Running on a Flat Tire

[PewterBird]

I got a piece of chain link fence in my tire a few days ago. It was a very slow leak and I didn't notice it probably for a few days. After my car sat for a good 8 hours outside of work, I finally realized that it was flat. So I put on the spare and take it to the nearest tire place. I get it patched, but the guy says that since I ran it while it was flat I had damaged the tire and he can't garantee the patch. He showed me the crosshatched markes around the inside of the sidewall. It looked fairly faint, so I just took the patch and moved on. When I figureed out that it was a piece of chain link fence I know exactly where I must have run over some. They were putting up some fence over by my school. I know I must have not driven more that 30 miles with a semi flat, and 0 miles with the full flat.

Do I have anything to worry about? I hate to have this tire blow out on me on the highway.

O yeah. And when he was balancing the tire, He said I have a bent wheel. And I do, cause it was a wobblin'.

[malice10985]

I had a tire blow out once, while I was going about 55mph. My tire shredded, and my aluminum rim cracked and broke into many pieces.

YOur tire is probably fine, but you don't want to take any chances. I was lucky I was the only one on the road. My incedenct could have been messy.

[97chevycamaro]

Nah, you shouldnt have to worry about a blowout, if anything it will just start leaking again. When i worked for pep boys i saw some tires that already had like 4 patches in them that i couldnt convince the people to get a new one. As for the wheel being bent just try to find someone selling 1 stock wheel, shouldnt cost more than $50

[ThatsMeGC]

I wouldn't worry about it, happens everyday. I drove on a tire that was almost flat because of a nail and didn't notice until after work when the shop guy said come back here your tire is flat. I was still half asleep when I drove to work so I didn't even notice.

But he filled it up, I went home and plugged it and all was good.

[RdBrd83]

I used to sell tires for Sears. They wouldn't touch a tire that had any marks around the sidewall from being ran low or flat. Liability is the biggest reason for this. It may be perfectly fine for you to drive on it until the tire is bald, but if something were to happen then they could have a potential lawsuit. So it's better off for the tire place to sell you a new tire, and not guarentee anything.
On the other hand, I've seen tires get pulled off cars that have had probably a good 2 cups of ground rubber sitting in the bottom of the tire from being ran partially flat, so it really depends on just how bad it is.