What happened to tire man? I wanted to do a little reminiscing and renew my acquaintance with him from the five years I spent in southeast Texas ....?

Junius: If you will read the entire comment, you will know about my experience. We can argue about wheel weight placement, but the tire repair procedure was very wrong. Are you a certified TIA instructor in all elements of tire repair and service? I am writing this from my desk at White Tire Supply in Beaumont.Texas. I have been here since the summer of 1942, and not just in the office. I have trained dozens for men and women in proper tire repair procedures over the years. If you need references, ask the folks at TIA headquarters or at Modern Tire Dealer magazine or at the Wall Street Journal. I have testified as an expert witness in both federal and state courts on tire issues. If you have never seen a tire shop "do all that stuff", then you have been in a lot of poorly trained shops. I'm not nitpicking, just doing the repair by the book to keep my customers safe, and me out of the courthouse.

Mr.Snapp has made a number of mistakes in his presentation. His work would not get a passing grade in the TIA tire repair section, and he is not following RMA guidelines. Here are a few of his mistakes: 1. he should wear eye and face protection at all times. 2. he removed the valve core, not the tubeless tire valve stem to exhaust the air.(verbal description) 3. He should mark the valve stem location on the tire sidewall to maintain correct orientation. If this is done, it will not be necessary to rebalance the wheel. 4. He did not lubricate either bead before tire removal--a cardinal sin. His tire changer machine had very explicit instructions about proper lubrication of the beads and the bead seat area on the wheel rims. He clamped the wheel on the inside, which can lead to scarring the exterior of the wheel on the back side. He should have clamped the wheel with the jaws on the outside of the wheel rim lip. 5. You NEVER put any solvent or cleaner on a freshly buffed surface--only the approved vulcanizing cement. Also, you do not wipe this freshly buffed surface with a rag, as this can leave lint. Nothing should be applied to the freshly buffed surface like solvent or cleaner, as this will leave trace amounts in the grooves and compromise the action of the vulcanizing cement. 6. Another huge mistake was not plugging the hole in the tire casing. He has left this injury to the tire body untouched, which will allow the entrance of moisture and grit. Moisture is a mortal enemy of steel cords in the belts. He only repaired the injury to the tire liner and left half the job undone. This repair can be done with a combination lug/patch, or with a rubber plug (NEVER STRING) with a separate patch approved for radial ply tires. Also, he should brush the buffed area with a brass brush or vacuum the rubber crumbs before applying the vulcanizing cement. It is recommended hat the buffed area be positioned in the three or nine o'clock position while allowing the cement to dry. You should not install the patch at the bottom, because the interior may be deformed by the tire spreader. In the other two positions, the tire will be relaxed in the injury area and the patch will not be under stress. He should lubricate the new stem. He certainly should lubricate both beads of the tire and the safety hump areas of the wheel to insure optimum bead seating of the tire beads...It goes without saying that he should mach the crayon index mark on the sidewall of the tire to the valve stem to maintain balance. Wheel weights can be placed back on in precisely the same locations, and the baalnce will be undisturbed. The approved plug/patch does not add enough static imbalance to matter. The bead sealer is optional. The best use for this product is for wheels with corrosion or plating defects in the bead seat area. It is NOT designed to remedy torn or damaged beads. I like the idea of inflating the repaired tire two or three psi over the door placard instructions as the tire will loose pressure during the first 24 hours. Last and not least, he should check the tire/wheel assembly in a water tank, to check his work and to make sure that there are no other hidden punctures or air leaks. Only then is he is ready to reinstall the wheel assembly. I am a TIA certified instructor in both passenger, light truck, medium truck and farm tire repair procedures. In addition, I am a past board member of ASE, representing all of the tire dealers in the US. My experience goes back to the summer of 1942, and I am still active in the daily business. You can get some excellent information from Rema, Patch Rubber,Tech, and a host of others about the correct way the repair tubeless radial tires. The RMA also has excellent tire repair guidelines.