Repaired Something Today

"Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing." (granfury) 09/20/2015 at 00:09 • Filed to: None

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Since it has started to cool down a bit I finally got around to plugging my damaged tire. So far it seems to be working fine, but my god it was a pain.

First, I had to jack up the car. Normally not a big deal as there should be a mark on the chassis, right? Not that I could see. So I put the jack in what appeared to be the appropriate location and started cranking up. The jack only has a big eye on it, and you have to keep inserting and rotating this little metal bar from one side to the other, unlike every other car I’ve worked on. In the process part of this bar scraped along the rocker panel and scratched the paint. Damn.

Then, just as I almost had the car up to the correct level it suddenly dropped a bit with a loud crunching noise. A quick examination showed that I didn’t have the slot on the jack lined up with the seam of metal that joins the rocker panel to the floorpan, and the rocker panel partially collapsed under the weight of the car. I’m going to have to spray something on the now exposed metal because I suspect that this will be location for corrosion if I don’t.

After properly positioning the jack I went to loosen the lug nuts. Thankfully it’s nuts and not bolts because I hate positioning wheels when you don’t have a studs to hang them on. As usual, some idiot overtightened the lug nuts and it was a bitch to get them off. I was taught that you can use power tools to loosen the nuts, but tightening should be done by hand, preferably with a torque wrench (on alloy wheels - steelies should be fine with power tools). Even Edd China uses power tools to tighten the lug nuts on alloys and I cringe every time I see that.

Next task was to remove the item that punctured the tire. It looked like a nail but turned out to be a very pointy screw; I guess the head was worn down from driving with it in there so long. I didn’t know if I should fully deflate the tire or not (and I can’t remember which order I did the tasks in). Pulling it out was a challenge, even using a decent pair of dykes. Eventually it came out, but it was in there good.

Removing the Schrader valve was another bitch and a half. The plastic tool that came on a bottle of Slime sealant just twisted to nothingness. I searched for an old toolbox and found a metal valve stem cap that had a removal tool built-in, and one of the tangs broke off in the process. Crap. Eventually I removed that chunk of metal and found a much better removal tool that eventually coaxed out the valve.

Getting the plug in the tire was the next challenge. It was a tight fit to say the least. I smashed up the first one pretty good, so I was quite thankful that the kit had more. Liberally coating the second one with glue/cement I finally got it to the correct depth and got the tool out. I haven’t had that much exercise in quite some time, and I walk several miles several times per week.

So far the repair appears to be holding. Before the patch I would have to pump up the tire every couple of days, but it was getting steadily worse. Last Thursday, after not having driven for a couple of days, the tire was completely and totally flat. Today I checked several times throughout the course of the day and the pressure hasn’t varied. Not even by 1.5 PSI.

Even though it’s a fairly basic implementation, I am grateful for the TPMS system. I must admit that I’m not quite as good at checking tire pressure as I should (and used to) be, but getting old will do that to you (it’s a long way down to those valve stems). I have relied on TPMS to let me know when there’s a problem, and so far it has done a stellar job. I have a good compressor and nice tire pressure gauge, so as soon as I get a warning I pull over and take care of the issue.

I know - TL; DR. But does anyone have any suggestions as to how to seal/protect the damaged sheet metal on the rocker panel? I don’t want to lose this car to rot; it’s a rare manual transmission minivan that I plan on keeping forever, even when I buy other cars (Miata is probably next on the list). If I was still in California I’d be less concerned (although the metal around the lip of the trunk rotted through on my E21 and it spent it’s entire life in SoCal), but here in St. Louis with the salty roads in Winter I want to make sure rot never sets in.

cnessel27 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:23

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Paint your scratch and know that if you had taken the leak to a shop no mater what you had paid the guy doing the plug did it for free or a couple bucks. I thank you for doing it on your own. Next time don't use the slime stuff though just a plug and rubber cement and cut off the extra.

atfsgeoff > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:30

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just make sure the bare metal is clean and scuffed, then rattle can it (preferably with a primer/paint combo).

Long reach floor jack makes things much easier as far as jacking up a car. Also using an impact wrench to put the nuts back on is fine if you’re using a torque limiting extension. Saves a LOT of time.

Birddog > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:31

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“it’s a rare manual transmission minivan that I plan on keeping forever”

I don’t think those words have ever been spoken on Oppo.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > cnessel27 09/20/2015 at 00:34

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I didn’t use the Slime, just the repair kit. I have a bottle of it in case of emergency and it had the valve removal tool in the cap, but I figured that the plug should be OK on its own.

I do like working on my own cars, but until I was laid off I really didn’t have the time. I did take it to a shop to plug the tire, but they refused saying that it was too close to a previous repair. At this point I’m willing to take the risk, and as soon as I am once again gainfully employed will be replacing these crappy OEM tires.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Birddog 09/20/2015 at 00:38

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What can I say - I like manual transmissions and I like minivans, so I bought the only one that was available. Thankfully it’s from a manufacturer that gives a damn about driving dynamics, so I’m not stuck driving some dreary mommymobile. Making it even more rare is the color - one year only for this bodystyle, so I’m practically driving a unicorn...

Urambo Tauro > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:39

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What makes the OEM tires so crappy? The fact that you ran over a screw?

macanamera > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:40

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I usually plug tires without lifting the car.

cnessel27 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:42

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Not gonna lie I have seen the same trucks come and go with the same plug so many times Its crazy, so in my eyes plugs (and also patches) are viable means of extending a tires life. We do them for free because we too know the cost of tires in comparison to a simple repair.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > atfsgeoff 09/20/2015 at 00:43

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You don’t know how much I wish I had a garage, or even a carport. There really isn’t anywhere to keep large tools, so I have to bring everything inside the house and I don’t think a floor jack would match the decor.

Given the tightness of the lug nuts, I can almost guarantee that no such torque-limiting extension was used. Typical chain tire store behaviour - get ‘em in, get ‘em out.

atfsgeoff > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:55

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A sleek aluminum floor jack is light enough to be able to carry in and out of the house with relative ease, and doesn’t take up that much space. I use mine even in a gravel driveway. Sometimes home decor just has to take a back seat to utility!

TheHondaBro > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:55

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Previa?

Berang > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 00:55

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I had to do one of these in the middle of a road trip once because the spare tire had a damaged valve and kept going flat. So I repaired the regular wheel with a plug kit - and it was fine for years after that. So much better than fix-a-flat or other junk.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > Urambo Tauro 09/20/2015 at 00:55

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Competing (and cheaper!) name-brand tires have much better treadwear, traction and temp ratings. Reviews of the OEM tires on TireRack.com indicate that they ride quite harshly as compared to the alternatives. I can get decent Michelin or Continentals for about a third less than these Bridgestones, and in the process get longer life, better performance and a smoother ride if I am to believe the specs and reviews.

Over the nearly 40K miles I’ve put on these tires I’ve had to do 3-4 repairs, and I’m certainly not going to blame that on Mazda or Bridgestone, only me for driving through some rather crappy, poorly-maintained side streets in the city. I looked at buying another set of the same tires, but I’ve done my homework and think I can do better with another brand. I’m sure there will be trade-offs, but I expect that. I remember switching to Michelin MXVs from the OEM Pirelli P6s on my Rabbit GTI; I lost a bit of grip, but the ride and noise level were so much better, as was the wear. But being a performance-oriented driver, I did miss that extra grip that the P6s provided.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > TheHondaBro 09/20/2015 at 01:05

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2012 Mazda5 Sport, complete with an orange ‘Oppo’ sticker on the right side of the rear window (the one on the left is a C&D ‘Save the Manuals’ sticker).

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > macanamera 09/20/2015 at 01:07

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If I have to do this again I might just do that. But since this was my first ever attempt at a plug I thought it best to do it off the car as a learning experience (and I learned a lot today...)

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. 09/20/2015 at 01:52

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Next time don’t deflate the tire first, and don’t bother jacking up the car. Just roll it to a position where you can easily access the puncture. Remove detritus. Clean with rasp tool. Install plug with cement on it.

Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 09/20/2015 at 02:06

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Good plan. Next time this is just what I’ll do now that I know how to do this repair.