Slow tire leak turns out to be a $500 replacement tire.

So I had a slow leak in my right rear, took I'm in today for what I was hoping s $10 plug. Turns out I've got a screw along the side wall close to the tread. $473 for a new oem PS2 tire. That's before mounting and balancing. Yuck.

thats sucks//..I had both my back tires cut.. Sidewalls looked like a knife cut on each.. I was pissed. And the tire shop damaged the beads on both fronts uninstalling them so i could get my rims repowder coated..

$473 and they didn't toss in the mount and balance, guess they calculated that would have killed the net revenue. Its lovely the way Porsche car owners are treated, everyone wants a shot at that wallet, they surmise everyone who drives these has a bankroll like Don Sterling.

I was honored with a $600 bill by Porsche San Antonio in a similar situation.

I have had tire shops patch it from inside the tire on my other cars when i got a nail in it in the corners of the tread and sidewall. They will usually try to sell you tires in situations like that. Specially when the tire is fairly new i dont see any problems having that done.

Gents...bitch as you will, however realize you drive high performance vehicles. It would be deadly to have a tire fail at speed because the it was compromised.

Never said different Mr. Bull, I would never patch a tire in that area. Just making the point that given the luxury of time, (might take a day or two to get a tire like that) a tire shop would do the same work with the same product at far less expense. If the dealer has it ready the same day that is what the premium is all about.

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I learned my lesson going to that dealer. They did a wheel alignment on my car and didn't get it right the first time. Then they charged me a small fortune for an oil change.

I've driven performance cars my entire life. The price of tires has always been a rub, but it comes with the territory. It just stinks when one goes prematurely. Oh well. Can't cut corners when it comes to tires.

I'm on my third replacement tire in three years due to (in order); 6" triangular piece of 1/4" thick steel in fast lane, (left rear exploded @ 120kph), roofing nail in edge of tire near sidewall (left rear slow leak) and finally (hopefully) pothole broke bead (right rear wouldn't re-seal on rim) last fall. Sigh. I more then feel your pain. So far I'm good on front tires! Oh wait, they're wearing out from couple of track days... I had one of the rear tires plugged, but to tell you the truth I never trusted it enough for the track and changed it out after pulling the car out of storage in the spring. With all the forces acting on the rear tires of a rear engined car it just wasn't worth it - its not like our cars are little Nissan Micro's or anything...

Agreed.

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That's a risky repair and I'm surprised a tire shop, even indies, would do such a repair. The internal patch is a good way to fix a tire but the problem is with a hole too close to the sidewall is excessive flexing and even a plug and internal patch won't hold up.

I've become a believer in tire road hazard "insurance". Before I never bought this but some few tire sets back I noticed the few extra dollars per tire charge for this and let it stand. Then some time later a tire got a nail and I went to the dealer to get the tire fixed. I was told the dealer no longer fixes tires but the SM remembered the road hazard coverage -- I had forgotten about it -- and I got a new tire free of charge, including balance and mounting. The $28 I paid for road hazard coverage for 4 tires paid off big time. That wasn't the only time. Nailed a tire on my Turbo. The rear tire was replaced free of charge. Then not too long after the new tire was installed damned if the new tire didn't get a nail or something in it. Another new tire. On one set of tires, I racked up over 20K miles and a rear tire got a puncture. Tech checked the remaining tread depth and it was 3mm which qualified the tire to be replaced under the road hazard coverage. 'course, I had to pay for a new time on the other side, but the tires were close to requiring replacement. Anyhow, I'm a fan of road hazard coverage. Before with other cars flats were not an big deal. I drove years without getting a flat tire. Just didn't happen. Tires didn't cost that much, were easy to find and get installed. Not so with the Porsches. With my Porsches the fat soft tires seem to pick up everything and I'm pretty careful about where I drive and how I drive in parking lots, etc. (SM at local dealer tells me I'm not alone. He gets in several vehicles a week with something in a tire. He says it is getting worse all the time.) Tires are hard to find, sometimes have to be ordered, and I don't trust my car to any tire shop. I've had to stop too many techs at one of these places from lifting the car wrong to turn my car over to one of them again. (When I use a local indy tire shop for tire repair I take the wheel off the car and carry it over to the tire shop.) And no dealer will fix a tire. I have an indy tire shop near by that will fix a tire if it is fixable, but about 1 time out of 3 it is not fixable. Tire road hazard coverage has been a real money saver for me. Up to you of course, but you might want to look into it if you are having tire problems often.

All shops that don't include the instalation and ballancing in the price are a$$holes.

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It's pro rated on depth remaining so they look at your mileage against tread depth left and pretty much figure out you've done some track days and offer up a discount (at best) on a new set after pointing out the clause about 'off road use'... If you get lucky/unlucky - you get that nail after a month of use. Come in three or four months later with half tread depth and 3000 kms (more) on the dial with a nail and unless your a repeat customer, they won't honor the guarantee. Remember, the shop isn't offering the road hazard, its an insurance company underwriting the plan and the cost of the replacement tire coming out of the shop's stock or ordered from the warehouse is invoiced to the insurance company or the tire brand, (if they run the plan internally). Many shops are audited on this to prevent abuse. Generally your correct on tire insurance but this depends on type of vehicle. Does it make sense to pay for insurance on a tire like the pilot cup that sees track use and is of short life span? Or more sense on a tire for a SUV? I'm just unlucky with tires. Maybe I should hire one of those shamans to sprinkle holy water on all new tires I buy?

I carry my own radial plug kit. I'd rather spend 10 minutes on the side of the road or in a parking lot plugging the hole than deal with a flatbed tow truck with an angle of approach designed to rip off my front bumper. The last time I got a deck screw in my tire was on the Corvette, sometime prior to a Friday night 1/8 mile drag. I got flagged off after my first run - apparently, the sparks from the screw made the burnout epic, but a little scary for the water-box guys. Tire shops' reluctance/refusal to repair tires is one of the reasons I won't buy $500 tires any more. The other reason is that I'm too cheap, but this is not a new development. Coincidentally, I'm waiting around for the tire shop to call and let me know that my Evo2's are mounted and ready to go.

Just my two cents but anyone who would buy say an underpulley but use really cheap rubber IMO doesn't have enough reverence for what expensive rubber brings to the performance dance. To me it's like taking up scuba and then buying the cheapest regulator. Just like you, I have a patch kit to avoid the flat bed and even an emergency jack if I'm going on a trip because I think taking the tire all the way off would yield the best repair and you can get out of traffic too.

When I hit an exit ramp at 105 mph's, I want to be confident that there aren't any surprises... One thing I'm I bit annoyed by that now I'll have one new tire and one at 50% life. Throws off the whole timing of tire replacement.

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Basing the value of a tire solely on the price tag is ridiculous. The previous generation of EVO's scored second in Car and Driver's review of "Extreme" and higher-duty summer tires. The biggest complaint (and the issue I noted when I was running them on my Boxster) was sidewall stiffness, which is one of the points addressed with the EVO2. I don't dive often enough to warrant buying my own equipment, but I wouldn't walk into the dive shop and pick out a regulator solely based on its price. Tire manufacturers spend millions annually to advance the state of the art. I have no reluctance about running on tires that are fifteen years more advanced than the tires that my 996 was equipped with when new. Good choice w/ the patch kit. I'm more comfortable running on a tire I plugged myself than on a spare that hasn't ever been used and is only rated for 50mph. Traveling at 50 in SoCal seems like a good way to die. "Revering" a tire is lunacy. The underdrive pulley is one of the most cost-effective methods for realizing increased performance. The underdrive pulley isn't a "sort-by-most-expensive-and-buy-the-top-item" mod...

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I'd rather replace both rears with less-expensive tires than run two tires with drastically different wear. Wow, I drive fast, but I don't often hit an offramp at triple-digit speeds. There tend to be a lot more surprises at 105mph.

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Lol. I have one favorite right hand sweeper that I can hit 105. It's not my usual practice.

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According to Porsche when replacing just one tire on an axle if the other tire's tread is more than 30% worn from the new depth both tires should be replaced. If your comment that one is at 50% reflects reality, this strongly suggests the old tire should be replaced to better match the new one.

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Heh. Sounds like fun (to be the driver) and vaguely terrifying (to be the passenger).

If your not into tracking your car or the PS2's are not a must, You can go with Summitomo's and buy all 4 staggered set for the same price of one tire:

The Evo2 set came out at $800. A set of Evo K110's would have saved me about a hundred bucks, but I wanted to try out the newer version. The $ bump from 18" to 19" is significant, and the selection gets much smaller @ 19".

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It's my usual practice and why I buy Porsche's I run on PS2s because I'm comfortable with the performance of the tyre and was happy running on an internally fitted mushroom plug after a screw puncture because I'm comfortable with the repair method. I wouldn't run a performance car on tyres with uneven wear though simply because of the way I drive and the unpredictability that it brings into the equation.

"Revering" a tire is lunacy. Yeah that's what the idiot speedshop owner thought too. My dad was in the tire business 46 years, we started selling Atlas tires that's how long I've been around it, later we sold Michelin and Pirelli too. Seems the Excellence of two months back thinks wheel and especially tire selection is vital, to each their own. I know what a UP does, I just would never choose one over a good set of tires first but this is no more than personal choice. Power without control doesn't appeal to me.

"Good" and "expensive" are not necessarily synonyms. Your tone suggests that the Hankook Ventus V12 Evo2 XL isn't a "good" tire. I disagree, but I don't suspect I'll be changing your mind any time soon. I am disinclined to spend more money on something than I think is warranted. Whether this is a new MAF sensor that comes in a Bosch box instead of the same sensor in a Porsche box, or it's an extreme-performance tire that says Hankook on the sidewall instead of Pirelli. If the Evo2's suddenly fly apart at high speed - assuming I don't die in the crash or subsequent fire - I will warn everyone I can. I'm off to drive the death machine to the bank. Wish me luck.

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Anything without a "N2" rating is crap. We all know that.

I can't laugh at your joke right now. I'm busy recuperating from my near-death experience.

funny stuff.....

Since this isn't my daily driver and the three other tires have plenty of life left in them, I'll just get a new PS2. See pics of how much meat is left of them. The pic on the right is the one that needs to be replaced.

KEY WORDS FELLAS "on my other cars" which were just daily beaters.

Alright, I've got my flame suit on, so here goes: whenever I have to replace just one tire on a car with expensive tires, I check eBay. Normally I can buy a used tire to match for around $80. Usually they have a fair amount of tread left (70% or so). Costs about $20 to get mounted, so I'm out about $100, give or take. I buy and sell 6 or 7 cars a year, so buying tires gets expensive. Even going the eBay route for replacing a single tire, I'm a frequent flyer at Tirerack.

Nothing wrong with used tires in my book. I don't think the Mazda truck I drove as a kid ever had 4 of the same tires. Thankfully, you could generally turn the white lettering inside so the collection of Firestone and General tires wasn't quite as obvious. I'd go this route if I destroyed one tire and the one on the opposite side was still serviceable...

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The eBay route can work out really well. I had a Honda Pilot a few years ago that needed a major tire upgrade. I put together a set of Michelin Cross Terrains off eBay ... none more than two years old, one brand new, one at 10/32", two at 9/32", no plugs or repairs -- for a little over $300 shipped. Tire Rack was about $175 each, new (11/32"). So, I figure I paid about 40% of the cost for 75 - 80% of the effective life. When I sold my Infiniti M35x, it had a full set of Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS Pole Positions on it. Those came from eBay as well ... two years old, 8 - 9/32" of tread, no plugs, 1/2 the Tire Rack price. So, I'm with you on this one -- no need for the flame suit.

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Yup, brings me back to the winter rat days where the sets never matched, then again I never pushed a winter rat into a corner seeking maximum adhesion.

It turns out I found a pair of PS2's in eBay. 3/32 and 5/32 with one patch. Less than $200. Might be something to consider?

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Isn't that too worn? You see pics of the actual tires? You gotta pony up and get something that fits in your budget without compromising safety and not degrading the performance of the awesome ride you have IMO.

I'm committed to buying a new PS2, but I'm curious about the post above regarding tread variance between tires. What ill effects can it have? PSM or ABS problems?

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I'd pass on these. Personally, I wouldn't consider anything much below 6/32. I usually set my threshold for used tires at about 50% tread remaining. That's an arbitrary number, I know, but it has worked for me. PS2's are 9.5/32 new, which means about 7.5/32 of usable tread before they're toast. That puts the 50% mark at a little bit less than 6/32. In addition, I'd be pretty leery of a high performance tire that has been patched, especially a summer tire that might (might?) be subject to spirited driving. Finally, with used tires I always want to know what the date code is. Tires can last a long time if they're stored properly, but if you're not sure how they have been stored it's best to stick with fairly fresh rubber.

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Good points. Thx.

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Like my "N3" Yokes that are near death? Sent from my iPhone using Rennlist

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Didn't see this until today...better late than never. I do not know what effect running tires with too great a difference in tread wear on the same axle will have regarding PSM or ABS. I could imagine the difference in wheel speed due to the difference in diameter of the tires could cause either system confusion or compromise its performance in a situation. They are safety related systems after all and one should never do anything that could put their ability to function properly at risk. Beyond my imagination, Porsche says not to do it. If a tire on an axle has to be replaced and the other tire is worn more than 30% from new that the other tire should be replaced as well.