hey guys I drove my truck over what seems to be a small bolt or screw and it has driven itself into my right rear tire. I noticed a repetitive sound when driving that varied with speed so i figured something had gotten stuck to the tire. i check it out and notice the head of a bolt/screw. The head of it looks to be about 1/4" hex head and there's no telling how long it is. will it be possible to remove? how should i go about it? tires are the original goodyears

Thanks for any help/ideas,
Frank

 

For what it's worth, once, I hand the same thing on a Z-28. (a long long time ago) SO I started to unscrew it when air stared to leak, so I screwed it back in. Son the head wore off and I dorve the with no leaks until I could see cords.

Those were BFG Comp TA's and I went through about 2 sets a year. I burned the crap out of them. After all, I was a kid!

 

I had exactly the same thing happen to me.
It was a 1/4" bolt that stuck itself in my front
tire. I took it to my local Costco and they
fixed it for free. Did not spend a dime.
You should be able to have it patched-up.

 

As long as the screw is in the tread area it can be easily patched. I would not recommend leaving the screw in the tire. If you were to eventually throw it out then you'll be stuck on the side of the road with a flat. If you pull it out yourself then squirt some soapy water on the tire and look for bubbles. If it's leaking slowly then drive it to a shop to get the tire patched. If it's leaking fast then you might need to put your spare on. You could also just take it to a tire shop and let them pull it out.

 

DO NOT LEAVE THE SCREW IN THE TIRE

I worked in a service station fixing tires for 3 yrs and leaving it in is the absolute worst thing you could do. Family ride flat out you got lucky. The service station where I worked also did towing and many times I had to get people off the interstate because they thought that since no air was coming out they would be ok. It should cost you less than $10 to get the tire fixed if the hole is in the tread. If it is in the sidewall or near the sidewall you can't fix it. Too much stress there so the patchs wouldn't hold. But the place that fixes it most times they will put a warranty on it so if it leaks again they will fix it again for free. Basically if its not leaking right now don't take it out, just drive somewhere that fixes tires and have it fixed. Also don't put any fix-a-flat in the tire. It makes it almost impossible to fix the tire. Its only a temporary fix and seals the hole when you take it in and you can't find the hole, so you have to wait until it leaks again to have it fixed.

 

ok i just looked at it and the head appears to be about 5/16" and it is directly in the center of the tire and in the tread. i've got nothin' to lose if i try to take it out right so I'm gonna give it a shot

is this a wise decision on my part? if i take it out and lots of air starts coming out should i continue to remove it?

aargh this is very frustrating but i appreciate all of the responses guys. thanks!

 

Now in my old post I was a little confusing. When I said don't leave the screw in the tire I meant in the long run. If it isn't leaking air too fast I would leave it in the tire for tonight and then have it removed by a tire shop tommorrow.

Well if you read my last post I said what would happen. Unless you want to change your tire in your driveway I would leave the screw in the tire. If you take it out it will start leaking air and if you try and put it back in it will continue to leak and you will most likely have to put your spare tire on and then take the tire to a shop to get fixed.

Don't touch the screw in the tire and in the morning drive the truck to a tire shop and have them fix it. Any good tire shop can fix that for around $10 (at least thats the going price in Ames) and they can do it in around 10 min. I can fix that in 5 min without even taking off the tire.

 

I guess I should have taken my post one step further than just a stroll down memory lane....

I agree, you should not leave it in there. powerstrock is right, I got very lucky. And to think of the way I drove back then. I had a laywer that had piles of tickets for "excessive noise by spinning tires.." in Houston and was lucky not to get caught doing the other crazy stuff.

And by the way, Discount Tore will sometimes fix a plat for free. They do yire rotation free for anyone and flats for customers but they usually just tell you to pull it in bay number XX, and they fix you up. Otherwise, it is only $10-$15.

 

hey guys. I got it plugged at Bill's Used Tires in Huntsville, AL for the small sum of $5 and 30 minutes of my time (lunch break) I'll post a picture of the offending screw when I get home from work and school. He pulled it out and it started leaking slowly then he pushed this tool shaped like a T into the hole (with the top part being the handle) and pulled it back out. Then filled the tire back up. I'm not sure what that tool did but i looked at it afterwards and it looks like it pulled some of the tire out from the inside? Not sure but it looks like a plug of grass. Don't know if I explained that so well but it stopped the leak and i can drive in peace.

THanks guys!

Frank

 

See told ya it would be easy. I had 2 tools to use when I fixed them. The first one was use to ream the hole out because of the type of plugs that we used, but you can use plugs where you don't have to do that. The plug is basically a strip of really sticky rubber, and the tool you use to put it in is like you said a T shaped tool. The end looks kinda like a big needle and you have to thread the plug through the eye of it. You stick it into the tire until you get close to the handle and then pull it out and the plug expands to fill the hole. What is sticking out is part of the plug not part of the tire. I hope when you said that it took 30 min that you dropped it off and came back in 30 min and that it didn't take them that long.

 

Oh OK I wasn't sure what the plug was but that makes much more sense.

Here's how the 30 minutes were spent:

0-5 Driving to Dunlop tire place
5-8 Discovering I'd have to wait an hour to a hour and a half for Dunlop to do it. They refer me to Bill's Used Tires
8-15 Finding Bill's Used Tires
15-20 Wait for an employee to acknowledge I'm in need of service.
20-25 Work completed and paid for
25-30 Driving back to work

The times are only estimates.




Here are two pictures of the screw:

 

it'll work, but I would've had it patched from the inside... plugs just cause problems. They can easily start to leak again, plus they void most (if not all) tire warranties. I've got a plug in one of the tires on my probe, but only because it was too close to the side-wall for them to patch it (so they say). Every time I rotate it to the front, it starts to leak again. It's a pain, but with as much tread as I have left on the tire, I wasn't about to pay for a new one. I check the tire every other day, and carry a compressor with me just in case.

-Joe-

 

I agree, one of my rear tires had two plugs in it when I got the truck, both of them started leaking. Took it to a local service station (the only place in this town of 6,000 people who can actually fix a flat), replaced the plugs and covered with a patch inside.

As for punctures in or near the sidewalls, I've had both repaired and never had a problem, however most places (for example Wal-Mart) won't even think about fixing a flat unless the pucture is in the exact center of the tread and the tire is less than half worn out.

The toughest part of getting any flat tire fixed is finding someone who knows how to fix it right.

 

Take it in and they will vulcinize it