I picked up a nail driving out of state on a Sunday. The only place open was a Walmart. They would not fix it saying the nail was not on the tread (it looked on the tread to me but they said it was just outside the range). I ended up buying a repair kit and taking care of it myself to get home. Now, a month later it has been losing air. Looks like I need to replace it. My wife went to a tire dealer and was quoted $160 to replace it with a Yokohama! Any advice?
Call around for a better price. Walmart was probably correct not to repair the tire. It can be dangerous because of the location of the damage in the sidewall. Most reputable tire shops will not attempt to repair a tire with sidewall damage because of the possibility of subsequent (catastrophic) failure. Should you patch your tire or plug your tire? http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=187 http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=77
Tire rack prices, but shop around. I think maybe you quote included alignment, road hazard etc,etc. or they are riping you off Tire Search Results I buy my tire online, but have Walmart mount them. They come with free rotation and balance etc. that way and are reasonably priced.
Really and truly...the tire is the only part of the car that actually touches the road. More than anything else on the vehicle, the tires are responsible for your safety, your family's safety, and the safety of the drivers around you. IMHO trying to patch this tire yourself and then continuing to drive on it when you were told it was irreparable is just plain irresponsible. A compromised sidewall or "shoulder", where it sounds like this nail was can become a rupture which can lead to a blowout at highway speeds. Sorry to sound self righteous, but even just to others out there. Don't be cheap about your tires. If they are damaged have them repaired properly...when they need to be replaced...replace them with good safe tires. Anyways, for something like this TireRack is going to be the place to go. Tire dealers are often quite a bit more expensive, but will often match TireRack's pricing. Yokohama tires seem to have a pretty wide range in pricing...wider than Michelins at least. How many miles on the car? Also bear in mind its not safe to only replace one tire on an axle if the other tire has worn within a certain % of the new one. Again...only thing that connects your family to the road...safety beats thrift.
About $105 shipped: Yokohama AVID S33D Add $25 to have the tire mounted, balanced and the old tire disposed of.
