I trust tire dealers less than I trust used car salesmen and unfortunately I know very little about tires except that you should buy good ones and check the wear regularly. I snagged a nail in my tire (see photo). I know when I take it to the tire shop tomorrow they are going to tell me it is not repairable and I need to buy a new tire from them - right away! How about a little advice from the forum? The tires have about 10K miles on them; pilot super sports. If I do have to replace the tire, do I need to replace both front tires?

 

that looks repairable. An inside patched preferred. Take it to a tire shop for a quick repair.
I ve seen some like that be only the length of a thumb tac and not even penetrate the tire. Good luck.

 

easy fix with inside patch,,u can pull projectile out of tire, give it the spit test, no bubbles, good to go.

 

looks like a roofing screw for metal roofing, might have to use some visegrips and twist it out

 

That should be a relatively easy fix. As mentioned, a plug should do it. I think that the only time with punctures that a tire needs replacing, is if it goes into the sidewall.

 

I run a national service chain. Have your local tire shop dismount the tire. Patch/plug is the correct way to do this. Do not just do a patch or just a plug. Call ahead and see if they do both

http://www.motorweek.org/features/go...or_not_to_plug

 

Thanks to all who responded. Your responses were very helpful. I took it to Virginia Auto and Tire this AM - Nope, can't fix it but would be glad to sell me a new tire. Then I went to Mr. Tire - Nope, can't fix it but would be glad to sell me a new tire. When I challenged the gent telling him that I had it on good authority that the tire should be repairable, he said, "Well let them fix it then." So, just for fun, I took it to a local gas station that does minor repairs. Without hesitation, the gent said, "Yeah, we can fix that while you wait." He pulled the car into the bay, put it on the jack, removed the screw and then came to see me in the waiting room. Apparently it was a very small screw, did not puncture the tire; tire was not leaking. He recommended not doing anything other than watching the pressure for awhile but he was sure that I could use the tire until it ended its service life. So guess where I will go from now on when I have a tire issue. Ironically, my wife's car had something in her tire two weeks ago. She took it to VA Tire who told here it was not repairable and that she should replace both front tires given the wear so she came home with two new tires that cost about $200 more than what I could have got them for on Tire Rack. Why do tires folks run such a rip-off program???

 

to answer your last question, " because they know they can".
Any shop can sense when a customer doesn t know or understand the fix and dis honest people take advantage. Glad you got the information first so you could challenge the first shop.

 

crude yes, pull out projectile and give it some spit on the hole,,no bubbles, good to go.....

that tire was entirely repairable. I never send my girlfriend to a mechanic /tire place, I do it myself,
BTW, I worked for MIchelin Corp. for years and was a territory rep and have seen every type of damage known to man..good co., good tires..

 

Do it right and have them put a patch on the inside. Don't have a plug put in it!It's definitely repairable, being it's not on the sidewall.

 

Your nail is on the edge or outside of what many tire companies consider repairable. Here are some sample images from a Google search. You can see that there is some variance in interpretation between the images. Rather than having evil intent, I'm sure their lawyers and bosses don't allow them to repair anything they think is in their company's official unrepairable zone so they don't risk getting sued out the wazoo when a borderline repair fails and an accident occurs.