Vulcanizing tires

[Heavy D.]

Hi all, I bought 7 Michelin XZL 395/85/R20s from a vendor a few months ago. long story short I only got 2 tires mounted on the front of my A3 because 5 of the others have punctures in them! they are used surplus so I guess it is to be expected. I contacted the vendor and he said to have them vulcanized since my 30 day warrantly is expired. Ok I contacted the only shop that does it on the east coast of Florida over the phone and they said that some of the holes might not be repairable through the process depending on the situation of the compromise. the only way to find out is to bring them in. Im going to do that tomorrow morning. Anyway my question is since the integrity of these tires is compromised, and the vulcanization process requires cutting out a portion of the tire and vulcanizing another part in, Is it going to be safe to run on the road? Or are these now just good for offroad use only and I am out about 1000 dollars?

Thanks

 

[m16ty]

I wouldn't trust it on the road. I've had tires repaired like this before but it was on tractor tires.

 

[rosco]

It depends on the the repair needed. Shops that do re-capping, can do the job. I prefer the Bandag process. They can make repairs, that will surprise you, and you will be able to safely get the life out of the tread. Have good ones on the front. You should be be all right. Keep it under 90!

 

[nk14zp]

Who sold you 5 tires with holes in them?

 

[wreckerman893]

Are the holes so big you can't put tubes in them? I remember a few years back that DRMO would drill big holes in new tires before selling them surplus. I think taxpayers made a stink about it (or maybe the folks that buy surplus tires) and had the practice stopped. I'd check the code on the tires and see how old they are. You may have bought tires that are way outdated (not saying that they can't be used in some applications). I'm not sure if DOT checks tire dates if they do a roadside inspection on you but it may be a possiblilty.Maybe you can reach a deal with the seller to swap the tires back for better tires without either one of you being out a lot of money. I'd be diplomatic first and see if they will work with you before this goes any further.

 

[silverstate55]

It's called a Section Repair, I had it done on one of my Michelin XML 395s. It is DOT-approved, and I had it done through a local heavy truck tire vendor locally.

My tire had a large C-shaped cut in the tread; someone tried to use a bunch of tire plugs side-by-side to repair it, which didn't work. It was cleverly concealed, as I didn't notice it until I mounted the tire & started to inflate it to seat the bead...a chance blast of air that I felt led to its discovery.

I haven't had any issues with my section repair, and have put a couple thousand miles on it so far...the only issue I had was a leaky O-ring on the wheel, and some di-electric silicone grease solved that.

Section repairs can only be performed in the tread areas, NOT sidewalls...if you have a sidewall hole/cut, that tire is garbage. Same thing with retreads: dry-rot or "weather-checking" on the sidewalls cannot be candidates for retreading. This info is direct from the 2 biggest heavy truck tire vendors in southern NV: Southern Tire & Firestone. Both have outlets close to my work so I've spent quite a bit of time talking with their techs about heavy truck tires, and they are absolutely fascinated with military trucks & tires.

HTH.

 

[Scarecrow1]

Like Wreckerman said try to resolve this issue with the guy who sold you the tires. If he did this unknowing of the defect anyone worth his or her salt would or should be willing to make it right. If they knew of this and sold them anyway then everyone needs to know who did this. I know if I get cheated by a member I will be sure to let all know just who it was. We are a very small group by comparison to other hobby's so it's important to keep our best foot forward and weed out the bad guys. I wish you luck with this problem. A thousand dollars isn't pocket change but it isn't worth trying to use the tires and getting you or someone else killed in an accident...........

 

[gerrykan]

As silverstate55 posted, a properly made section repair(vulcanization) is completely safe.
A competent shop will not attempt the repair if the cords or belts are compromised.
If properly done, the tire will wear out before you have a problem with the repair.
I've had a couple done in the past. One tire went 90,000 miles on my Jeep after the repair, only replaced(with the other 3) because of lack of tread.

 

[Heavy D.]

Thanks for all of the feedback guys. After realizing that the vulcanization repair might not be the best fix, for both safety, cost and hassle reasons, I decided to contact the seller again. I sent him a long email pretty much asking him out of the kindness of his heart to overlook the fact that the tires were past the 30 day period for return. I offered to pay the return shipping.

I talked to him on the phone the following day and he proceeded to tell me he was willing to swap back the 2 tires 1 for 1 instead of paying for vulcanizaion like originally stated. I corrected him and said it was (5) tires of the original (7) that were effed. (2) of which with side wall puntures/slits, 1 had a 2cm tree branch all the way through, another with a nail all the way through, and the last just had a puncture. I dont see how some of these could be overlooked if they did the slightest inspection on them. After I found the second leak (the hard and very upsetting way after mounting on the wheel and pressurizing by myself) i figured i better inspect the others before continuing down the line. It took me a Novice at best only about 3 minutes a tire to find other obvous intrusions. It must have caught him off guard or something and he basically said he couldnt believe that and told me to send him pictures. I sent him pictures a matter of 20 minutes later and havent heard back, that was on Saturday. I am going to try to call him the second time today this afternoon, and see if he is willing to deal. If not I will divulge the identity of them. Yes I am in the wrong for not finding this within the 30 day period, but in my opinion it is WAY more unsat for around 70% of your order to be inadequate for immediate use.

I will update soon