Lucky and Impressed

[poolbug054]

DW and I just returned from a 2 week trip to Huntington Beach State Park in SC (very nice park). Distance from home round trip was approximately 680m with 6h drive each way. We parked TT (2020 34IK) in our storage building and did a final walk around before closing her up. I found a screw fully embedded in the rear driver side TT tire. The screw head was flush with tire but well worn. It is the same type screw that was used to build our TT storage building. I’m certain we drove the entire trip with this screw embedded. I could have driven with this screw embedded in an earlier trip which would be about 1200m total. I feel lucky the tire did not blow or go flat during our trips.

I’m really impressed with this Westlake tire as it held up and maintained temperature and pressure same as the others per my TPMS. I guess the screw acted as a plug.

Wonder how many of us check the tires for nails, screws, etc. before a trip. I’ll start doing that myself going forward.

I plan to order a new tire and wheel as replacement. Is it safe/reliable to patch the tire with screw from the inside or should I just discard it?

[dalford]

Originally Posted by poolbug054

DW and I just returned from a 2 week trip to Huntington Beach State Park in SC (very nice park). Distance from home round trip was approximately 680m with 6h drive each way. We parked TT (2020 34IK) in our storage building and did a final walk around before closing her up. I found a screw fully embedded in the rear driver side TT tire. The screw head was flush with tire but well worn. It is the same type screw that was used to build our TT storage building. I’m certain we drove the entire trip with this screw embedded. I could have driven with this screw embedded in an earlier trip which would be about 1200m total. I feel lucky the tire did not blow or go flat during our trips.

I’m really impressed with this Westlake tire as it held up and maintained temperature and pressure same as the others per my TPMS. I guess the screw acted as a plug.

Wonder how many of us check the tires for nails, screws, etc. before a trip. I’ll start doing that myself going forward.

I plan to order a new tire and wheel as replacement. Is it safe/reliable to patch the tire with screw from the inside or should I just discard it?

Depends on where the screw is. If it is not in the center tire threads it can not be repaired. A tire shop will not repair it. By center treads I mean not the last treads on each side.

If it s in the center treads it is safe to have it patched internally, not plugged.

[gkochel]

There are combo patch/plug tire repair products out there. Gives you the best protection, ask your tire shop to use those. Chances of failure are really low with those

[mbbutler]

Originally Posted by poolbug054

DW and I just returned from a 2 week trip to Huntington Beach State Park in SC (very nice park). Distance from home round trip was approximately 680m with 6h drive each way. We parked TT (2020 34IK) in our storage building and did a final walk around before closing her up. I found a screw fully embedded in the rear driver side TT tire. The screw head was flush with tire but well worn. It is the same type screw that was used to build our TT storage building. I’m certain we drove the entire trip with this screw embedded. I could have driven with this screw embedded in an earlier trip which would be about 1200m total. I feel lucky the tire did not blow or go flat during our trips.

I’m really impressed with this Westlake tire as it held up and maintained temperature and pressure same as the others per my TPMS. I guess the screw acted as a plug.

Wonder how many of us check the tires for nails, screws, etc. before a trip. I’ll start doing that myself going forward.

I plan to order a new tire and wheel as replacement. Is it safe/reliable to patch the tire with screw from the inside or should I just discard it?

It is safe to patch from inside, but do not plug from outside.