Ames, IOWA -- Anyone know an honest tire dealer

are you near leclaire?

why not just plug it if it's a nail or screw?

 

I have run into a requirement to change both tires on the same axle in Germany (on a swiss rental car, oh the fun negotiating the authorization for that) but never encountered any such in the US in 56 years of driving and probably a hundred tire failures on the family cars. The reasoning was to keep the traction from both wheels of the same axle equal. There is also a theory that the tread pattern should be the same but I've seen Porsches with different front and rear tread patterns from the factory, owned one.

I'll bet their argument is ABS and stability control electronics depend on the differences in traction and that would be screwed up by different treads and they don't have a matching tire to what you have now, don't want any liability (and do want more profit).

Sorry I can't help on the tire shop recommendation.

 

I have had excellent results with Sams Club......but they don't carry a lot of common sizes in stock.

Did the shop even LOOK at the tire to see if it is repairable ??
I once had a slow leak that was caused by water that had gotten inside the valve stem cap and frozen.

A Toyota dealer is always an option too.
Don't see how they could be any worse than the one that you already talked to.

 

Did you locate the leak? If it's just a nail in the tread, not right at the edge, plug repair it?

 

i like the name, sounds like they'll do anything you want. within the boundaries of the constitution.

 

Could also be a bead leak if they can't find any nails/screws.

 

A quick look at the reviews I found don't reveal any serious problems. As a reference I just had a tire patched & balanced for $11. If the shop wants much more I'd consider plugging it myself.

 

Hi Kris. There are three main causes for slow leaks.

1. A nail (or similar) puncture where the offending object stays in place and seals the hole.

2. A leaking valve.

3. Poor sealing along the bead of the tire.

One and two above can usually be found fairly easily without any fancy tools or equipment. So normally I would try to rule those two out first, and if it still leaks then just take it to a tire place with instructions to re-seat it.

For 1. Jack your car up safely and remove the leaking tire. Carefully look over the whole tread and shoulder area looking for the head of a nail or screw or piece of wire etc. Use a small flat blade screw driver to pry out any stones or other foreign objects out from between the tread grooves and try to find what is penetrating it.

If you find something there then don't pull it out. Just mark the area (like a chalk arrow on the sidewall) and drive it to a tire place. As long as it's not too close to the sidewall they can just patch it.

For 2. Ok, this one is a little gross. You get a good golly miss molly load of slimy spit in your mouth and place it over the valve to make a little "spit seal". Watch it carefully and see if the spit stays level or if it slowly starts to rise like a little hemisphere which indicates a valve leak.

Unfortunately if the leak is too slow then the above "gross" method might not give an indication. You could also buy a small valve tool for a dollar or two and loosen then reseat the valve on that tire and see if that helps. Or even get the tool and a spare valve and just screw in a new valve and see how it goes. The tool and the valve cost very little money, but be aware that you will lose most (or all) of your air if you pull the valve. So have a pump handy.

For 3. As I said, just take it to any tire place and ask them to remove and reseat the tire. Get them to look closely at the rim for any damage or corrosion that may have caused the poor seal and make sure they put plenty of whatever that goo is that they place around the bead to help it seat in.

 

You definitely need to find a shop that will figure out the cause of the slow leak - that is not a difficult task as uart suggested above. If the leak is due to a puncture too close to the sidewall, then we can talk about needing to replace the tire - and worst case, replacing one other tire which has the lowest tread depth of the remaining three, putting both new tires on the rear axle. It depends upon how much the three tires have worn after one year of service.

In the future, please do not continue to drive the car indefinitely, knowing that a tire has a problem - whether you think the leak is slow or not. A slow leak might turn into a fast leak, depending upon the root cause.

When I change engine oil, one of the tasks I will perform while waiting for the oil to drain is to raise up all four corners of the car. Then, using a hand, I rotate each tire slowly to inspect the tread, pull out rocks that are stuck in the tread using long-nose pliers, and look for nails.

Two tire failures per year of driving? What do you count as a failure?

I consider a failure to be a defect in materials or workmanship. Hence I would not count a nail in the tire tread as a "failure", that is not the tire's fault. Usually I find such nails before the tire has a chance to deflate.

I recall one outright tire failure in 45 years of driving - a bulge in a tire sidewall (on a BMW 3-series convertible) which was not traceable to hitting a pothole or something else with the tire.

My wife experienced one tire blow out with the 2004 Prius, due to hitting debris on the road - which was not the tire's fault. I was riding along so I installed the compact spare while the Prius was parked on the side of the highway.

 

Every tire on every car loses air, constantly, a tire that loses more than a trickle isn't really unusual, I'd check the stem first on the low tire, don't use spit, use motor oil, stem down, motor oil in stem, bubbles are a leak, just take a stem tool, remove and clean the stem and reinstall, the oil is exactly what you use to get a good seal for the rubber (nylon) valves of the stem, if there is a sidewall leak, new tire, if there is a leak in the tread it's repairable.
Any tire dealer is going to fix it stop being a tire nazi.

 

Maybe you need to contact the phone company or cable company or sat tv provider and ORDER some Internet service for your house.
I spent a couple of years in Iowa. Ames isn't exactly BFE !!

A recommendation for a chain tire store in one area might not apply in another town; it depends on who works at that specific store.

First choose the one that is most convenient to you that seems to do a lot of business.
Even the most marginally incompetent tire shop should be able to find and plug a slow leak like that.

Quoted for emphasis.
You should have re-checked the pressure a LOT sooner than you did.

 

I've been using Tirerack.com for years. In addition to being a great resource for tire information and good prices, they will ship to an installer, and provide recommended shops in your area.

Here's a partial list of shops they recommend in Ames, Iowa.

 

I can't comment on a tire dealer, but I've stayed in Ames, and I can definitely attest to them having internet; in fact that was the first place I ever saw highspeed internet, back in the early 90s. It's the home of Iowa State University and the birthplace of many of the technological milestones of the Information Age.