Tire Puncture

Can they show you where that is stated in the tire road hazard warranty?

 

It does not ruin the tire but could make a mess. Just take it to an independent, small tire shop and have them properly fix it. Hopefully they clean out the residual sealant.

 

This is a Plug-In Prius, model year 2012~2015? Just confused: your avatar says 2002 Prius, and this forum is Prius v.

 

Used to be that kind of service was designated to a select few companies. It's getting more common by the day, it seems to me.
Excuse #1 We can't find a leak - because the sealer plugged it, duh
Excuse #2 We don't fix tires that have been fixed with sealant. tough luck charley! <- is that the attitude you seemed to have gotten for the tire company rep. / service writer / manager / owner?

BBB must be doing a lot of business lately, unless they also write off such claims as well, which wouldn't surprise me much presently and in the future.

 

You over thinking this, just take it to a small independent tire shop. Normally there will be a nail or screw still in it, easily found. If its still leaking they will do a bubble search. If the nail is gone and its not leaking they will look closer.

 

A little easier, is to spray the tire with soapy water, watch for bubbles.

Again, and I'm just curious: this is a 2012~2015 model year Plug-In Prius?

 

One reason to get a full sized spare.

This is also one of my favorites to carry in the car.

RYOBI ONE+ 18V Lithium-Ion Cordless High Pressure Inflator with Digital Gauge (Tool Only)-P737D - The Home Depot

 

Or a temp spare? A good plug-repair kit in a solid case never hurts either.

 

I carry both the full size and temporary spare but no plug kit.

Most all tire dealers will refuse to do a decent demount repair after a plug has been used. Some dealers might even disqualify a replacement under warranty.

 

Browsing through my log:

====
Saturday, December 07, 2013
km: 40800
* Plug repaired driver's side rear tire (screw in tread, about 1.5" from edge of tread)
====

That tire's currently on the car, around 93K kms. It's part of a set of Michelin X-Ice snow tires, on separate rims, first installed November 2010, tire manufactured in February of same year. I did have them checked over this fall, by Kal Tire, for tread wear and condition; they said good for one more winter. They have around 7/32" tread depth. I didn't mention plug repair.

 

I'm with @rjparker on this one too. Call around and find a tire shop that's willing to at least look at the tire to see if they can do anything with it as is. Might even want to check a local used tire seller. Sometimes ya never know, they just might be the one that fits the situation.

 

That's a bit of a bug-bear. You've got a leak, install sealant, it (temporarily) seals, but now the methods to locate the puncture don't work.

My take-away, do anything else besides installing sealant; it leaves you with a quandry. I really wish Toyota would smarten up on this.

 

I would not worry about it IF they removed the tire and looked from the inside. In reality what you have now is the equivalent of a plug patch, not ideal but ok. Many thousands of tires are driven with a plug patch. The better patch is done from the inside. In any case a blowout is not a concern with modern tires and tire pressure monitoring systems.

 

Yes, did the new shop mention the methods? Assuming the removed the tire from your car (I was going to suggest you take the tire off the car and ask to have it unmounted) with the sealant in the puncture, the mechanic is not going to unseal the hole even if the know where it is, most likely. That is something much easier done by you with the tire off the rim. That is if the tire mechanic wouldn't do the work for you. Which it sounds like they are shying away from or flat out refusing to do.

Also, might want to call around and get price quotes for cleaning the sealant, if you can't do the work yourself.

 

All that work and hassle might be more expensive than a new tire. It might not be repairable even if it can be cleaned out.

 

Probably depends on the sealant used as well. I've read only one post here describing how annoying it was to clean a sealant repaired tire after unmounting the tire from the wheel.
I did an experiment using slime on a plumbing thermal expansion tank with a punctured bladder. The repair lasted a year at which time I had a new tank to take it's place. One of these days when I have an idea about how to reuse the tank, I'll open it up and take a look inside.