$6.50 to patch a tire. That's a pretty cheap. It usually costs $10 for the plug. I'll have to remember that. I've driven 20k plus on a tire that was plugged but I prefer that patch solution. Sorry you has such a bad experience.
Tire Repair
Before my trip to S.C. I noticed a nail in the LR tire. I called the dealer and found out, they only plug tires. They do not patch them. I went to Mr Tire one mile from the house. What a mistake. When asked year and make of my RL they had no information. As I explained tire size, rim type, and the rims have TPM sensor in it, the cost for the repair went up and up. At this point I should have left. I had to run around a bit so I waited and had it done. Once I got home I broke out the torque wrench and checked the lugs. I noticed there was no weights on the rim. I called and the guy assured me the rim was balanced. I have never seen a rim balance out with no weight. I retorqued the rim and drove the truck. I had no vibration. When I have the tires rotated I will have this tire rebalanced. $37.00 to patch a tire is terrible. I will never go back there again. I later found out Walmart charges $6.50 to patch a tire, and they mark where the tire was on the rim and put it back to the same spot. Don't know if I trust this way either, but I could have saved some money. Oh yeah It was Mr Tire on Liberty Rd. in Eldersburg Md.
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This is one of those moments when you start to question why you didn't buy the tire care plan isn't it? But just think of how many $40 fixes you would have to go through to get to the $200+ that the tire care plan costs.
But $6.50 is pretty nice deal as long as they guarantee their work. Otherwise it isn't worth the price if you are just going to blow the patch 1000 miles down the road, although I guess it would be pretty hard to really mess up a patch.
But $6.50 is pretty nice deal as long as they guarantee their work. Otherwise it isn't worth the price if you are just going to blow the patch 1000 miles down the road, although I guess it would be pretty hard to really mess up a patch.
$37.50 for a tire repair. Most tire dealships "Discount, Big"O"" etc out here do this for free so you will come back and buy a tire(s) when needed. They do it right by patching and balancing.You should get a Discount tire in your town!
My full size spare doesn't have an outside weight on it, but there is a weight on the inner rim. The tech said that it's rare, but sometimes no weights are needed on one side or the other.
When I was at Discount tire getting my spare, I bought the tire plan. I think it was $80 for all four
In all the trucks I have ever owned I have had problems with the tires. Ask me in 40,000 miles if it was worth it. (first time I have gone with any tire protection plan)
When I was at Discount tire getting my spare, I bought the tire plan. I think it was $80 for all four
In all the trucks I have ever owned I have had problems with the tires. Ask me in 40,000 miles if it was worth it. (first time I have gone with any tire protection plan)
Wow, you got off cheap. I just had a tire repair done to one of my run-flat Dunlop tires on my MINI. I picked-up a nail dead center in the tread area. The dealer charged $48.00 to dismount, patch, remount, & rebalance the tire. Mind you, I removed the tire/wheel and brought it to the dealership. They did not even have to remove it from the car. The run flat tires are a real bear to dismount. I was upset about the cost, since the estimate was $27. But, after talkng to the senior mechanic who did the repair, I was happy that they had a professional do it, rather than a newbie who may not have had the skills. By the way, the Rubber Manufacturers Association recommends against simple plugs and patches. They suggest to use a combo patch (T-shaped section) which includes both. Simply, a patch does not fill the hole, and salt water can eventually get to the steel belts and corrode them. Plugs are not recommended because they may not provide a durable seal. Here's their info --> https://www.rma.org/getfile.cfm?ID=554&type=publicationI guess I'm still not happy about having to shell out $48. I'm gonna complain next time I go back. At least it should match the estimate, eh? I was in a hurry that day and didn't pay attention to the cost until later. Doh!
Well, RRPRTS, you jinxed me. I have a passenger side rear tire going down. Thanks a lot, bud
The tire chains in my area won't patch tires. They want to sell you a new one. I'll try Wally World first.
The tire chains in my area won't patch tires. They want to sell you a new one. I'll try Wally World first.
RRPRTS
I work in a service business and I do not understand your complaint. I am sure that the patch job took at least half an hour. Thats a labor rate of $75 per hour pretty reasonable. They assume a good deal of liability in repairing your tire and made no profit on any product. They could probably have been installing tires they sold at a profit rather than fixing your tire.
Walmart doing for 6.50 would not even be covering their direct labor cost let alone workers comp. medical and liability coverage and overhead.
You just spent 30K on a new car you are probably living a lot better than the guy that patched you tire.
If I paid a $75 to get my tire fixed and got down the road quickly I would not be dancing in the street but, I would be OK with it. It was not the tire shops fault the tire went flat.
Steve
I work in a service business and I do not understand your complaint. I am sure that the patch job took at least half an hour. Thats a labor rate of $75 per hour pretty reasonable. They assume a good deal of liability in repairing your tire and made no profit on any product. They could probably have been installing tires they sold at a profit rather than fixing your tire.
Walmart doing for 6.50 would not even be covering their direct labor cost let alone workers comp. medical and liability coverage and overhead.
You just spent 30K on a new car you are probably living a lot better than the guy that patched you tire.
If I paid a $75 to get my tire fixed and got down the road quickly I would not be dancing in the street but, I would be OK with it. It was not the tire shops fault the tire went flat.
Steve
I have to agree with Steve. While the $75.00 rate to do the repair seems somewhat high, the costs involved are real. Paying $48.00 to do the repair correctly is reasonable. If it is a quick fix on a lawn tractor tire, the cheapest way is OK since if it fails it really is not a big deal. Quality work and convenience are not cheap.
I keep a tire repair kit and a compressor in each of my vehicles.
As long as the "injury" is not in the sidewall, I can usually repair the tire without having to take it off the vehicle.
In some cases it is almost as quick as changing to the spare.
Based on the extent of the injury, I'll either get the tire properly repaired at my leisure, or just continue with the plug.
As long as the "injury" is not in the sidewall, I can usually repair the tire without having to take it off the vehicle.
In some cases it is almost as quick as changing to the spare.
Based on the extent of the injury, I'll either get the tire properly repaired at my leisure, or just continue with the plug.
Thanks Steve,STEVE FROST said:RRPRTS
I work in a service business and I do not understand your complaint. I am sure that the patch job took at least half an hour. Thats a labor rate of $75 per hour pretty reasonable. They assume a good deal of liability in repairing your tire and made no profit on any product. They could probably have been installing tires they sold at a profit rather than fixing your tire.
Walmart doing for 6.50 would not even be covering their direct labor cost let alone workers comp. medical and liability coverage and overhead.
You just spent 30K on a new car you are probably living a lot better than the guy that patched you tire.
If I paid a $75 to get my tire fixed and got down the road quickly I would not be dancing in the street but, I would be OK with it. It was not the tire shops fault the tire went flat.
Steve
I also work in service. Don't know if I'm living better than the anyone working at that establishment. As a matter of fact the guy who made the repair came to work driving a 2002 Ram 2500, looked pretty clean.
25 years ago when I worked at a service station we charged $7.50 to patch a tire including balance. I hope I never have to pay $75.00 for a tire repair, I would ride the spare until I could purchase a new tire before spending that. I also don't believe I should be charge extra based on what this truck cost.
There is also the fact which I failed to mention my buddy going to the same place for two tires and a front end alignment, and the facility calling his wife to say the vehicle needed brakes all the way around. He went to the shop to see, and the brakes were fine. Plenty of pad and shoe left, charged for a oil change and didn't do it.
This is a place that I will never go back to. But thanks for giving me a different perspective.
Mike
Mike, that certainly puts a different light on the subject. Here in PA, that kind of business activity would lead to an investigation by the State Attorney General’s office and investigation by PennDot which would lead to a loss of their PA State Inspection License - if they have one. It gets ugly pretty fast and is does not make staying in business very likely. If you were sure that you were getting premium service the $50 seems somewhat reasonable. In this case, definetely not. This is another case where I hope that the owner uses the money that he charged you very wisely since there won't be any more where that came from. Even if he made 100% profit on the transaction, after you tell your story to your friends and family, and they tell their friends, how much do you think that little deal actually cost him?There is also the fact which I failed to mention my buddy going to the same place for two tires and a front end alignment, and the facility calling his wife to say the vehicle needed brakes all the way around. He went to the shop to see, and the brakes were fine. Plenty of pad and shoe left, charged for a oil change and didn't do it.
Exactly what I do too. I had 3 plugs in my old cross terrain suvs tires and they worked fine for 50,000 miles. I always plan to leave the plugs in and call it good unless they start leaking and then I'd get it repaired, haven't had to yet.Dnucci said:I keep a tire repair kit and a compressor in each of my vehicles.
As long as the "injury" is not in the sidewall, I can usually repair the tire without having to take it off the vehicle.
In some cases it is almost as quick as changing to the spare.
Based on the extent of the injury, I'll either get the tire properly repaired at my leisure, or just continue with the plug.
The best part has to be if a non-fix-it type friend happens to be with you. they just stare in amazement as you perform the fix and are back underway before they could figure out who to call for help!!vertrkr said:Exactly what I do too. I had 3 plugs in my old cross terrain suvs tires and they worked fine for 50,000 miles. I always plan to leave the plugs in and call it good unless they start leaking and then I'd get it repaired, haven't had to yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vertrkr
Exactly what I do too. I had 3 plugs in my old cross terrain suvs tires and they worked fine for 50,000 miles. I always plan to leave the plugs in and call it good unless they start leaking and then I'd get it repaired, haven't had to yet.
Me too! Never had a plug leak.
Originally Posted by vertrkr
Exactly what I do too. I had 3 plugs in my old cross terrain suvs tires and they worked fine for 50,000 miles. I always plan to leave the plugs in and call it good unless they start leaking and then I'd get it repaired, haven't had to yet.
Me too! Never had a plug leak.
RRPRTS
You have now painted a more complete picture, tire shops in general are not my favorite places. Some can be our version of a third world country. There are usualy not to many MENSA members working at these places. And I to have seen some fairly diseptive practices at some of the so called discount shops.
Also there is a difference in build quality on some of tires sold at these places. I had a horible experience at a local facility called Just Tires, I purchased top brand tires, but had balance problems that the shop could not cure after repeated trys, of course they wanted to sell me shocks (there must be a huge margin on shocks). I finaly replaced the tires at Costco with a new set of Michlins, no more balance problems.
Some of the discount stores sell what are the equvilent of seconds. The Michlins sold at Costco are actualy unique to that store and are a premium tire as I was told by a freind that works as a tire distributor.
I am also currious about plugs, I was told that in California shops are not allowed to plug tires, they must patch them internaly. I remember many years ago having tires plugged with no adverse affects, any comments out there?
My earlier comments were only meant to bring light to the true value of some appearantly simple tasks performed by service organizations.
Hope that last flat will be your last.
You have now painted a more complete picture, tire shops in general are not my favorite places. Some can be our version of a third world country. There are usualy not to many MENSA members working at these places. And I to have seen some fairly diseptive practices at some of the so called discount shops.
Also there is a difference in build quality on some of tires sold at these places. I had a horible experience at a local facility called Just Tires, I purchased top brand tires, but had balance problems that the shop could not cure after repeated trys, of course they wanted to sell me shocks (there must be a huge margin on shocks). I finaly replaced the tires at Costco with a new set of Michlins, no more balance problems.
Some of the discount stores sell what are the equvilent of seconds. The Michlins sold at Costco are actualy unique to that store and are a premium tire as I was told by a freind that works as a tire distributor.
I am also currious about plugs, I was told that in California shops are not allowed to plug tires, they must patch them internaly. I remember many years ago having tires plugged with no adverse affects, any comments out there?
My earlier comments were only meant to bring light to the true value of some appearantly simple tasks performed by service organizations.
Hope that last flat will be your last.
I found the missing front bumper bolt in my right rear tire at 120 miles. ( less most of the head ). I just pulled it out, used the clean tool and put some rubber cement in the hole and a radial tire plug ( from a $4.00 kit from Walmart ) and cut the plug flush with the tire tread leaving about 3/4 of an inch (2 cm) of the plug inside the tire. I took less than 2 minutes to fix the tire. ( I have my $99 Sears air compressor to fill the tire to 35 pounds ).
After 1400 miles it was 1 pound of air less than the other tires and seemed to be balanced fine.
I go with the Tire Manufacturer's air pressure recommendations rather than the vehicle makers. They ( the manufacturers ) want ride quality not tire life.
My college car got 4000 miles before the tread wore out using the Chevy recommendation. I gripe to BF Goodrich ( the tire maker and they took my old tires and $100 and replaced the tires and said keep 32-34 pound in the tires. I got 20,000 miles with the extra 8 pounds. Chevy said 24 Goodrich said 32. both sets of tires were the same and were supposed to be good for 24,000 miles. In snow, I do reduce the pressure to the manufacturers recommendation or less ( for traction ) but go back to the higher value as soon as the roads clear ( that is 2 day a year here ).
When I was in college, I worked for a professor that investigated accident sites for the NTSB. The worst wreck we encountered ( with deaths ) was caused by a patched tire that was improperly patched (12 died in Charlotte NC). - If a plug will not fix my tire, I replace it, Patches cause too many fatal accidents. I saw 9 in one month that the NTSB ruled that patched tires were the root cause ( in 1970 ) .
Yes, tires have improved but patching has not - tires beads were not designed for multilple removals from the rims. ( that causes a lot of tire damage, too ) and usually cause scratches to you lovely rims.
After 1400 miles it was 1 pound of air less than the other tires and seemed to be balanced fine.
I go with the Tire Manufacturer's air pressure recommendations rather than the vehicle makers. They ( the manufacturers ) want ride quality not tire life.
My college car got 4000 miles before the tread wore out using the Chevy recommendation. I gripe to BF Goodrich ( the tire maker and they took my old tires and $100 and replaced the tires and said keep 32-34 pound in the tires. I got 20,000 miles with the extra 8 pounds. Chevy said 24 Goodrich said 32. both sets of tires were the same and were supposed to be good for 24,000 miles. In snow, I do reduce the pressure to the manufacturers recommendation or less ( for traction ) but go back to the higher value as soon as the roads clear ( that is 2 day a year here ).
When I was in college, I worked for a professor that investigated accident sites for the NTSB. The worst wreck we encountered ( with deaths ) was caused by a patched tire that was improperly patched (12 died in Charlotte NC). - If a plug will not fix my tire, I replace it, Patches cause too many fatal accidents. I saw 9 in one month that the NTSB ruled that patched tires were the root cause ( in 1970 ) .
Yes, tires have improved but patching has not - tires beads were not designed for multilple removals from the rims. ( that causes a lot of tire damage, too ) and usually cause scratches to you lovely rims.
I had my slow leak fixed over the weekend. There's a fairly new tire chain a few towns over that I want to give props to, Tire Warehouse. I brought my own jack, socket wrench, and torque wrench with me, hoping I could do my own work. They had no problem with that. So I used their jack to remove the tire. They pulled it from the rim, plugged it, and vulcanized it from the inside. They remounted it, and I installed the wheel using my tools. No marks at all on the rim. They were very interested in my truck. They had never seen rear discs that big on any passenger vehicle before. While I was working, they entertained my daughter and my dog, who were along for the ride. They gave them a couple of promo soccer balls and kicked them around. After I was finished, they were going to let me go at no charge, but I wouldn't have any of that. I gave them some cash to start their holiday weekend with. There's no doubt where I'll be buying my tires from in the future. They understand what it means to run a service business, and walk the talk.
That is really great! Business does not have to be difficult, it can actually be a lot of fun, if one decides to make it so. Fifteen minutes of labor - $5.00. A few minutes of their time spent face to face with a new customer - time well spent. Your endorsement of them - priceless. That freebe will pay dividends to them far, far in excess of the few dollars that they could have charged for their service. Hearing stories like that make my day.
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