Flat Tire - Replace one or all 4? Tread at 8

I had my tires replaced last year and one of the tires went flat this week. Maybe its all the snow and cold we are going thru. The tire has a cut in the sidewall and walmart said it can't be repaired?

Is it possible that some other shop might be able to repair the tire?

Also, the remaining tires have tread at almost 8. Can I just replace one? I ahve contiExtremeContact and new tires have tread of 10. They have arnd 10,000 miles on them. I checked at sears and according to them, its a borderline case to replace just one tire.

Any ideas? Also, can anyone recommend a place to buy used tires online?

found on yahoo answers

The flexing of the sidewall would soon loosen it or tend to rupture and separate next to the solid patch. If the puncture is not too large, you may want to consider putting in a boot. A boot is simply a large piece of rubber material that lies inside of the tire along the damaged area from bead to bead. It prevents foreign material from entering the tire and eventually destroying the tube. They are not intended for large diameter punctures or for tears in a sidewall. A boot may prolong the use of the tire for awhile but if you are using it often and heavily it may not be worth the cost of dismounting and mounting the tire. Chances are it will be looking for a used tire or bucking up to buy that new one. "

then there is A Goodyear dealer in our area vulcanizes sidewalls. They grind out the rubber inside and out down to the nylon fabric several inches wider than the cut then add several layers of rubber coated nylon fabric like the plys used to build a tire. The tire is placed in a special heated press and cooked under pressure for several hours. I had a 18.4x38 with 2 cuts a 3 inch and a 4 inch cut repaired for $75. We have one tire that was patched 6 years ago and still no problem

Check out www.tirerack.com

The general rule is that the circumference between tires shouldn't be more than 1/4"

Lastly, why the heck would you ever take your car to a walmart or sears type of "service center?"

used tire store - not sure if you have them where you live we do in calif ,

ebay has used tire dealers , check out craigslist too

It's good to watch out if you ever think of getting used tires, especially the manufacturing date is important. But some tire shops can actually shave down a new tire to match the other tires.

I was about to say this. Don't get suckered into get a completely new set if the shop can do this.

OH yeah, when I read your thread title I thought it was like a news hook line

"See what happens when your don't get your AC system checked, Tonight at 8!"

I have mentioned before and will expand on this. As of late I don't give out advice, but I hate seeing people spending $1000+ on transfer clutches and stuff all because of a simple mistake.

When you replace 1 tire and after it is installed, you have to measure the circumference not the treadwear of all the tires including old and new. If there is more than a 1/4" difference regardless of treadwear, Subaru recommends replacing all the old tires as well.

From my experience you can get around 15,000 miles on tires until that 1/4" is breached. I have seen 1 forester that we have serviced that made it to 19,000 miles and was still within 1/4".

I have seen quite a few people not follow that rule and they end up doing damage.

Check out www.tirerack.com

The general rule is that the circumference between tires shouldn't be more than 1/4"

Lastly, why the heck would you ever take your car to a walmart or sears type of "service center?"

+1, This is the downside to AWD systems. I had he same thing happen- after I had about 15K miles on my tires. I've heard that if there is more than 0.25 inch difference in circumference between the tires, then the diff has to work overtime to compensate for it. In my casee, a single new tire would have put things out of spec for me.

My puncture was a small nail just above the outside corner where the tread and sidewall meet- probably took it on a freeway ramp. The tire folks would not patch it, but it was a small puncture, so I had them remove the tire from the rim and then patched the old tire inside with 3M 5200 http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=2002 This stuff is strong and flexible and saved me from purchasing four new tires. This is not an approved use for this stuff, and I don't recommend that anyone else do this, but it workded OK for me. The stuff is used in the Marine industry and is very strong and flexible (and comes in black). When I finally changed out the tires a year later, the patch looked very good from the inside.

If there is no way the tire can be salvaged and you have more than 0.25 difference in circumference, then the safest thing to do is to put a new set on.

After close examination, it looks like one of my other tire also has a small bubble in it. I am thinking of replacing all 4 tires now instead of searching for 2 used tires.

These tires have really been jinxed for me. Did i mention i already had one replaced couple of months after changing all 4 last year. Maybe its the road conditions after last year's snow. Don't see much improvement with the snow this year either so might get problems this year too.

Any suggestions on if i should also purchase road hazzard insurance? I don't really see the point of getting it if i have to change all 4 tires each time. What abt tire rack? I know they shave off tread so would their hazzard insurance make more sense then getting it locally?

thnks.