Nail in 1 tire --> Told to replace all 4!?!?

[1991 sploder]

bump

 

[Pbleiler]

Seeing where this Nail is,I see in edge of tread,I personally would find the old plug/ patch kit, it's dual purpose, plugs the hole and patches on the inside with rubber cement

 

[Runamuk13]

I'm the Thread Starter ....
WOW! I've really started something here. And I thought it was such an easy question!

24-hour Update
I plugged the hole yesterday. I've driven about 20 miles - combination of neighborhood streets and freeway. So far, I have not lost any air!
WHOO HOO! Using a digital tire pressure gauge, the pressure is the same today as it was yesterday.

I'll keep a close eye on it and if anything changes I'll let you know.

Big round of applause for the Stop & Go Tire Plugging Kit

Thanks to all of you that responded! I've read all the responses and wandered down the rabbit hole of 4WD vs AWD, plugging and patching, air pressure, and more. They are deep dark holes and all pretty interesting.

 

[fastpakr]

The "sidewall" pressure is always correct for that tire. Any other pressure is questionable. A lower pressure does not improve safety, handling, tire wear, or fuel economy. It improves comfort at the cost of all of the above to different degrees. If you want to play at pressure guessing, please, feel free to tell everyone that you check and fix the tire pressure every time that the load in your vehicle changes. It would be really nice if some one would be kind enough to post the pressure to weight chart. Ford didn't.

Wow.
Where did you come up with this?

 

[Chris_A.]

​

Wow.

Where did you come up with this?​

Old school instructor. Military driver's training. Unfortunately, way too many skills have been lost. People get training on one type of repair and forget the previous training - if they ever received it in the first place. What I did learn was that an instructor can never teach more than 90% of what they know. A student will retain less than 60% of what was taught (between didn't catch, understand, or didn't develop the training into skills. Usually, in as little as a week. So, when we get mad at people, it is only partly their fault. The rest is human nature. This is a direct example of why 2 heads are better than one. Why we have books, manuals, and reoccurring training. And funny enough, why this website exists.​

​

 

[fastpakr]

That's a fascinating story.

But it doesn't address the source of the wildly inaccurate set of statements I quoted.

 

[Chris_A.]

That's a fascinating story.

But it doesn't address the source of the wildly inaccurate set of statements I quoted.

As an owner, where do you get accurate tire pressure? If you say the door/pillar/owners manual, how does this apply when you change the tires? The rims? How often does the average person check their tires? How low is unsafe? Does it matter where my load goes? How do I, as an owner know which axle the load is on? As an owner do I or am I required to do a weight and balance sheet every time my vehicle is loaded or unloaded?
Legal opinions: Did Ford try to place all blame on Firestone after choosing what pressure they posted on the door/pillar/owners manual? + All load ratings.
Engineering answer: Constant over or under pressure will cause tire failure. A tire is a multilayer balloon. If it is run a over-pressue the tire will wear in the center. Under-pressure the tire will wear faster on the shoulders. Sufficient under/over pressure will cause tire failure. Under-pressure will the tire to concave and overheat causing delamination of the belts. (I have seen this on multiple brands of tires. The usual warning is the tire develops a bubble, vehicle may or may not develop abnormal vibrations. I have both seen this and felt this on both the tread and the sidewall of the tire.
Tire engineer opinion: What did I put on the product?

As to the patch/plug the safest answer is always to replace.
As an owner, what happens when you get a tire serviced under warranty?
Why is a patch preferred by most shops?
If the OP's tires were under warranty what would happen with almost all cases? How many owners are tracking that a driven axle should not have 2 different size tires? That an axle with any form of trac lock differential is in the same boat as the OP? Must replace both at the same time. Yes, selectable as well.

Most correctly, a tire manufactuer should specify a no repair or type of repair on the tire. Why?

The sidewall information is your tire owners manual.

https://www.tireindustry.org/readin...nformation,Tire Identification Number, or TIN.

This has to comply with DOT.

Traction, wear, and safety. The tire is designed to be operated at a specified pressure and max loading. If you took my E350 tires and put them on your Explorer, they would be improperly matched to the vehicle. The were designed for a much higher load capacity. It would be unsafe to do this. Why? Your rims might fail. The max pressure for your rims is way lower than mine. Now the questions and concerns can continue, but, this is already retardedly long. Please, explain "wildly inaccurate".

 

[Mbrooks420]

As an owner, where do you get accurate tire pressure? If you say the door/pillar/owners manual, how does this apply when you change the tires? The rims? How often does the average person check their tires? How low is unsafe? Does it matter where my load goes? How do I, as an owner know which axle the load is on? As an owner do I or am I required to do a weight and balance sheet every time my vehicle is loaded or unloaded?
Legal opinions: Did Ford try to place all blame on Firestone after choosing what pressure they posted on the door/pillar/owners manual? + All load ratings.
Engineering answer: Constant over or under pressure will cause tire failure. A tire is a multilayer balloon. If it is run a over-pressue the tire will wear in the center. Under-pressure the tire will wear faster on the shoulders. Sufficient under/over pressure will cause tire failure. Under-pressure will the tire to concave and overheat causing delamination of the belts. (I have seen this on multiple brands of tires. The usual warning is the tire develops a bubble, vehicle may or may not develop abnormal vibrations. I have both seen this and felt this on both the tread and the sidewall of the tire.
Tire engineer opinion: What did I put on the product?

As to the patch/plug the safest answer is always to replace.
As an owner, what happens when you get a tire serviced under warranty?
Why is a patch preferred by most shops?
If the OP's tires were under warranty what would happen with almost all cases? How many owners are tracking that a driven axle should not have 2 different size tires? That an axle with any form of trac lock differential is in the same boat as the OP? Must replace both at the same time. Yes, selectable as well.

Most correctly, a tire manufactuer should specify a no repair or type of repair on the tire. Why?

The sidewall information is your tire owners manual.

https://www.tireindustry.org/reading-tire-sidewall#:~:text=Another important piece of information,Tire Identification Number, or TIN.

This has to comply with DOT.

Traction, wear, and safety. The tire is designed to be operated at a specified pressure and max loading. If you took my E350 tires and put them on your Explorer, they would be improperly matched to the vehicle. The were designed for a much higher load capacity. It would be unsafe to do this. Why? Your rims might fail. The max pressure for your rims is way lower than mine. Now the questions and concerns can continue, but, this is already retardedly long. Please, explain "wildly inaccurate".

I think the biggest inaccuracy is that you go by the sidewall PSI. As stated above (correctly) this is merely the tires MAX pressure. Nothing more, nothing less.

You go by the door sticker. If you change tire size or type your best bet is to do a chalk test, and then make sure you’re in the factory ballpark.

 

[94Eddie]

As an owner, where do you get accurate tire pressure? If you say the door/pillar/owners manual, how does this apply when you change the tires? The rims? How often does the average person check their tires? How low is unsafe? Does it matter where my load goes? How do I, as an owner know which axle the load is on? As an owner do I or am I required to do a weight and balance sheet every time my vehicle is loaded or unloaded?
Legal opinions: Did Ford try to place all blame on Firestone after choosing what pressure they posted on the door/pillar/owners manual? + All load ratings.
Engineering answer: Constant over or under pressure will cause tire failure. A tire is a multilayer balloon. If it is run a over-pressue the tire will wear in the center. Under-pressure the tire will wear faster on the shoulders. Sufficient under/over pressure will cause tire failure. Under-pressure will the tire to concave and overheat causing delamination of the belts. (I have seen this on multiple brands of tires. The usual warning is the tire develops a bubble, vehicle may or may not develop abnormal vibrations. I have both seen this and felt this on both the tread and the sidewall of the tire.
Tire engineer opinion: What did I put on the product?

As to the patch/plug the safest answer is always to replace.
As an owner, what happens when you get a tire serviced under warranty?
Why is a patch preferred by most shops?
If the OP's tires were under warranty what would happen with almost all cases? How many owners are tracking that a driven axle should not have 2 different size tires? That an axle with any form of trac lock differential is in the same boat as the OP? Must replace both at the same time. Yes, selectable as well.

Most correctly, a tire manufactuer should specify a no repair or type of repair on the tire. Why?

The sidewall information is your tire owners manual.

https://www.tireindustry.org/reading-tire-sidewall#:~:text=Another important piece of information,Tire Identification Number, or TIN.

This has to comply with DOT.

Traction, wear, and safety. The tire is designed to be operated at a specified pressure and max loading. If you took my E350 tires and put them on your Explorer, they would be improperly matched to the vehicle. The were designed for a much higher load capacity. It would be unsafe to do this. Why? Your rims might fail. The max pressure for your rims is way lower than mine. Now the questions and concerns can continue, but, this is already retardedly long. Please, explain "wildly inaccurate".

If we are supposed to inflate the tires to the maximum pressure stated on the sidewall then why do nearly all manufacturers set the low pressure warning for the pressure monitors at 26-28 psi? Seems like this is completely contrary to what you stated that tires should be inflated to the maximum rated pressure on the sidewall at all times. I have run my tires at 32 psi for DECADES with no issues or abnormal wear. This includes the typical load variations seen for typical driving conditions. If I ran them at the maximum rated PSI on the sidewall I would be replacing tires before a year is through because the center of the tread would be bald in no time. At these pressures the contact patch would be minimal under typical loading conditions making for much less lateral grip from the tires. Running excessively high pressure in tires actually reduces their performance drastically. The pressure on the door jam is to be followed. Not the maximum rating on the tire sidewall. This is Engineering 101 logic at play for the vast majority of non-commercial vehicles on the road.

 

[J_C]

If you took my E350 tires and put them on your Explorer, they would be improperly matched to the vehicle. The were designed for a much higher load capacity. It would be unsafe to do this.

No, it's not unsafe. You merely need to adjust the pressure appropriate to the load.

They are then every bit as safe on an Explorer as on an E350.

 

[donalds]

I fill mine to 35
I find that pressure works
If I put in less air the truck just isn't fast enough
So do most manufacturers



Just my opinion

 

[Justinwht]

I've always run 40# and never had abnormal wear in any of my three Explorers in eight years.

 

[dogtag114]

I think the biggest inaccuracy is that you go by the sidewall PSI. As stated above (correctly) this is merely the tires MAX pressure. Nothing more, nothing less.

You go by the door sticker. If you change tire size or type your best bet is to do a chalk test, and then make sure you’re in the factory ballpark.

100% Agree. A major component of the VEHICLE’S tire pressure is it’s weight. The tire doesn’t know the weight of the vehicle so it states the max pressure for a heavy vehicle. NEVER use the tire’s Max as you will be riding on a smaller contact patch and hurting your handling, stoping power and tire wear.

 

[Mbrooks420]

And, it’ll generally ride like garbage.

 

[94Eddie]

The only thing over inflated tires are good for is better gas mileage.

 

[Justinwht]

The only thing over inflated tires are good for is better gas mileage.

I got 23 mpg on open road at 60 mph speed (4L OHV 5-speed stick). But that was before I built a cargo rack and hauled two 50# kayaks.

 

[J_C]

As an owner, where do you get accurate tire pressure? If you say the door/pillar/owners manual, how does this apply when you change the tires? The rims? How often does the average person check their tires? How low is unsafe? Does it matter where my load goes? How do I, as an owner know which axle the load is on? As an owner do I or am I required to do a weight and balance sheet every time my vehicle is loaded or unloaded?

The pressure stays the same for same size tires, goes up with smaller or down with larger. Rims don't matter, it takes the same amount of pressure for the tire to support the weight, but if you deviate much in rim size without also changing tire size, you may get uneven wear from that too.

Yes it matters where the load is, but it is mostly going to be on the rear in this case, unless there are two quite obese front driver and passenger. It is not hard to approximate how much load is added front vs rear based on where the load is, particularly if a trailer or in the cargo bay.

You're not "required" to do anything, except not wreck. What you do for optimal traction, ride quality, and tire life is up to you. Personally, I run my "max" spec'd 44PSI tires at 34PSI, and that is cold pressure, not while heated (compressed) air has just inflated them. If I add 500lbs or more, I go up to 44PSI unless I'm the only one in the vehicle then a little less. That gives me roughly 300lbs more capacity per tire.

How low is unsafe is too low to support the weight, see the toyo PSI vs size vs load I linked previously. Even if you don't want to do multiple calculations, the standard practice is have tires capable of the max load then run at reduced pressure in an unloaded state, unless this is too burdensome to keep doing, then you accept the tradeoff of tire wear vs traction and ride quality.

You also mentioned something about higher pressure for the E350 and the Explorer rims won't handle it. This would only apply in the case of someone doing it wrong, putting excessive air in the tires to reach the max sidewall rating instead of inflating for the actual load and not to exceed the load rating of the vehicle. The Explorer rims do support the full load rating of the vehicle and the PSI to get there.

 

[NigonKouk]

As an owner, where do you get accurate tire pressure? If you say the door/pillar/owners manual, how does this apply when you change the tires? The rims? How often does the average person check their tires? How low is unsafe? Does it matter where my load goes? How do I, as an owner know which axle the load is on? As an owner do I or am I required to do a weight and balance sheet every time my vehicle is loaded or unloaded?
Legal opinions: Did Ford try to place all blame on Firestone after choosing what pressure they posted on the door/pillar/owners manual? + All load ratings.
Engineering answer: Constant over or under pressure will cause tire failure. A tire is a multilayer balloon. If it is run a over-pressue the tire will wear in the center. Under-pressure the tire will wear faster on the shoulders. Sufficient under/over pressure will cause tire failure. Under-pressure will the tire to concave and overheat causing delamination of the belts. (I have seen this on multiple brands of tires. The usual warning is the tire develops a bubble, vehicle may or may not develop abnormal vibrations. I have both seen this and felt this on both the tread and the sidewall of the tire.
Tire engineer opinion: What did I put on the product?

As to the patch/plug the safest answer is always to replace.
As an owner, what happens when you get a tire serviced under warranty?
Why is a patch preferred by most shops?
If the OP's tires were under warranty what would happen with almost all cases? How many owners are tracking that a driven axle should not have 2 different size tires? That an axle with any form of trac lock differential is in the same boat as the OP? Must replace both at the same time. Yes, selectable as well.

Most correctly, a tire manufactuer should specify a no repair or type of repair on the tire. Why?

The sidewall information is your tire owners manual.

https://www.tireindustry.org/reading-tire-sidewall#:~:text=Another important piece of information,Tire Identification Number, or TIN.

This has to comply with DOT.

Traction, wear, and safety. The tire is designed to be operated at a specified pressure and max loading. If you took my E350 tires and put them on your Explorer, they would be improperly matched to the vehicle. The were designed for a much higher load capacity. It would be unsafe to do this. Why? Your rims might fail. The max pressure for your rims is way lower than mine. Now the questions and concerns can continue, but, this is already retardedly long. Please, explain "wildly inaccurate".

40 pounds , go with it'

 

[CDW6212R]

Wow, yes, an infinite number of opinions, most with a lot of truth, all with some wrong.

The door tag is a manufacturer's liability suggestion, to save their ass, not for your safety or fuel economy etc. It's also for a softer ride to sell more cars. Ford screwed up big with the poor door tag figures, and the low quality tires. Ford did not radically change their door tag recommendations on those, and lots of vehicles have very low door tag recommendations and still do.

People should all take everything into account, their usage, the loads on the vehicle etc. Putting the same pressure in both front and back tires is always going to wear the tires unevenly, one end is much heavier than the other. Driving hard into corners is going to wear the outer tire edges faster.

Thinking through those and other factors, each tire should have a pressure in it somewhat near the tire labeled MAX, regardless of what the door tag says. I'm not going to be dumb enough to put 32psi(or 28psi via the tag), in a front tire that lists MAX as 52psi, or 44psi.

Tire technology has changed, their is no magic best pressure, and the 30psi people swore by in 1975 is stupid to do today, with 44psi tires being the most common.

IMO, the best pressure is what achieves the best tire wear. That will never be a low pressure like 32psi, it will never be some too low unsafe amount. The best pressure for tire wear will be in a range of say 10psi below the MAX figure, up to that MAX rating. That means typically 34-44psi. It will never be the same for all four tires to get the best tire wear. It changes for various tires, what works great for one tire does not mean it will get the same wear and performance for the next one, or all tires.

I use the same pressures for tires which I have used many times, I learn what works best for them. When I try something different, I have to start over and learn the next tire's needs. I look at the MAX rating, and typically put 6psi less than that in the front tires, and about 8 or 9psi less in the rears. So for a 44psi tire, new models I've never used before, I'll begin with 38psi in the fronts, and 35psi in the rear. As time passes, and it takes a lot of checking, plus 1000+ miles, I see a tire wear, even or not. If it wears the edges a little more than the normal I'm used to I raise the pressure in that end of the vehicle. If there's virtually no edge wear, and the center part seems more worn, I drop the pressure 1-2psi etc, on that one end of the vehicle.

One these 302 AWD Explorers, my delivering mail wears the fronts faster than the rear tires. I keep my best tire on the front left(it's wears the fastest), and the worst on the left rear. I place them in order of how fast I wear them out. For the Cooper's I've been using lately, 37/38psi is best for the fronts, and 34psi is the best for the rear tires. If I only ran 32psi because that was the magic number 40 years ago, and never did I think to change, I'd wear the edges off of all four of my tires very fast. 40psi is way too much for any tires unless their MAX rating is 52psi or more.

The same pressure does not work the same for every tire, there is no magic best pressure for any tire.

 

[94Eddie]

All I can say is that when I exceed pressures of 32-35 psi (cold) I experience excessive wear at the center of the tread over time. The higher the pressure, the quicker the wear occurs. This is real world experience for me and it has been this way for decades. Plus, I just don't get too obsessed about tire pressure because 32 psi and usually two tire rotations allow for even wear and maximum life from the tires on our vehicles. The tires I use are all season and don't have aggressive tread patterns or are geared toward off road use. This experience also applies to the Mustangs I have owned which I drive much more aggressively than our other vehicles.