I know it's a dumb question, BUT, I found a screw in my driverside rear tire. If I were to get it patched, would that cause the speed rating to no longer be valid? If the tires on my car weren't so new then I wouldn't care but I just bought them and the last time I looked they were $ 81 a piece.

 

Yes, it will lower your speed rating one rating lower. Atleast thats what we told customers when I worked for Discount tire. Although IMO if you use a combination plug patch, it would affect it very much at all.

 

81 bucks a piece isn't that bad...but it's worth getting patched if they're pretty new still.

 

Here is what sold me on never patching tires......

Police cars will NOT patch tires, they buy new ones. Yes, they have obscene amounts of tax dollars to spare. Still, if the boys in blue wont patch them......Im not going to either.

 

Yes, a patch or plug or both will lower the speed rating of your tire. I just went around and around with Firestone with this same issue . I run the Wide Ovals. I got a new tire.

 

Which makes you more uneasy, a patch or a screw.


My .02 is that the screw presents 10,000 times a bigger threat to you then a patch does any day.

 

I don't get what you're saying, surely you don't think that I'm naive enough to leave the screw in my tire rather then get a patch? I plan on getting it patched and I was just wondering if when patched, the tire would be considered a lower speed rating, not that my car would do 168 MPH or I am dumb enough to try 150-155 MPH it on a public road.

 

It's actually not a dumb question at all. It would be great to hear what the tire manufacturers would have to say about this.

 

Well I took my wheel to a shop, the shop pulled the tire off of the wheel and luckily the screw did not go through the tire, it was just in the tread sideways, at an angle. I looked at the tire from the inside and it was just fine. I'm so much happier now that the screw didn't puncture the tire, he put a patch on it just to be safe.

The tire not being punctured would explain why the tire was holding the same air pressure just fine, but I wanted to make sure it was fine instead of just pulling the screw out of it.

 

I worked at tire shops for several years while in college and remember reading about this very topic. Each manufacturer has their own guidelines/opinions with respect to this topic and related plug/patch scenarios. The guidelines on how many plugs/patches can safely be used on one tire and the required spacing between them varies by manufacturer, and each manufacturer decides if plugging/patching a tire voids the speed rating. I don't recall specific manufacturer's take on the subject, but there are definitely manufacturers that say repairing a tire voids the speed rating. I believe some say the speed rating is still valid under certain conditions (i.e. the right type of plug/patch is used and only one per tire).

From personal experience, I would be sure that a one piece plug & patch style repair is done. I think they are much better than a separate plug and/or patch. Also, it's sad how poorly most places train their employees in performing repairs. New hires off the street often times perform repairs and don't have a clue about how to do it properly.

 

After getting a nail through my Nitto DR, I found myself contemplating this same question. From all the experts I talked to, they pretty much came to the same conclusion that "yes" it will lower your speed rating. Most of them said the fastest I could safely drive the tire would be highway speeds only.

Even knowing this, my highway speed is a little faster than others, and I can vouch that a patched and plugged Nitto DR held fine at 165 for about 2-3 miles. Having said this, I would not reccomend it, and later (only days) I had the tire completly replaced as well because I didn't feel safe doing that on that tire on a consistant basis, especially after heating them up and racing them at the drag strip as well.

 

gummy type plugs that service stations do are bad for tires.

make sure you get an RMA type repair. A rubber filler fills the hole, a patch is used on the inside, and a sealant is applied over the patch

thats the way we at discount tire do it, and wont touch a tire that hasnt been done the same

 

hell i had 8 patches in one of my kdw's once and i drove on it untill they wore down to metal and im still alive

 

why even bother buying Z rated tires when the speed limits are only up to 75mph in the US?
and don't say that you bring your car to the track (road course), becuase it you can afford to track your car, you can afford race tires for your track excursions.

btw, I patch my 555's and RII's if they get punctured, never use those plug things.

 

They're 'W' rated (168 MPH) Kumho Ecsta ASX tires in case anybody is wondering what kind of tire they are and the screw was just in the tread, it didn't puncture the tire so it is fine.