Acura used a Tire Plug to repair my tire, is that safe & reliable?

so if they blow smoke up your skirt about the whole braking system
needing to be replaced because the vehicle is supposedly "dangerous to
drive" after only 35k miles, would you give them the go-ahead over the
phone?

 

I apologize for the use of the word "idiot".

You asked the same question numerous times in at least two groups. It
looked like you were fishing for someone to say "no" and would keep asking
the same question until someone did.

Sure seemed like it. You appeared to me to be deeply suspicious of what the
dealer had done, and were going to keep hounding the question until you got
the answer you wanted.

 

"shopping for the answer I like". Happens all the time.

that's how I saw it.

 

Thanks for apologizing. Sorry I snapped back at you.

Maybe I am behind the times, but I was mainly just skeptical about the
idea of plugging a tire from the outside to repair a leak (never had
one done to any of my tires before) and wanted to get some opinions.
It seems that some people don't trust plugs, but a lot of people say
they are fine.

I did ask the original question 2 times (once in this group and once
in the acura group). Two posts doesn't seem numerous.

I probably don't trust the dealer as much as I should, since they are
in a position of power.

Anyway, thanks for your opinion about the plugs.

Thanks,

J
----------------------------------------

 

I don't think I was hounding it. I did ask it on two different groups
though.

 

Absolutely not. I'd get a second opinion.

Which is exactly what we did last year when the local Toyota dealer claimed
we needed a new A/C condenser at the cost of $1,400. A second opinion from
another garage showed a new condenser was not required. The job was done at
that garage for $80, and the system is still working fine.

I'd say errors and incompetence outnumber "ripoffs" at least 100 to one.

 

i disagree because i've seen it both ways - you, as a known quantity,
going back to the same old shops, and as a male [sorry ladies - car
repairers are biased] are not going to get the same smoke blown up you
as someone else that's known to be unaware. therefore your experience
will reflect that. however, i, as a person that is messed up enough to
like doing this stuff, will go into a shop "dumb", and enjoy the
bullshit of them talking their way into trouble. especially if i go in
dressed as "never-touch-a-car business dude" vs. "d.i.y. car repair
dude". or with a girlfriend and let her do the talking while i casually
stand about like we don't know each other.

there /are/ competent honest people about, but there are a /lot/ of
sharks in the auto biz. and they exploit the unaware.

 

If there is exploitation (and I do believe there is), I think it's more
because those repairmen get lazy and careless when dealing with the unaware
and take the easy route, knowing it's unlikely they'll be challenged on
their diagnosis.

It was my wife who brought the Tercel in to that Toyota dealer, and it was
she who was told the car needed a new A/C condenser. Shocked at the $1,400
quote, she told them she had to talk to me before allowing the work to be
done.

Would I have been told the same thing had I been the one to bring the car
in? Given the way the service advisor talked to me when I did call, I
suspect I would have. The advisor was certainly lazy and careless; among
other things, he never did ask the tech how he arrived at his diagnosis.
Given the value of the repair and knowing how the car's owner might be
expected to react to it, you would think he would have made absolutely sure
the diagnosis was correct before hitting the customer with it, and yet he
did nothing of the sort.

 

Well, now that everybody has hugged and made up, I will throw in my
$0,02 worth.

When radials replaced bias ply tires, plugs were found to distort the
tread and possible affect handling. So patching became the preferred
method. The gold standard was a "hot" patch, which actually melted to
the tire becoming permanent.

Then, radial tire plugs became available. They do not distort the
tread because over a few miles of driving the plug vulcanizes itself
to the tire, becoming permanent. The advantage is this permanent
repair can be done without dismounting the tire.

Now, the new gold standard seems to be a combination patch and plug.
The plug is inserted through the hole from the inside (thus requiring
taking the tire off of the rim) and also has a patch attached. The
plug vulcanizes to the tread and the patch glues itself to the inside
of the tire. The only real advantage of this kind of repair, I
understand, is that it preserves the speed rating of high speed
capability tires.

By the way, I did not know some of this stuff until I researched it on
the Internet. Google is your friend.



Elliot Richmond
Itinerant astronomy teacher

 

This is interesting information, but I must confess to some skepticism.

Outside of the carcass, a plug spreads to approximately a quarter-inch
in diameter and visibly distorts the tread, even with a radial plug (or
patch/plug combo) and a radial tire. Distortion is not much of a
practical issue with any plug or patch/plug combo.

It's my understanding that the "vulcanizing" that fixes a plug and/or
patch to a tire is a chemical reaction that results in the rubbers being
melted and mixed together in a sort of weld, much like airplane model
glues and the plastics used in those models. Plugs have always operated
in this manner, any increased reliability coming from improved
adhesives. Adhesives in the early '70s (when bias tires were last
common) were nothing like today's, and I'm sure there were instances of
adhesive failing and resulting in plug leaks.

It's also my understanding that the patch/plug combo is intended
primarily for very new or expensive tires, where the value of the tire
makes it worthwhile to incur the labor expense of dismounting and
remounting the tire for the sake of some reduction in the possibility of
failure. The older or more worn the tire, the less economic sense it
makes to take the belt-and-suspenders approach of a patch/plug combo,
especially considering the low failure ratio of properly-installed
modern plugs.

 

I know you've gotten plenty of answers but thought I would add my
personal experience. I am currently running with 2 plugged rear tires
in my Odyssey, and have put several thousand miles on them, including
all 4 seasons and several trips with a fully-loaded car (5 people and
cargo, including car-top carrier, for a week). No issues at all. And
one of the tires actually was pierced by a bolt that is about 2/3 of
an inch wide (they had to use 2 of the plugs!). Both holes were sealed
from the outside. I actually watched the second (big) hole being done,
the tire wasn't even taken off the car!

Dan D
'07 Ody EX
Central NJ USA