Soldato
Quick question re: puncture repair.....
I noticed yesterday that one of the rear tyres on my Caliber was losing air, but I couldn't see any evidence of a nail / damaged sidewall. Took it to a local tyre shop, and they found a tiny cut of about 2mm on the inner sidewall. I was about to take the tyre away and order a new one, but he told me he could safely repair it. He explained that there were various different types of patch: he showed me a fairly small one of the type I've seen many times before, and said that he wouldn't use that for a sidewall. He then produced a much larger, thicker patch and explained that it was made of a different material, he was going to use a different glue etc etc and that he guaranteed the repair for the life of the tyre, which he also wrote on the receipt.
I let him go ahead with it as I figured that it was safer than driving around on a 10 year old space saver tyre, but do we think this is actually safe? Seems odd that he'd guarantee it if it wasn't, but then I know that in the UK we don't repair any tyres with sidewall damage so there must be a reason why.
What do we think: should I leave it as it is or replace it anyway? If it does fail, is it likely to blow out or simply start losing air?
I noticed yesterday that one of the rear tyres on my Caliber was losing air, but I couldn't see any evidence of a nail / damaged sidewall. Took it to a local tyre shop, and they found a tiny cut of about 2mm on the inner sidewall. I was about to take the tyre away and order a new one, but he told me he could safely repair it. He explained that there were various different types of patch: he showed me a fairly small one of the type I've seen many times before, and said that he wouldn't use that for a sidewall. He then produced a much larger, thicker patch and explained that it was made of a different material, he was going to use a different glue etc etc and that he guaranteed the repair for the life of the tyre, which he also wrote on the receipt.
I let him go ahead with it as I figured that it was safer than driving around on a 10 year old space saver tyre, but do we think this is actually safe? Seems odd that he'd guarantee it if it wasn't, but then I know that in the UK we don't repair any tyres with sidewall damage so there must be a reason why.
What do we think: should I leave it as it is or replace it anyway? If it does fail, is it likely to blow out or simply start losing air?