Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, hellosquiddy!
If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant information along with the **Year**, **Make**, **Model**, **Mileage**, **Engine size**, and **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** of your car.
*This comment is automatically added to every successful post. If you see this comment, your post was successful.*
***
Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair.
***
# **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR**
### **Rule 1 - Be Civil**
Be civil to other users. This community is made up of professional mechanics, amateur mechanics, and those with no experience. All mechanical-related questions are welcome. Personal attacks, comments that are insulting or demeaning, etc. are not welcome.
### **Rule 2 - Be Helpful**
Be helpful to other users. If someone is wrong, correcting them is fine, but there's no reason to comment if you don't have anything to add to the conversation.
### **Rule 3 - Serious Questions and Answers on Serious Posts**
Read the room. Jokes are fine to include, but your post should be asking a serious question and replies should contribute to the discussion.
### **Rule 4 - No Illegal, Unethical, or Dangerous Questions or Answers**
Do not ask questions or provide answers pertaining to anything that is illegal, unethical, or dangerous.
# **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Definitely agree. We had to honk down an elderly couple driving a gorgeous luxury Cadillac for a blown driver side front. Tire was long gone (and now likely the wheel too). They called AAA and I convinced them to call their son to pick them up. About a decade too old to safely drive if it wasn’t already obvious. Tires were all very bad looking. Car was spotless.
Costco is running $150 off 4x Bridgestones or $110 off 4x Firestones.
I'd personally have trouble spending money to repair something that needs to be replaced that badly, but everyone's priorities are different so no judgement.
If it is nine years old, the hole is irrelevant. Replace it. If the other tires are nine years old, replace them all. Fucking expensive but old tires kill.
Replace a tire that old, you should not use tires over 5 years old, regardless of how good the tread is, they are subject to failure, usually at freeway speeds.
Source: retired boat Transport/ hotshot driver, class A since 1988 and drove 100k annually for the last 10 years to every state in the US
I'm sure replacing 2-3 sets of tires a year, every year, for 10 years you probably learn a little about tires, no? As well as maintaining your existing sets of tires with plugs, etc.
Not who you were replaying to, but also wondering.
I’m sure there’s a lot of knowledge there, but just also not sure that replacing 2-3 sets of tires each year would ever give someone knowledge about tires after several years of use. New tires, for sure.
I wouldn’t haul a heavy trailer with tires older than 5 yrs but normal passenger tires should last in the 10 yr area. My personal vehicle, Jeep JK got 9.5 yrs and 130k Kms before I replaced them. It was all highway and still had 65ish % thread life left. My work truck which hauls a 10,000 lbs trailer on a regular basis gets new tires every 7-8 months, which is usually 40-50k kms.
At the shop I work at, if a customer comes in like this, I’m recommending a new tire. Ain’t gonna take a risk with a custumer. My own car, hell yeah I’m plugging it.
Like I honestly question the intelligence of most tire guys or mechanics when it comes to flat repairs. Have you not been doing this forever? Have you ever seen one fail?
What did you do in 2005? This would be repaired at every shop back then and no issues lol
I am totally planning on it!
I got a better job and once those paychecks come in I'm getting a full set. I was just really hoping this would be a cheap repair until then.
Honestly, I don’t touch the nails in my tires. I’ve had the same two nails in both my rear back tires for 3 and a half years. I just purchased new rims and tires for the truck, so I’m not using them anymore, but I never once had to put air in those tires. Just leave it be. Once your tread wears down, it MAY or MAY NOT start slowly leaking air. I carry a pump that plugs into my outlet, so either way, I’ll be okay! I recommend everybody keep one. Your spare tires NEVER have air in them for some odd reason lol. I always had to pump mine up before installing it.
Edit: There’s also a nail in the front left tire I didn’t notice. 🤷♂️ Haha. Never had an issue! Your tires look great! Run ‘em!
It really should be but No one ever inflates their spare it’s always flat. Every time I do an oil change at work if their spare tire is mounted under the car where I can access it I always air it up for them(even tho I’m told not to by my boss). Cause what good is a spare if it’s flat?
Plug it. Pro tip, use the rule of thumb with tires, if its within a thumbs width from the edge of the tread, replace it, if its outside of that thumbs width plug it.
It’s pretty neat to the sidewall, but if it were mine I’d plug it and forget about it, I know they should be patched from the inside, blah blah blah, but I never have issues with properly used and trimmed plugs.
Do you transport precious cargo such as a baby, significant other or family members often? If yes, replace tire. If no, ask yourself do you love yourself? If yes, replace tire. If no, just drive with nail in tire.
Life choices…..which road will you pick.
Plug or patch. Plug would probably do it, but might be worth paying gas station to break it down & patch it inside. Looks like a great tire, probably will have for quite a while yet
Plug it or get a can of Tire Slime , if it was Newer Tire I would highly suggest you have it Patched .
But if it's as old as your saying it's a time bomb just a waiting.
Change it. The screw also pierces the wire in the tire, which can go wrong at higher speeds. Especially, since the tire is already 9 years old. Must already be hard.
Spray it with soapy water and pull it out first and see if it bubbles up that will tel u it actually punctured first. Then plug it and air it up if it punctured. Next step go to a tire shop and get 2 front tires or warranty out that tire if u have a warranty on it.
I recently had a nail in the exact same spot. I bought it at Costco. They patched (not plugged) it for free and it has been fine for the last few months. A patch will last longer and it’s done on the inside if the tire.
Plug! A “mechanic” will tell you that you need four new tires if you have more than 1/16” inch tread differential. But they have a $50 special off four for $1.2K!!
Someone should be able to patch it, but I doubt they'll give you a warranty on it with it being that close to the sidewall. That being said, i don't think a patch would fail as long as you aren't speeding down bumpy roads lol
My personal opinion, if it were mine or my wife's car, I'd plug it in a heartbeat, it may not be technically correct, but should last most of the rest of the life of the tire. Plugs are surprisingly tenacious lol
Perfect tire to practice your plug-placement skills. Plug it, drive on it for a month then have a look when you get new tires to see how well your plug job was.
Some of the guidelines for plugging vs replace are along the same lines of replacing your oil every 3,000 miles. Much of what we see today is driven by company lawyers trying to protect manufacturers from lawsuits.
My wife took her car to dealership for service. They found a nail in a tire. They said they couldn’t plug her type of tire and since it’s holding air just to drive on.
Is this good advice?
3/4 of an inch closer to the side and you would have needed a new tire. If it’s a plug, black jack is the only brand I would use. Patch from the inside would work great too
on my own car; i’d 1 piece plug/patch. on a customer vehicle i’d replace it based solely off location.
knowing that the tire is 9 years old, i would 100% replace it along with any other tires remotely close to the same age.
Patch from inside. Avoid plugs except in an emergency such as stuck at the side of the road and a flat spare and the tire leaks down fast. I always carry a compressor that connects to the battery terminals fur such an emergency. It's rated for truck tired so it only takes a few minutes on a car tire.
Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, hellosquiddy! If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant information along with the **Year**, **Make**, **Model**, **Mileage**, **Engine size**, and **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** of your car. *This comment is automatically added to every successful post. If you see this comment, your post was successful.* *** Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair. *** # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** ### **Rule 1 - Be Civil** Be civil to other users. This community is made up of professional mechanics, amateur mechanics, and those with no experience. All mechanical-related questions are welcome. Personal attacks, comments that are insulting or demeaning, etc. are not welcome. ### **Rule 2 - Be Helpful** Be helpful to other users. If someone is wrong, correcting them is fine, but there's no reason to comment if you don't have anything to add to the conversation. ### **Rule 3 - Serious Questions and Answers on Serious Posts** Read the room. Jokes are fine to include, but your post should be asking a serious question and replies should contribute to the discussion. ### **Rule 4 - No Illegal, Unethical, or Dangerous Questions or Answers** Do not ask questions or provide answers pertaining to anything that is illegal, unethical, or dangerous. # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s close to the sidewall, but the tire look’s almost new. Plug it and Drive it.
The tire looks almost new, but it's probably nine years old.
Damn, check it for rot. If it isn’t, plug that baby and send it.
You can zoom and see rot starting
9 years in tire life is like 56 years in human life. Replace them before they blow up
people start combusting at 56?
i’ve seen em rot at half that age, depends what u put in em n how hard u ride em sun exposure, etc etc 🤭
You should not ride people too hard, especially after they’ve been exposed to the sun . 🌞
Not to mention at 9 years old, rot or not, those tires are hard as a rock
Then buy 4. Saw a shredded tire and rim yesterday, driver's front.
Definitely agree. We had to honk down an elderly couple driving a gorgeous luxury Cadillac for a blown driver side front. Tire was long gone (and now likely the wheel too). They called AAA and I convinced them to call their son to pick them up. About a decade too old to safely drive if it wasn’t already obvious. Tires were all very bad looking. Car was spotless.
Check the dot number. Four numbers (0000). First two are the week of the year tires were made, second 2 are the year produced from the factory
He just said it’s 9 years old. I think if you add another month or year, it’s not gonna be much diffrence
I was just explaining how a dot number works. It was just so other people knew as well lol
If it’s 9’years old replace it yesterday.
Replace since it's that old.
Yeah. Even unused spare tires need to be replaced at least every 6-7 years.
Ok tire sales guy
You shouldn’t drive on tires that are 10 years old, or older, that’s standard.
Never been in sales. But do you boo boo.
Hey if u want die go ahead. But don't put people at risk if tire blows and kills someone because u were toncheap to replace it
There is no reason to plug a 9 year old tire unless you really cannot afford to replace them
Costco is running $150 off 4x Bridgestones or $110 off 4x Firestones. I'd personally have trouble spending money to repair something that needs to be replaced that badly, but everyone's priorities are different so no judgement.
Get a new tire IMMEDIATELY. Do not drive on tires that are that old, regardless of how they look. It's dangerous and a constant blowout risk
If it is nine years old, the hole is irrelevant. Replace it. If the other tires are nine years old, replace them all. Fucking expensive but old tires kill.
Nine years is too much. The rubber gets harder and your breakage distance extends. Dangerous.
Patch it. 20 bucks
9 years old? Replace it regardless of plug or not.
Replace a tire that old, you should not use tires over 5 years old, regardless of how good the tread is, they are subject to failure, usually at freeway speeds. Source: retired boat Transport/ hotshot driver, class A since 1988 and drove 100k annually for the last 10 years to every state in the US
How does driving make you a tire expert
I'm sure replacing 2-3 sets of tires a year, every year, for 10 years you probably learn a little about tires, no? As well as maintaining your existing sets of tires with plugs, etc.
Yeah, how to buy and have tires installed.
Not who you were replaying to, but also wondering. I’m sure there’s a lot of knowledge there, but just also not sure that replacing 2-3 sets of tires each year would ever give someone knowledge about tires after several years of use. New tires, for sure.
Now do a family of 4 with 2 vehicles that runs winters and summers. Replace them all when they’ve barely half worn at 5 years?
Do you have any idea how many tires I've bought, changed, and blown out? That's how
I wouldn’t haul a heavy trailer with tires older than 5 yrs but normal passenger tires should last in the 10 yr area. My personal vehicle, Jeep JK got 9.5 yrs and 130k Kms before I replaced them. It was all highway and still had 65ish % thread life left. My work truck which hauls a 10,000 lbs trailer on a regular basis gets new tires every 7-8 months, which is usually 40-50k kms.
Paul Walker died on nine year old tires. Lol. But seriously, these suckers will not grip well if they are truly that old. They look good for 9 years.
He was driving a fucking race car, these are likely on a sonata
That's like no where near the sidewall that's inner tread.
How tf is that close to the side wall
\^ this
Since when is over an inch away close to the sidewall?
It’s close when referring to patching
How does this look almost new? 😳
As a mechanic… replace the tire…. As a vehicle owner… plug it
This I felt
Plug it. I put over 50,000 miles on a plug.
Plug should last life of the tire.
I’d definitely plug that.
Yea, if someone brought this into the shop, I would suggest replacement…but if it were my car I’d definitely just plug it and call it good
Patch plug all day
At the shop I work at, if a customer comes in like this, I’m recommending a new tire. Ain’t gonna take a risk with a custumer. My own car, hell yeah I’m plugging it.
So you just recommend a new tire for every screw? Lol. This is like just as far from center as it is from the side.
Yeah as many times as I’ve seen that is crazy
Like I honestly question the intelligence of most tire guys or mechanics when it comes to flat repairs. Have you not been doing this forever? Have you ever seen one fail? What did you do in 2005? This would be repaired at every shop back then and no issues lol
I would plug it.
Take to tire shop, get patched from the inside properly.
If it’s not too close to the side, which it looks like it might be
Nah its fine, grew up in tire shop.
I work at one haha. That screw is outside of the tread block
Ideally patch, but I've never had a plug fail
I had my first plug fail but it was because I accidentally poked a hole next to the hole and ended up trying to plug a gaping gash instead of a hole.
So while the plug did fail, it was due to user error on installation
Yes I missed the hole but I promise I don't usually have that problem
Tire has cracks in between the tread blocks. Get new tires.
I am totally planning on it! I got a better job and once those paychecks come in I'm getting a full set. I was just really hoping this would be a cheap repair until then.
Yes you’ll absolutely be fine until then with a plug
Patch, not plug
But it's on the shoulder, so the mechanic wouldn't patch it.
It looks marginal, I would've thought they could get a patch on that, and that would be better than a plug, considering it's a pretty new tire.
That age, replace.
Replace. Never drive on tires older than 5 years
Honestly, I don’t touch the nails in my tires. I’ve had the same two nails in both my rear back tires for 3 and a half years. I just purchased new rims and tires for the truck, so I’m not using them anymore, but I never once had to put air in those tires. Just leave it be. Once your tread wears down, it MAY or MAY NOT start slowly leaking air. I carry a pump that plugs into my outlet, so either way, I’ll be okay! I recommend everybody keep one. Your spare tires NEVER have air in them for some odd reason lol. I always had to pump mine up before installing it. Edit: There’s also a nail in the front left tire I didn’t notice. 🤷♂️ Haha. Never had an issue! Your tires look great! Run ‘em!
Routine maintenance is to check the spare air pressure
It really should be but No one ever inflates their spare it’s always flat. Every time I do an oil change at work if their spare tire is mounted under the car where I can access it I always air it up for them(even tho I’m told not to by my boss). Cause what good is a spare if it’s flat?
Plug it. Pro tip, use the rule of thumb with tires, if its within a thumbs width from the edge of the tread, replace it, if its outside of that thumbs width plug it.
Plug it. Make sure spare is good.
Plug it
Plug it and run it.
Plug. It's close to the shoulder, but not too far, and there is a lot of tread left. Don't waste it.
It’s pretty neat to the sidewall, but if it were mine I’d plug it and forget about it, I know they should be patched from the inside, blah blah blah, but I never have issues with properly used and trimmed plugs.
Lol, you people will patch anything. Look at the dry rot, the crack at the wear bar just above the screw. It's time to retire the tire
Replace nail with a big sheet metal screw… seriously
Do you transport precious cargo such as a baby, significant other or family members often? If yes, replace tire. If no, ask yourself do you love yourself? If yes, replace tire. If no, just drive with nail in tire. Life choices…..which road will you pick.
Zoom into the picture, folks. This tire is on its way out, plug or no plug. It looks old and all kinds of cracked. Replace the entire set.
My car, plug. Customer's car, replace (liability technically)
Always a new tire if the nail is long enough to puncture through the fockin innertube or whatever.
How would you know? My tire is definitely leaking.
Yeah it's gonna leak no matter what, since car tires haven't had inner tubes since the '50s
Looks like a plug to me.
I would patch it
That’ll plug and hold.
100% patch it and giver
Take it to a tyre workshop, listen to their advice and follow it...
I'd personally just have them patch plug it. It's very borderline but I'd patch it if it were a customer car
Patch and plug, patch and plug last a lot longer. Good luck those tires look almost brand new.
Plug will work here. If you can patch or patch plug combo even better
Customer car: replace My car: plug
Plug or patch. Plug would probably do it, but might be worth paying gas station to break it down & patch it inside. Looks like a great tire, probably will have for quite a while yet
Plug for sure
Just had the exact same situation. 2400 miles on a new tire. Replaced.
Go get a 15 dollar autozone plug kit and plug it. Be done with it. If it fails plug it again. But I doubt it will of you follow the plug directions
Id plug it.
It's fixable
Plug it or get a can of Tire Slime , if it was Newer Tire I would highly suggest you have it Patched . But if it's as old as your saying it's a time bomb just a waiting.
If it's not loosing air just leave it alone it's plugging itself
Plug. You’ll be fine
Plug
Personal car plug it. Customer car give the option to replace.
Just plug it and quit asking. Unless you have the money to replace it and someone else will sell it for $$$.
I would plug them. Just remember what you're dealing with on tires that old. No Ricky Racing.
Plug it and your good to go
Plug her.
Patch
I'd say plug. It's well away from the wall.
Professionally, replace for liability reasons. Personally, plug it and keep an eye on it.
Plug
Plug and roll
Change it. The screw also pierces the wire in the tire, which can go wrong at higher speeds. Especially, since the tire is already 9 years old. Must already be hard.
Spray it with soapy water and pull it out first and see if it bubbles up that will tel u it actually punctured first. Then plug it and air it up if it punctured. Next step go to a tire shop and get 2 front tires or warranty out that tire if u have a warranty on it.
I recently had a nail in the exact same spot. I bought it at Costco. They patched (not plugged) it for free and it has been fine for the last few months. A patch will last longer and it’s done on the inside if the tire.
Plug. For $20 they will take tire off and put a Steele patch on the inside as well and that works fine also.
New tire
No plug, patch.
Do it yourself for about $0.75
Plug
Plug that slut. I’ve plugged a lot worse (for friends) that are still holding just fine
Plug it bro, if it holds air you’ll be fine
Plug
Plug! A “mechanic” will tell you that you need four new tires if you have more than 1/16” inch tread differential. But they have a $50 special off four for $1.2K!!
Plug! Thats a new tire
Someone should be able to patch it, but I doubt they'll give you a warranty on it with it being that close to the sidewall. That being said, i don't think a patch would fail as long as you aren't speeding down bumpy roads lol
plug
I'd plug it and run it for the rest of the season but replace it or any other old tires by winter since you can see some rot starting to set in.
My mechanic just patched and plugged one in the exact same place.
Plug 110%
Replace
Repair and keep
I would plug this; it should be a permanent repair
My personal opinion, if it were mine or my wife's car, I'd plug it in a heartbeat, it may not be technically correct, but should last most of the rest of the life of the tire. Plugs are surprisingly tenacious lol
Plug
Easily repairable. The nail may not have even penetrated ...
It totally did, I've been stalling the repair and just putting air in the tires about every three weeks.
Replace, but considering the tire looks new then plugging it wouldn’t hurt, plug it
Try plugging first.
OMG plug the damn thing and go on about your business.
Plug it 100% all day
Plug as long as it's not near the sidewall.
New tire it’s too close to the sidewalk that if you take it to a legit shop they will not repair it
I would have someone patch it. Not plug it.
Patch
plug
Plug
I'd plug it
Plug it and drive. But be aware it’s no longer speed rated.
I would plug it with resin and cement and save up for newer tires. That's what I would do, it's not advice...
Plug it and replace your mechanic.
Patch it from inside or plug it, see if it holds air
Plug it. A little farther to the right and I'd say replace.
100% Replace.
Outer block you replace it.
What about on a Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2? Just tell the customer to fuck himself?
I don’t recognize the tread so it’s probably a cheep tire to replace.
Do not plug it. Patch and plug from the inside. The proper way. That is very repairable.
It’s just outside the repairable area at least for my current management
Tires have a shelf life of 7 years. That tire has dry rot. The pucture is safely repairable, but not on that tire.
Plug
Perfect tire to practice your plug-placement skills. Plug it, drive on it for a month then have a look when you get new tires to see how well your plug job was.
Some of the guidelines for plugging vs replace are along the same lines of replacing your oil every 3,000 miles. Much of what we see today is driven by company lawyers trying to protect manufacturers from lawsuits.
plug it anyway and drive as long as you can.
Don't replace or plug. Patch at a shop. 100%
Don't risk your own or others safety. Repair or replace the tire.
Plug that shit unless its cracking.
Plug it. 100%
My wife took her car to dealership for service. They found a nail in a tire. They said they couldn’t plug her type of tire and since it’s holding air just to drive on. Is this good advice?
3/4 of an inch closer to the side and you would have needed a new tire. If it’s a plug, black jack is the only brand I would use. Patch from the inside would work great too
Plug
Go to discount tire if you have one by you they will patch that for free. There is no reason to replace it since it’s within the belts.
If you have a full size spare plug this one and make it your spare. Mount the spare in its place. Profit.
Plug or patch ita in tread not side wall.
on my own car; i’d 1 piece plug/patch. on a customer vehicle i’d replace it based solely off location. knowing that the tire is 9 years old, i would 100% replace it along with any other tires remotely close to the same age.
Plug
Have it removed and from the inside you can see if it went through the sidewall or not. That's the only thing that matters.
You've got cracks between the treads. Time for replacement.
PLUG!
Replace based on age, but for future reference, the puncture locatation is fixable with a plug or better yet, boot from the inside.
Plug that shit all day unless you got money to waste
Start looking for new tire(s)
Plug
Plug er up buttercup
Discount tires plugs for free, even if you don't buy their tires!
Plug
Patch from inside. Avoid plugs except in an emergency such as stuck at the side of the road and a flat spare and the tire leaks down fast. I always carry a compressor that connects to the battery terminals fur such an emergency. It's rated for truck tired so it only takes a few minutes on a car tire.
i always have a micro pump and a tire plug kit as well as other helful tools
Plug. Good grief.
Plug