposed to get checked,,was the leak NOT fixed??
because it needs a real patch??

I've never seen anyone use both methods- but there it is in the govt handbook!
Hadn't considered belt rust to be an issue- interesting concept...at least they do get hot and dry out! that should help

For my car, on general exclaims, 1 tire has a patch inside from a month ago and now another is losing air...time to look for a nail
Road debris is a fact of life- thats why they sell tire road hazard insurance!
How old your car is has no bearing on when its going to get a flat-- it will someday

Note- you are not supposed to track day on tires with a patch- possible it will come loose under the extra duress--a flat tire at speed always sucks

Tripnbeats

oooooo good words of advice bro....never thought of that

01tl4tl

just a wee or wheeeeeeee!!!! bit more of side loading and tire rolling flex at the track than on the street

I was bummed when I got my first nail
At least it was fixable for now and replace before fun season starts

phee

iTrader: (5)

they have to call in order to get approval. sounds like foul play