Okay folks..

I was driving along when all of a sudden I heard that all too familiar 'clunking' sound. I stopped the car, checked all wheels and didn't see anything. Kept driving and could still hear the 'clunking" sound when all of a sudden the sound was gone. I thought "Oh good. Maybe there was a pebble or something stuck that was making that noise.

Less than 30 seconds later the Tire Pressure Light went off. I was lucky enough to be near a parking lot of a hotel. When I checked, the driver's side rear tire was completely flat. Gone. Called AAA, took the tire out and sure enough a big hole right in the center of the tire (thank God, not on the side).

So I took the Tire Repair Kit out of my trunk (btw AAA guy was blown away by the 8. Said he never had to work on one during the 6 Yrs he's been in AAA) Followed directions and filled the tire with the Instant Mobility System bottle-weird that we didn't have to actually patch the hole and then drove off for about 10 minutes going about 50mph steady just like the instructions said.

The tire seems fine now, and the Tire Pressure Light has not gone off. My questions is... Should I take the car to a tire place to have them check the tire, or am I safe to just keep driving?

What experience do people have had here who have used the Instant Mobility System bottle in their tires. IS it just a short temporary fix until I get to a tire place or am I ok driving it? Again, four days later the the Tire Pressure Light has not gone off and all seems fine.

I Appreciate the always helpful advice from other 8 owners.

Happy motoring.

 

you said you read the directions but i'm guessing you didn't read all of them. This is a temporary fix and you need to either get the hole professionally repaired or replace the tire.

 

Thank you much for your reply

 

Pretty sure your tire guy will tell you that once you use that kit, the tire is trashed.

 

yea that kit is so temporary its not even funny lol. thats why i have the spare kit. sure its extra weight, but i have an auto, and I like the idea of having a spare (im not one of those AAA guys..)

 

When my 8 got into an accident some time ago, I cracked a wheel, and inside was.... tire sealant crap!

Turns out the previous owner fixed a flat with that and never got it properly fixed.

This also means that i put almost ten thousand kilometers and went over 200 km/hr on a tire held together by sealant.

So... it'll hold! but you should sure as hell get it fixed properly.

 

Is it possible that the tire was repaired correctly, but that the sealant was not cleaned out

 

if thats the case, that simply means it was NEVER repaired correctly.

cuz you suppose to remove ALL THOSE garbage outa the tire.

I would rather carry extra 60 lbs of spare tire than using any of those tire sealant crap. yeah less trunk space and 60 lbs is more than 1 lbs can of sealant. but I know my tire cost 200 bux and my TPMS cost 60 something and I dont want a can of 5 bux sealant to fuxk any or both of them up.

 

I have no doubt that the sealant will keep tire inflated for a long time but having that stuff slosh around inside the tire will affect the balancing of your tire.

Since you did use that ****, you effectively ruined your tire which could have been patched properly had you not used that stuff.

Personally, I'm thinking of just buying one of those repair kits from Walmart or K-Mart with the jelly worms and keeping it in my car. Keep that and a pair of pliers on-hand in case you have to pull out a nail.

 

The tire repair kit is definitely a temporary fix only. It is not recommended the car be driven much with the repair. If the tire is the stock RE-40, it is a run-flat and it would have been best to continue driving instead of using the repair kit. Could have saved the tire. The instructions in the repair kit (if I remember correctly) state the maximum mileage that can be driven after using that product. If you can't find it, let me know, I know I've seen it before in one of the manuals/repair kit.

 

Since when did RX8's come with RUNFLATs? My 2004 RX8 RE040s were not run flats and I've never read this before.

 

Can anyone who has seen the inside of a tire repaired with RX8 sealant describe what the stuff was like after being in the tire? Is it really sloshing around or does it firm up? Aside from making a mess inside the tire and wheel, what harm does the sealant cause if it remains in the tire?

I've repaired my RE040s and other tires with temporary "installed from the outside" plugs. These became permanent repairs in most cases. I'm not advising anyone else to do that .

 

What I was trying to say was maybe the tire was removed off the wheel and patch/plugged , but the goop was not removed. In that case, you would not relying on the temporary sealant repair.

 

Thank you all for your replies. I really appreciate everyone's impute and opinions. I will have the tire replace (ouch..!)

I do have a few more questions though... at this point should I replace the one tire or go ahead and buy a brand new set of 4 that are cheaper than the original tire?

Any good recommendations of a good replacement to the original tires (I got the 2008 40th Yr anniverasy with 6k miles on them)

 

take the tire to a good tire shop and see if they can salavage it. Using the can doesnt automatically mean the tire is wasted.. you may end up paying labor for having them take the gunk out.

Never buy "cheap" tires, it will ruin the ride of the car and turn a great car to drive into a crappy one. If you need to save money then just replace the one tire... two would be better.

 

I went and got a tire fixed after using fix-a-flat and they wanted to replace the whole tire, when I asked why, they said that fix-a-flat can cause the inside of the tire walls to deteriorate after a short time. Convinced me after I called two other shops and they said exactly the same thing. Definitely temporary

 

I carry a plug kit, and my instant mobility system. If i can't plug it, i'll use the goop. I f the goop doesn't work, I'm waiting around for a tow truck.

The instant mobility system is designed to get you to a mazda dealer so they can remove the crap and patch the tire properly. It is not , in any way a permanent fix.

I don't buy that it will damage the inside of the tire, but it certainly can clog TPMS sensors.

Brian, when you called the other shops did you say "I heard fix a flat can damage tires and if you use it you need to replace the whole thing" Because I can imagine that A: mechanics don't want to deal with cleaning out the crap and B: it's a good way to sell you a set of tires (you shouldn't really replace just one after all).

 

You have 6k miles on the set? Get a tread depth gauge and measure each tire. Depending on how much tread you have left compared to new tire specs, I'd get 1, 2, or 4 new tires. See http://www.tirerack.com for specs, tire reviews, and user opinions.

Depends on your budget and requirements; commuting, autocrossing, all season, etc.

Check out the Wheels, Tires, Brakes & Suspension forum for tire discussions and recommendations.

 

That's completely wrong. OEM tires are not run-flat. You should try it and see what happens.

 

right. the re040 DOES have a run flat version, but the oems are not it.

the run flat is called the re040 RFT.

 

I was talking to my tire shop recently about runflats since the 8 doesn't come with a spare. We also discussed the fix-a-flat kit that the 8 comes with. His response was that it doesn't matter either way because if you use that kit or drive on a runflat tire that got punctured, the tire is basically toast either way and must be replaced. I don't know how true that is, just repeating what he told me.

 

I got hit with a flat before, and didn't have the fix-a-flat kit. I drove for maybe 3-4 blocks to a local shop where they filled up the tire again (which remained filled for quite a while), and in the end I went to a tire repair shop and they patched it up on the inside.

It's been about 600 miles since then, and the tire behaves exactly the same as my other tires. The air loss is the same, there is no ride difference, etc. On the other hand, the punctured tire has a small bulge on part of the sidewall (near the text), and I don't know what that means. I don't think my punctured tire will survive the full life of the other tires, but it has lasted quite a while already.

 

A picture would be nice, but I'd be shopping for a new tire/tires ASAP ...... sounds like a blowout waiting to happen. Take it to a nearby tire shop or 3 and get their professional opinion.

 

Why would someone us a repair kit on a runflat? Did he say why the tire would be toast?

 

Gotcha, I'll post a pic sometime.