TL Boris

Just had a flat this weekend 3500 miles into the life of the tire. It was a nice long nail straight in it turns out. I ended up going to Sears (only shop open on Sundays with a replacement in stock (not an EL42) in case they couldn't fix it. Turns out they said the tire was fine (I didn't ride on it very long at all) and $17 later its all better.

Interestingly enough though, when I called Firestone, they said they don't fix any tire V rated or above. And that wasn't apparantly geared to selling me a new one as they had none in stock for that size (figures).

So - is Firestone right about not fixing higher speed rated tires? Should I replace this patched tire before trying to get up to 168mph on a downhill stretch?

Also - what kind of milage are people getting out of the EL42's?

Ron A

That sounds like baloney to me. I have never heard of a problem repairing any speed rated tire.

I prefer patches to plugs, but there is an article in the Technical Correspondence section of Road&Track, January 2005 issue, stating Michelin allows plug repairs on their tires. It has to be done with a special plug using the approved Michelin repair kit, and this statement is only applicable to Michelin tires.

Maybe Firestone is adopting the CYA philosophy, in case something were to go wrong, but I think any other dealer, and of course Sears did do the repair, would not have a problem performing the repair.

fasttl

The point is that they can't warrant the speed rating after a puncture. Unless you drive over 130 all the time it should not be a problem. I hope sears fixed it the right way, an internal patch. If the fixed with a sticky piece of rubber through the hole take it back and have them fix it appropriately.

DMZ

Worse than average susceptability to flats are another common problem with the Bullshitstone EL-42's that isn't being talked about very much. I had 2 before I tossed them at 600 miles. They're garbage...plain and simple.
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mickey3c

Over the years it appears the manufacturers tend to replace vs repair tires. People tend to do that as well.. If I routinely visited 90 on my tires I would replace a punctured tire and get rid of the tires when the tread was just over 1/2 worn.

The main reason is safety as well as being able to drive the car the way you want. I alway hate it when the tires are past their 1/2 life. Time for new shoes....

04TLMan

Check out the poll for EL42 mileage.

https://acurazine.com/forums/ramblings-12/rejection-who-got-bad-107171/