I know I should post a pic, but basically I got a nail in the sidewall of my pretty much brand spankin new 'kook RS2. I went to the guy down the street and he plugged it for me with the stuff thats sticky and looks like nasty liquerish.

He said it will be fine, but I am a little worried because people have said plugging a sidewall hole is a big no no and could end up in disaster. Does anyone else know much about this?

I'll try and post a pic in a little while.

 

It is a big no-no, we never plugged or patched anything with a sidewall puncture at my shop.

EDIT - main thing to remember is that the sidewall flexes, unlike the tread.

 

When I was working at my dads shop he told me to never plug sidewalls unless the customer really wanted it done. Even then, they signed a waiver stating they knew the repair was dangerous and basically acknowledged that it could blow out at any time.

If they are new tires, did you get road hazard warranty because that is covered by most.

With that said, sidewall plugs are very iffy. Sometimes they hold but sometimes they dont and that is under normal driving conditions.

 

Replace the tire. Having the sidewall blow out at 60mph will lead to a shitty day.

 

I got them from onlinetires.com for a great price, but I don't think they offer a warranty. I may give them a call and see if there is any kind of deal if I buy the replacement from them, but its a bit of a stretch.

So it sounds like a new tire would be the way to go, especially considering I plan to go to my first track event next month.

 

I would DEFINITELY replace it before you track it.

 

New tire. Use the plugged one as a spare if you end up hardup for a tire. I wouldn't trust it as far as I could throw it.
Doesn't mean I haven't run a patched sidewall for a couple hundred miles when I had to.

For the track day, new tire for sure. Better do it before you wear these ones too much and you end up with one tire way larger then the others.

 

it's not worth it, just replace it.

 

I've plugged tires for years. The two times I tried to fix sidewall punctures, they didn't hold worth a damn. I have never had a tread plug fail. Replace the tire.

 

i work for hankook.....
the RS2 comes with a manufacturers Road Hazard warranty for the first 25% of tread depth, if it qualifies you will get a FREE replacement. so use our website to find an authorized dealer in your area to have them inspect the tire and see if it is warrantable.

 

Has anyone ever had their sidewall bubble out? Does it make any difference if they're run-flats?

 

Bubbling is from a imperfection in the rubber. Its normally a weak spot that cant contain the pressure from the inside. I would be more concerned on runflats seeing as when they are "flat" the strength of the tire is all in the sidewall.

 

Thank you so much, I brought the tire to a local discount tire who sells hankook and they are going to call hankook on monday to sort things out. They said that hankook can sometimes be a bit of a pain in the ***, but after reading the warranty, this is the exact thing that it describes so I don't think that they will be able to give me that much of a hard time.