puncture - new tyre? - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

Just noticed my driver's side rear tyre has been losing pressure...and found a nail. Seems fairly deeply embedded with the head cutting quite a hole into the tyre. Although it's right in the middle, what's the safest advice on repair or replace? Tyres (and car!) have done 2700 miles. I usually change in pairs, but assume after so few miles no need to change the other good one. It's a 265/35 R20 Pirelli PZero on a 981 Cayman. Money not really the main issue - just want to get it sorted safely, but of course if a simple repair is fine, I'll go for that. Thanks for your help... Edited by marky999 on Monday 21st July 21:12

Some dealers will come out with 'they shouldn't be repaired.' Personally, I don't see why not. If the puncture is fairly central like that one, it should be OK if done properly with a rubber plug. The air pressure actually helps it to seal. Over the years, I've had several puncture repairs done and never had a tyre fail subsequently because of it. But, if a tyre has been driven whilst flat or almost flat, the tyre wall can be degraded and / or damaged. Any decent tyre place will inspect and advise you of this. Edited by ianwayne on Monday 21st July 21:19

Thanks for the help I'll get it checked out....I'm super cautious but I'll see what they say.

Your best course is to try to find out what repair guidelines the tire maker has. Some don't appear to have any based on visits to their web sites. In absence of any info from the tire maker, I use the general rule that if the hole is not too close to the side wall and if it is under 1/4" diameter and the tire is otherwise ok -- driving a tire flat will ruin it in just a few score feet -- the tire can be fixed. The best fix is an internal patch which is secured by an adhesive. I can't recall if this is supposedly be the self-vulcanizing kind or not. The concern about the hole being to close to sidewall is if the internal patch extends onto the sidewall the patch will experience excessive flexing and this will cause it to fail over time. Based on my experience with a tire that had a hole almost to the sidewall the patch will begin to leak almost as soon as the tire is put back into service.

Had my last tyre repaired, same sort of location as yours. Never again. The repair blew out at speed on the motorway with a bang. We don't drive these cars slowly. In future i will always replace.

As long as it is done properly (I'm not sure about approved methods in the UK) and you haven't driven on the tyre when it was severely underinflated then it should be fine. I would not drive on a repaired tyre unless it has been demounted and inspected by someone who has a clue.

A correctly executed repair with a plug-type patch (which is basically similar proportions to a drawing pin, where the head/patch is about 40mm) will be perfectly fine - as mentioned besides being glued in place & sealed the air pressure only serves to push on it further.

Thanks for the advice guys. The head of the nail/screw is embedded in the tyre and is virtually a centimetre wide, so a bit anxious about a repair but will get it looked at.

I had a repair done the other day in a similar position, and then took the car to Spa for a trackday with no problems at all.

If you have a newish tyre, it's worth getting it repaired by a hot vulcanising specialist, even if ordinary repairers say no. They're a bit thin on the ground and you might have to remove the tyre from the wheel and you might have to wait a while because they fill a furnace with truck/tractor tyres before baking them, for obvious reasons. Cost me about £20 many moons ago.

went for the repair!

458 Italia said: Did you not get offered the tyre and alloy policy when you bought it? You would have got a new tyre. That's a good point, I was. However I also turned down gap insurance...I have a quirk about not taking insurance unless I think I really need it or can't afford to take the risk. I accept it's not the right approach for most. (Also at the back of my mind was the convenience - 20 min job down the road without waiting for a tyre to be ordered, but more importantly equal tread on both back tyres. You make a fair point however). Edited by marky999 on Wednesday 23 July 08:14 Edited by marky999 on Wednesday 23 July 08:20

A repair can often work for a decent length of time if done by a quality fitting centre. They often however don't last that long so keep an eye on it.

marky999 said: That's a good point, I was. However I also turned down gap insurance...I have a quirk about not taking insurance unless I think I really need it or can't afford to take the risk. I accept it's not the right approach for most. (Also at the back of my mind was the convenience - 20 min job down the road without waiting for a tyre to be ordered, but more importantly equal tread on both back tyres. You make a fair point however). Edited by marky999 on Wednesday 23 July 08:14 Edited by marky999 on Wednesday 23 July 08:20 You take the economically rational approach - only insure for a risk that you cannot afford to carry on your own back. It is what all sane businesses and governments do.

ORD said: You take the economically rational approach - only insure for a risk that you cannot afford to carry on your own back. It is what all sane businesses and governments do. Plus it's nice to fight the urge to protect everything sometimes...

What I find amusing is the level of circularity to the insurance racket. (1) Person A has a decent level of disposable income such that he can afford to carry most risks. (2) He then buys a bunch of insurance products for his fridge, laptop, phone, tv, etc etc. (3) He now has less disposable income so is less able to bear a new risk and has to take out insurance. (4) Back to number (2). This is how people end up buying things like gap insurance. Will I crash my car? Very unlikely. Would I be able to bear the cost of its depreciation if I did? Of course. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to afford to run a Porsche.

ORD said: What I find amusing is the level of circularity to the insurance racket. (1) Person A has a decent level of disposable income such that he can afford to carry most risks. (2) He then buys a bunch of insurance products for his fridge, laptop, phone, tv, etc etc. (3) He now has less disposable income so is less able to bear a new risk and has to take out insurance. (4) Back to number (2). This is how people end up buying things like gap insurance. Will I crash my car? Very unlikely. Would I be able to bear the cost of its depreciation if I did? Of course. If I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to afford to run a Porsche. Interesting analysis...

Had something similar repaired on my 911, obviously I crashed & died as soon as I left the tyre fitters.

LordHaveMurci said: Had something similar repaired on my 911, obviously I crashed & died as soon as I left the tyre fitters. Ha, well I hope the car pulled through.