A few days ago, I woke up to the unpleasant surprise that my tire had low pressure. It was a nuisance as I had a tight schedule with back to to back client meetings and home showings. The change in temperature and my tire did not care about my schedule. I stopped at the nearest gas station to put air in the tire unsuccessfully as the air machine was down. Drove to three gas stations and finally found one operational. I put air in my tire, then go about my now super tight schedule. Two hours later, I get another notification that my tire is low on pressure.
I once again stop to put more air on my tired. The tire is evaluated and no sign of a problem with it shows up. There no nails protruding, no slashed tires, the tired are in pretty good order but the air still escaping! The technician that helped me put NITROGEN in my tires again. The pressure check was re-set and I went on my marry way….the next morning, I wake up to a low pressure tire. I don’t need the sensor to inform me of that. My tired was pratically FLAT!!!!
I drove to the gas station put air on it, go to my open house. My open house concludes, and yes, my tire needs air yet again. Drove back to my usual mechanic. i tell them my tale of the last 48 hours, and they immediately sprung to action. first, they did a soap-buble test. “What is a soap- bubble test,” I asked? Soap-bubble test is soapy water is sprayed on the tire to reveal a leak. OK. Let’s do it. i tired of low pressure tires. A few minutes later, we find the troublesome spot. We could see the air bubble BUT again, nothing protruding, and no gash. So, what is causing the air leak.
The tech from Cardinal Plaza Shell evaluated the tire carefully and realized that I had a metal piece stuck in my tire. It was a very thin piece of metal and thus it was difficult to see it, and feel it. A few minutes after discovering the piece of metal began the fun of taking it out. A special set of pliers had to be employed to extract it since it was so thin. WE had no idea how long it was and if taking it out was going to cause more problem. One thing was clear, it had to get out and soon. The tire was loosing more pressure a lot more quickly.
Patience, tenacity, and skill finally overpowered the stubborn piece of metal. It was extremely thin and long. I have no idea where I drove that cause that piece of metal to get stuck in the tire. Once it was extracted, the tire lost a little more pressure. You could hear it hissing. The next step was to actually make the gash slightly bigger so a rubber plug could be inserted. The rod inserted into the gash was pretty long. I thought it was going to ruin the tire more but I was pleasantly surprised.
Of course, there had to be more drama with this tire. The troublesome metal had been found and extracted. The tire got prepared for the plug and then the tool that was been used to prep the tire came undone leaving a rod stuck in the tired. It looked worse than it was but that was the last thing I wanted to see. Fortunately, the technician knew much more than me about repairing tires. He quickly used pliers and some other tool to remove the jammed rod. Once the rod was extracted, it was time to plug it…here goes nothing!
That brown, rusty-looking rod is actually a rubber piece of material that was eventually inserted into the tire to plug the hole from the old piece of metal. It was a little difficult to insert it. The mechanic had to apply some pressure, and some tugging, but it finally nestles tightly in the gash. Once it was in place, the plug had to be trimmed as much as possible without cutting the tire. Who needs this drama again?
The rubber plugged was successfully trimmed. The remaining stump of the rubber plug was going to meld with the tire once I drove a few miles. The heat generated from the tires hitting the pavement was going to meld the rubber and tire together. When I arrived home, 20 minutes later, there was no sign of trouble with my tire, and no warnings of low pressure. The next day, no problem either… six days later, NO PROBLEM!
Thanks you Cardinal Plaza Shell for taking care of my cars, and this time my troublesome tire! Thank you also for helping out in a pinch with no prior appointment scheduled.
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