[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by bullrun87

I got the pressure in my tires checked today and a minor puncture was found in the front right tire near the sidewall area. Please have a look at the photographs and see whether this repair job is safe or the tire needs to be scrapped. This is a new tyre used for 8000kms only.

As far as my knowledge goes - and I have had a sidewall puncture on one of my tyres as well - sidewall punctures cannot be repaired. Please replace the tyre ASAP, it is simply not safe to drive with that puncture.

Did you, by any chance, hit a rut/pothole recently?

[bullrun87]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

As far as my knowledge goes - and I have had a sidewall puncture on one of my tyres as well - sidewall punctures cannot be repaired. Please replace the tyre ASAP, it is simply not safe to drive with that puncture.

Did you, by any chance, hit a rut/pothole recently?

I believe I did hit a pothole at some speed yesterday.
Is this the sidewall of the tyre or the shoulder? My tyre guy said the puncture was minor and in the shoulder not the sidewall. According to him the repair will hold up nicely. I do a lot of highway runs that's why I am so concerned about this tyre.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by bullrun87

I believe I did hit a pothole at some speed yesterday.
Is this the sidewall of the tyre or the shoulder? My tyre guy said the puncture was minor and in the shoulder not the sidewall. According to him the repair will hold up nicely. I do a lot of highway runs that's why I am so concerned about this tyre.

Shoulder repairs are likely to hold, but marginal. If you go through the rest of this thread, there are instances of shoulder punctures giving way unexpectedly and suddenly as well.

If the puncture repair is holding up OK, you could keep this tyre as a spare only. Do not compromise on tyre safety at all, especially since you say you do a lot of highway runs.

[bullrun87]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Shoulder repairs are likely to hold, but marginal. If you go through the rest of this thread, there are instances of shoulder punctures giving way unexpectedly and suddenly as well.

If the puncture repair is holding up OK, you could keep this tyre as a spare only. Do not compromise on tyre safety at all, especially since you say you do a lot of highway runs.

I am thinking of putting this tire in the boot. All my tires are about 8000kms old and the current spare is already badly patched up . Do u think using a brand new tyre with a 8000 kms old tire is a bad idea? I mean the tread depths will be different.

[sumzup]

My two cents bullrun, you can put a heat patch. It is quite safe; I have put it in one of my tyres since 5000km without any niggles. If you are in bangalore then try tyremaster at minerva circle. He is one of the best and has been there long enough.

[Rahul Rao]

@bullrun87
As KiloAlpha says this is a shoulder puncture, and not a side wall one. Get it repaired and use it, many times the plugs sets fully after a run, the tyre has to heat up and cool down to grip it properly. If you just keep it as a spare it may not set and leak again.

[ssambyal1980]

Hello BHPians, I have a query regarding damage to the sidewall of a tubeless tyre. Recently I discovered a minor cut on the sidewall, measured its depth and found it to be approximately 1mm deep. The tyre specifications are 165 /80 R14 (MRF ZV2K), currently installed on front left side of a Swift Dzire Vxi. What should be the further course of action, will it be safe to continue using it or should it be positioned on either of the rear sides or better still should be kept as a spare? Please advise.

Here is the photograph

[sumzup]

Hi sambyal, pls refer my earlier post on Nov 07 for more details. Hope it helps and happy motoring

[SpoiledBratt]

I personally had a similar horrible experience around an year back. I had returned to India after completing an International deputation abroad and I did not have the official parking alloted to me that time which was in progress. I parked my Honda Brio nearby to my office (road side) surrounded by other cars. To my surprise when I returned I found all tyres of my car were punctured intentionally and the same for few other cars parked in the vicinity. I had to get it towed using a flat bed truck. When I got the punctures repaired the next day - there were total 26 punctures (7 each front wheels + 6 each rear wheels) and all on the side walls. They were punctured using a hot thick pin. And the tyres had run just 16K KMS. I got them repaired at fixed price for 2100 bucks. Though the puncture repair guy had done an excellent job repairing them as since then I have not even got an additional puncture on them and on top of that none of the tyres lost any air since then. I am currently running on MRF ZVTV. Now the ODO reading is 47K and I am planning for an upgrade inspite that it can still run 7K more. But I have lost confidence on the tyres and I have limited my speed always to initial triple digits only which is also very risky. I am now preferring XM2 185/65 R14 or 195/60 R14 for a silent ride. Size is just what I have to zero'ed down to.

[Dr.Naren]

There was shoulder puncture. It was fixed with plug. I drove around 250 KM and noticed that pressure has dropped by 15 PSI. I am getting the hot patch fix done. Hope it is safe.

[Dr.Naren]

As mentioned in previous post, I got the puncture fixed by hot patch. My plan was to keep this tyre as spare and replace ASAP. But, I wanted to give it a try. I drove around 700 KM after the fix. There is no leak. The cost was Rs. 500. Hot patch is applied on inner side.

[sgiitk]

A sidewall puncture, is the end of the tyre, but as has been pointed out a shoulder puncture may not be that fatal. in any case I will err on the side of caution.

[rocksterraghu]

Let's try to understand the risk here:
- An unskilled person assures you that a few hundred rupee procedure will keep the tyre going. You trust him and put your loved ones and yourself at risk every time you go on the highway.
- A proper R&D driven tyre company sells you a replacement tyre for a few thousand rupees and you have peace of mind.
Which one would you choose?

I would not be able to forgive myself if one of those sidewall/shoulder fixes ended up in losing my loved ones.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

A sidewall puncture, is the end of the tyre, but as has been pointed out a shoulder puncture may not be that fatal. in any case I will err on the side of caution.

Yes, I would not have even bothered to fix it if it was sidewall puncture. I was very confused as it was on shoulder.

Originally Posted by rocksterraghu

I would not be able to forgive myself if one of those sidewall/shoulder fixes ended up in losing my loved ones.

True.

I have posted before that I just wanted to try if hot patch works. Yes, it did work. But I have driven only 750 km. Many friends and Bhpians adviced to not run with repaired tyre. I have followed the advice and got rid of damaged tyre now .

I believe that

Sidewall puncture = discard the tyre
Shoulder puncture = fix it with hot patch and keep it as spare (Replace tyre should be safer option)

Cheers!

[zaheer5776]

Story: I was out of station for two days and my car was parked at home. In my absence my 5 years old son got hold of soft board pins/push pins while playing and he pushed those pins into side walls of my Tata Nano's 4 tubeless tyres. I had replaced all the tyres to new ones recently (hardly 2000 km done)

Action taken: I immediately removed one of the flat tyres and took it to the tyre shop to checked the damage and found that there were 4 punctures at different locations in that tyre. I am sure all other tyres have been damaged equally. I was advised to replace all the tyres or use tubes of Maruti 800 (12 inch) since tubes for Nano's tyres are not manufactured.

My Question: Is it advisable to use Maruti 800's tube? I am personally not in favour for using tubes inside the tyres but the tyres are new so I am not sure what has to be done. I normally go for long distance inter city drives in my Nano as its very reliable car. I have attached picture of the pins used. Thanks!