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Dealer lying about flat tire fix

7K views 21 replies 15 participants last post by  jogosub 
#1 ·
Got my first flat tire on my 2014 Outback (less than 7K miles). Called the dealer and was glad to find I'm covered! It was a dual hole (staple), but only one side of the staple went all the way through. I asked for a patch rather than a plug. He said they'll have to check it out. I changed the tire myself and left them the wheel.

Went back in the afternoon to pick it up. $68 fee on the invoice, but I don't have to pay. They will send it to insurance (or tire company...whatever). I bring the tire home to change it myself. I discover they've plugged it. My invoice shows "tire patch". But it's clearly a plug. $68 for a plug???? Are you kidding me??? I hate plugs. I show it to my buddy who is a car guy and he starts fuming! He says no one plugs tires any more. Patch is much more reliable. He claims they have ruined my tire. He can't believe a dealership would do this.

I'm pretty upset myself. I expected more than this from a dealer. I'm gonna call up the service manager and discuss this tomorrow.
 
#2 ·
I plug tires all the time. All the tire shops around here do. Don't see how it 'ruined' a tire as the plug occupies the space where the hole used to be. If you don't like it, you can pull it out, dismount the tire, and patch it.

I've never had one fail, but I trim them pretty close to the tire to minimize the risk of pull out.
 
#4 ·
+1, been plugging tires for as long as I can remember...never had a failure...

Not to mention that they do make plug/patch combos....tire could be patched but unless you dismount the tire there is no way to know....which for $68 sounds like what the dealer may have used.....

Can't imagine someone advising that the tire was ruined.....
 
#5 ·
Well, but then there is a scenario where you get your tire punctured at the same spot (by roofing nail), where it was punctured before and patched from inside. That happened to me few weeks ago. I went back to the shop (Discount Tire), where you get free flat tire repairs with patches, but guess what; when the tire is punctured like that (twice ate the same spot) they will no longer re-patch the old patch. I had to get a new tire and pay pro-rated price (under original 40K tire manufacturer warranty) - that was $ 68.00 for Falken Ziex ZE612+. In such case, plugs would not work no matter what. My Falkens are less than 1 year old with about 5K put on them so far.
 
#7 ·
Spoke to the service guy today. He said they do a combo patch & plug as it's the proper way to fix a tire. A search on Google shows this is the best way to fix a flat. I have no way to prove or disprove this without taking off the tire, and I'm not going to do that. I believe they did it properly.

I don't like plugs as you kinda have to butcher the tire. You're taking a small hole and making it bigger. It's a quick and dirty method of doing it. It's cheap and fast. Not saying they all fail, but it has a higher failure rate than a proper patch. I know our Subaru's aren't sport cars with Z rated tires and it probably doesn't make a difference in most instances.

I was just disturbed when I thought the dealer had lied. I was wrong. I should have waited to make this post until I had talked to them first! Lesson learned!
 
#8 ·
Not sure where you are getting your info but you are not butchering the tire with a plug. You are not making the hole bigger....all you do is ream the hole to clear any debris then fill the hole with the plug.....trim the plug and tire is good as new.........

As you said...we are not talking about z-rated tires....of course I have plugged those as well without a problem.....
 
#14 ·
Spoke to the service guy today. He said they do a combo patch & plug as it's the proper way to fix a tire. A search on Google shows this is the best way to fix a flat. I have no way to prove or disprove this without taking off the tire, and I'm not going to do that. I believe they did it properly.

I don't like plugs as you kinda have to butcher the tire. You're taking a small hole and making it bigger. It's a quick and dirty method of doing it. It's cheap and fast. Not saying they all fail, but it has a higher failure rate than a proper patch. I know our Subaru's aren't sport cars with Z rated tires and it probably doesn't make a difference in most instances.

I was just disturbed when I thought the dealer had lied. I was wrong. I should have waited to make this post until I had talked to them first! Lesson learned!
You say "Cheap and fast" as if that is a bad thing. There are times to spend money and time, and there are times to save same.

The dependability of a repair is more about the competence of the person doing the repair than the method used. If spending money makes you feel safer, you should have just replaced the tire.
 
#9 ·
^^^ I guess you will never know for sure unless, next time, you have that tire off, you can verify that indeed they did the "combo" - I kind of doubt it, but that's me...
You can have it checked at another "independent" shop, where they actually take the tire off the rim and verify that it is, what they claim it is...
 
#12 ·
Plug/patch combo repair is actually why I ended up with 4 new tires on my 2011. Picked up a screw at 23,000 miles, two different places (Subaru dealer and a tire shop) said they would not repair it as the hole was too big and too close to the shoulder. No worries, the extended warranty covered 65% of the cost of all 4.
 
#16 ·
Enough people here saying they most likely used a patch plug and were NOT lying that I don't have to.

$68? And you brought them the tire? Sounds like a hospital charging your insurance $40 for a box of Kleenex.

Wow, Discount Tire will do it for free, and check balance/rebalance the mounted tire.
 
#19 ·
it's probably one of these..
It's the newest tech out there now. The patch insures no leak downs, and the plug part of it ensures water can't get in from the outside to the belt cords. Water to the belt cords from the outside, will rust the belts. This seal the belts



my issue would be the 68 dollar charge, whether it is covered for free or not. That is highway robbery rates. at Max, a patch/plug should be 25 at most in us dollars. That includes dismounting the tire, dig out the object, scrub, prep, patch-plug, dry time, mount, and balance.
 
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