runflat tyre - repair?

[mini_sco]

hey, the runflat light came up today so i drove to bmw garage, they said it got a nail in it the recommended i go to kwik-fit, they checked it over, but no pressure loss in any tyres, found nail but it was stuck in tread, only about 4mm went in tyre, still no air coming out when nail removed?
reset runflat-light - hasnt com on again...
what should i do,,

[mini_sco]

Cheers

[woodman]

Leave It If It Isnt Punctured You Should Be Ok Your Safe As Houses On Rfts Anyway

[anthony.manders]

I had a similar thing when i had a screw stuck in one my pirelli runflats in the tread. Rang the local tyre centre and they said to pull it out to prevent it penetrating further and then to simply put some spit on the hole and look for bubbles of air escaping. If this doesn't happen its ok.

I have done another 1000 miles since, and had no problems

[BlueZed]

Hi mini_sco

I got a puncture a week or so ago, with only about 700km on my car. Wasn't thrilled about having to shell out the best part of €200 for a new one so tried to get it repaired. Very few places wanted to touch it, saying it had to be replaced. In the end a nice chap plugged the hole for a tenner, and she's been fine since! If the repair fails fair enough, but it's better than shelling out the full replacement straight away! To be honest though I'm not really worried about the physical condition of the tyre as it never lost total pressure, just down to about 2/3 and it only lost about 4psi overnight after refilling so the walls should be in safe condition internally.

Bit wierd that your sensor went off when the tyre hadn't lost any pressure...i.e. didn't change diameter.

[beken]

When I had a nail, my MINI dealer would not fix it. They would only sell me a new tire. So I took it to my local Pirelli dealer. They mentioned that the runflats have some self sealing ability to prevent air loss. But when they pulled the nail out, the air came out too. So they did an inside patch. That is, they actually dismount the tire from the wheel and patch the hole from the inside. Only some tire shops will work on runflats so look carefully.

I've not had a problem since.

[BlueZed]

Not sure about the ability to self-seal themselves, they'd need some kind of gel inside them to do that. What they have at least is a resistance to pumping out all of the air due to stiff tyrewalls. I'd be interested to know why with a run-flat it is recommended that you patch internally as well, when it's normally fine to just plug a conventional tyre.
I would probably have done that myself, but due to nobody having the knowledge to fix a run-flat here in Dublin I decided the above repair would do fine unless it spat the plug out, in which case I will have to buy a new tyre anyway.

Anyone know if the spacesavers can be had with the slightly bigger overall diameter on 16in wheels?

[mini_sco]

it happened again, had to shell out another £100 on new tyre.... can u repair dunlop runflats????
i dont want to sell car if this keps happening???

[GARY GP]

was it in the front wheel if it was swop it on the back if it blows !!

[Coop-a-Loop]

Dunlop says you can repair their run-flats only once each tire......two flats=new tire. I had the same tire go flat twice and fixed it twice, even tho the tire repair shop said they shouldn't repair it twice......3000 mi later it is still working fine. Another tire guy I know said the runflats are just like any other tire.....except the sidewall. Some of the higher priced runflats by other manufacturers say replace them after one flat. Sounds like a money maker for them. Motor On!

[mini_sco]

nah this is a different tyre i got a new one for the last putcture back off-side, today i got it on the front off-side>>>> im prob going to sell car as i cant pay £100+ every 6weeks for a new tyre!!!

[beken]

On the weekend, my other rear tire (the one that didn't have a nail last time) triggered my tire pressure light to come on. It was down about 5 lbs. So I took it to my local Pirelli dealer. He found a nail in the tread and put the tire in water. But didn't see any air coming out. So he pulled the nail and still no air came out so put the tire back on. Actually, I took the opportunity to do a tire rotation. After reset, the tire pressure light has not come back on. (two days of driving).

So I'm not sure if the Pirelli's really do have some resistance to losing air and possibly "self seal" a little bit or the nail just didn't go in that deep.

In any case, the tire did not need repair. The tire guy also said it wasn't so much as the sidewalls are stiff that causes problems with fixing them as the profiles are low. To him, low profile tires are more problematic than runflats. He wouldn't recommend plugging a low profile tire either. An inside patch would be better. This made more sense to me.

[X30YES]

You can buy a tyre pug repair kit ..sort of pop rivet gun with rubber plugs
www.newminiscotland.co.uk

[Vitesse]

I personally wouldn't patch or plug. For the sake of saving myself £130.00 I would replace the tyre.

But the good thing about runflats is your not going to suffer the sort of catastrophic blow out you could encounter with non runflats at speed. I couldn't give a monkeys about how quick I might potentially go around a corner and how much grip, I might have or have not my life is more precious!

[Jim Dolbel]

All these continual punctures, are you sure someone is not spiking your tyres.

An overbearing boss I once knew was continually getting flat tyres until he lightened up on the staff.
( for the record I had nothing to do with it but I know who did ).