Ask me anything

>>14034535
CONT.

What can render a wheel/tire un-serviceable?

>See un-repairable
Essentially these are the main reasons we cannot work on a tire.

>Tire has a bulge/bubble in the side
Not only is this unsafe due to the possibility of explosion, but it can also throw off the balance of the wheel, and ruining the ride of the vehicle all together

>The wheel is too badly corroded
If a wheel is too badly corroded, the bead can slowly be leaking air from the rim flange.

>The beads are torn
Same reason as the wheel corrosion, if a bead is unable to seat and seal perfectly, air can escape, and cause the bead to unseat while driving which can cause a wheel to fly off the vehicle completely.

>Wheel has a break/crack in it
Keeping the weight of a vehicle on a damaged wheel can cause it to split, and destroy the assembly as well as the vehicle if traveling on a road.

>>14034535
>>14034557


Is it true that fixaflat will sometimes ruin alloy wheels?

Is it really nasty shit too?

>>14034535
What is the best high performance tyre in your opinion?

>>14034535
So you work at discount tire, or is america's tire a different store?

>>14034613
Yes, fix a flat can totally corrode and ruin alloy/aluminum wheels. I highly suggest avoiding fix a flat tires, and just buying a full sized spare.

>>14034618
It depends on what you do. If you're into off roading, I suggest BFG K02's hands down. BFG's are designed with strong beads that are very hard to unseat.
If you want daily driving, I suggest rotational/directional tires. Ohtsu, Falken, Yokohama, are great, but Goodyear and michelin are by far the absolute best.

>>14034624
Discount Tire and America's Tire are the same store. Names had to be changed in certain areas because there were already stores with names similar to Discount Tire.

>>14034557
>mfw I've been running on a bubble tire since May and put at least 3500-4000 miles and some of them being both highway miles, and sometimes in excess of 100 mph, as well as roads with potholes. Tire size: P235-70R16, on a beaten to fuck 1995 Isuzu rodeo.. Fuck yeah, General Grabbers :D

>The tire is older than 10 years old.
Learned that when I had a blowout and needed a new tire plus a new full-size spare. My old spare was 12 years old, and Discount Tire told me they couldn't service it because of its age.

My question: When I went to Discount Tire the last time, I asked what they thought of my ball joints, and they told me they couldn't tell me anything about them. Why is that? Is it policy?

What prevents me from using your tire replacement warranty as a way to get free tires for life? Especially on an AWD, get a flat and they replace all 4 tires.

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>>14034695
Oh shit forgot pic

What's your opinion on the best winter tires? Should I have two sets of wheels or just get the tire changed? Is studded on a dd in the winter better than plain winter tires?

>>14034670
>mfw had the original Goodyear Aquadtread in the 90s and loved it.

>mfw i put goodyears on my WRX in 2008 that went on sale and the sidewalls started disintegrating after 15000 miles.

what went wrong. I am highly suspect of GY now, especially after that class action news from a while ago when I wasn't paying attention to them

>>14034710

they only pro-rate the tread on the non damaged ones.

so if your tire started with 12/32, and you get a blowout at 10, you'll get one free, but the other three your getting 80% value for.

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Mate, is my valve stem or valve fucked?

I have a slow leak on one of my tires, but there is no visual protrusion at all. I fill it up my leaking tire to 38psi and over the course of about a week it works it's way down to 28psi. In contrast, my other tires have been at 32psi forever.

>>14034803
not op but mix up a bowl of soapy water, you dont need a lot of soap just enough to make bubbles, and splash it on, around valve stem without the cap on. Move the valve stem around a little if you don't see bubbles. Some leaks are verrrrrry slow so look closely/give some time for bubbles to form. If you still dont see any bubbles look around the tire tread, be very thorough, look at an inch at a time for any nails, rocks, glass, slits, etc. Splash any suspect areas with water. If still no bubbles, take the wheel off, put it on its side and splash water around the bead/ rim of the tire. I just fill the gap between tire and rim with the soapy water, rim leaks can be very slowly so let the water sit for a minute then look for bubbles. Again go an inch at a time they can be very small. Do the backside of the rim as well. Congrats, now you know where the leak is and if you can plug it at home go right ahead. Anything else you basically need to take the tire off

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>>14036155
Thanks anon

I'll try this out.

>>14036245
you can youtube "finding tire leaks" i found a bunch of videos on that. most are low budget but the peoples intentions are true. I don't like to use a sprayer because it creates lots of foam bubbles and makes it harder to see real ones

>>14034535

>tires have at least 5 plugs
>several on the shoulder
>one with a plug in the sidewall
>all are bald
>the 2 rear are showing chord
>I don't know how old but they are cracking
>one has a big warp in it so on flat straight roads there is a noticeable hop

Come at me tire man.

>>14034535
>plugging tires
enjoy your ticking time bomb and not driving over 55mph

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>>14036370
he's talking about a plug patch which is the absolute best way to repair a tire.

>>14034535
how bad is it to have winter studs on the rear drive wheels and summer / all season on the front?

My dad did this hes whole life and I have been doing it for about 10 years with no problem, but I just ran into a tire guy who refused to sell me just 2 winters.

>>14036509
Last shop I worked in only used this. One I'm working at now is sketchy and only uses patches.
I'm trying to find a new job ASAP.

>>14036336
just go get some used tires for 40 bucks a set you /mischevious/ man

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>>14034670
>bfg mall terrains

lol

>>14034670

>Recommending Goodyear

Opinion: Discarded.

Tireman, I need a good set of daily driving and weekend hooning tires, in a 195/55r15 are dz102s good?

>>14034535
Largest reasons people return almost new tires?

Also what characteristics in tires create the most smoke in burnouts. Thanks

>>14037047

not tirefag but check out yokohama s.drives, they come in that size i'm pretty sure and they were great as a dd/hooning tire on my old cooper.

+1 on Discount Tire being awesome.

They have the most seemless warranty, never had them deny the warranty and the one by my house does not give a shit if your suspension is modified either (albeit some other stores do). They also price match tire rack and other competitors, and will order in just about any brand/tire model you want.

I know they do try and lie to you to make a sale, but I know enough to not fall for that stuff. Definitely research a tire online and what not long before I walk into a store.

>>14037080
>>14037047

http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/tires/yokohama/product/submitProductSize.do?pc=43653&tmn=S.drive&typ=Passenger%2FPerformance

there you go. I had them in 16" but they were great. I got them from DTD too, love that free shipping to canada. Saves me literally hundreds of dollars a set... we get fucked hard on tire prices up here.

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>mfw tire monkey making minimum wage giving out info thats freely available on their website

dealer tech here, please stop. im feeling that weird second-hand embarassment thing right now

>>14037120
Fuck off kiddo, this is one of the only threads that isn't a shit post

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>>14037120
>dealer tech here
do you enjoy ripping people off? i'm also a dealer tech. i work for a Benz dealership. once i bought my car to the honda dealership to get a state inspection done cause i was to lazy to do it myself. they tried to sell me 2 new tires because according to them my car would not pass its inspection because of mis matched tires. i played stupid that i didnt know shit about cars until they tried to rip me off with this. i told them show me in the regulations book where this is and they didnt have one they said until i showed them my state inspectors card and told them they were ripping me off they were speechless. i got my car back and called the department of consumer affairs and the state DMV, told them what happened and the stealership got its state inspection license suspended and got hit with a bunch of fines.

>mfw

>>14037120
>dealer tech
stopped reading.

>>14034535
Thanks for the good thread, OP, here's a question.

I'm moving to NYC in a week or so and I was planning on getting winter tires because all seasons on my car are piss poor in anything but dry. However, I checked the weather and it's never really supposed to freeze this winter. Is it still advisable to grab a set of winter tires anyway?

>>14037120
Lol

>>14037247
>tech
>ripping people off
>at a dealership
So you bypass the service writer, go meet customers, and personally rip them off? A tech recommended tires at a Honda dealership why, so he can make less money? Why do people make up stories like this on the internet?

Do big tires on little rims look good

>>14034752
Not all models of tires are made with the same quality.

Even within the company the tires maybe made at different places in the world with different quality control.

Its why you have Mexican Hondas falling apart but the jap imports largely are still reliable.

>>14034709
I'm gonna say it's because they don't know shit about ball joints.

>>14037862
exactly. i work in a tire shop too. people ask to check brakes and shit all the time. company figures to just tell people nope so we're not at liability for some retards dumb opinion. ill be lurking, ask questions. i work in a club warehouse.

>>14034535
I drive a fj40, have had the Duelers on my rig for 20 years, 4 of which I daily drove across the SF Bay area at speeds in excess of 80 mph. I also regularly took it over trails in the Sierras, and through the trails and obstacles at Hollister Hills.

I have at least a half dozen diy patches in each tire.

Fuck you.

>>14034709

If you aren't a licensed mechanic and you give someone a mechanical opinion thats wrong and whatever you gave your opinion on fails and does something bad, they can sue the company you work for, for allowing someone to give an opinion on something they don't know shit about.

>>14034695

Be seeing you in the obituaries soon, friend =)

>>14037808
Depends on the wheels and size of the wheels and tires. Many people use small wheels with big tires for off roading

>>14037291
can someone please answer this? I don;t want to buy winter tires right now if putting them on for the winter will only prematurely wear the winter tread.

>>14037291
>>14038485
All depends on where/when/how often you plan on driving. do you have another car in case shit hits the fan? all seasons dont grip as well in lower temps as winter tires as the rubber compound is different. Sooo its how much safety/money your willing to sacrifice.

>>14038568
>do you have another car in case shit hits the fan
nope

>all seasons dont grip as well in lower temps as winter tires
thanks for the info, the safety and insurance the winter tires provide means I'll probably get them, thanks for the advice.

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>>14037120

^this

tire guy, i last year bought a set of 5 general tire at2 for my expedition, and like them, so im gravitating towards the altimax rt43 for my volvo 240.

question is, if i wanted to splurge, what would i need to take into consideration to get my moneys worth going for the more expensive michelin defenders? ($66 ea x5 = $330 vs $102 ea x5 = $510)

op abandoned

>plug my own tires, no fucks given
>never have one fail, even after tens of thousands of miles
>literally last lifetime of tire
>every time I read this-
>"plugs r bad, mmkay"
>lolwtf op?

Show me a failure of a properly inserted plug and I'll retort with my personal experience of a lifetime of using diy plugs that have performed flawlessly. Not once have I had a plugged tire wear faster, cause problems, or develop leaks.

While doing my brakes last weekend I noticed I had a decent sized nail in my rear passenger tire, dead center in the middle.. Is it a big deal to leave it in there for now considering its not losing air pressure any faster than the others?

>>14039665
Good god I've lived to see alphonse become a meme.

>>14039668
Personally I'd plug it and call it good. There's no telling what that nail may do. Could be fine for a thousand miles, or it could pull some shit tomorrow. IME a proper diy plug job should last the life of the tire, though others here insist on arguing. It's whatever works for you.

>>14039660

Plug are bad, m'kay. But only because you can't actually see inside the tire to determine if its been run flat/soft long enough to chew the liner out. With the liner chewed to shit, you'll be lucky if it doesn't blow up when you put air to it.

why are the stores forcing sensor rebuilds with new tires? its not broke why fix it

>>14040871

If its the rubber stems, they aren't hard to change. The new stems come with a new screw and everything, and its just a tiny little torx screw that normally isn't in too hard.

Now, if its the aluminum, they're doing you a solid if they replace them with a rubber stem. Those aluminum's are prone to breaking in a million different ways.

The nut that holds them on is cheap plastic, so when the valve stem corrodes it causes the plastic nut to crack and eventually come right off. Then you hit a bump right and the valve stem falls in, and fucks the ever living shit out of your tire.

If you put a valve cap on it and don't remove it regularly, it corrodes and snaps the end of the stem off just before where the core threads in and its junk.

Sometimes, the valve core itself seizes in place, and if you put too much torque on it, it breaks the ears that you need to remove it clean off, since that part of the core was never designed to allow someone to put that much pressure on them anyway. This also normally renders the whole stem junk anyway.

So ya, if they go to rebuild your aluminum sensors, just tell them to put the rubber stems in and call it a day. The cost is well worth it.

>>14040871
Sensor rebuilds are free. We do it because the nuts and grouments may be worn, and can cause a leak. They're quick and easy. We also replace all valves.

>>14034670
>buying a full sized spare
Many new cars don't even come with a space-saver spare and have no place to put a spare.

>>14041300
wasnt free at discount tire, was like 7 bucks each. ended up not buying tires from there. im not getting kiked

Hey OP if you're still here
My car is a 2013, bought it from my friend in 2014. While he had it within a few months the front passenger tire would slowly lose air, usually nearly stopping around 26psi (supposed to stay at 38psi). Dealer couldn't find the problem so they said "lol sucks". Any clue? I have a cap on the valve stem. Usually have to fill it once a month at LEAST.

>>14042055
Not OP but having the tire reseated with a new valve will probably solve the problem, of course if there aren't any punctures you're not seeing. Worst case scenario is the wheel is warped.

>>14042067
huh cool, maybe I'll take it to the tire shop

>If a tire is older than 10 years old, we cannot even air/torque check it. Tires that are older than 10 years old have the possibility of exploding when inflating. Safety first.
mate, nothing wrong with over 10 year old tyres, as long as there isn't any dry rot or damage

I understand if that's corporate policy, but I work at a tyre shop in europe and we've found that the 10 year limit is rather arbitrary by today's standards. hell, I've driven around with 25 year old tyres without issues, although I admit that it isn't necessarily safe anymore.