Tire Puncture and Why You Should Wash Your Car

[SocaleGolf]

With a pause in the Spring rains, I got out the garden hose and proceeded to get some of the grime off the 2017SE. While washing the front tire I came across a nail. At which point I could hear the dealer finance guying offering the tire road hazard warranty. You see 13 years earlier my brand new Mazda3 also caught a nail. Didn't have tire warranty on that one either. The tire was something like $200, so while I was thankful that I discovered this nail while on the driveway, I was afraid I would have to buy a new tire. I decided to leave the nail alone and let the folks at Discount Tire Centers deal with it.
Turns out the nail just touched the inner liner. They sealed the puncture from both ends and despite working at least half an hour they told me to have a good day. I was so impressed I went out and bought hot sandwiches for the entire crew.
Nice to have people who care about their customers. I will be back.

Just the day before I was telling my young daughter how important it is to occasionally wash your own car. How it allows you to get familiar with it and discover things need attention.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/WOwWgPHyMftnfyeS2

I was surprised to see a fair amount of rust on the rotor hub. Car was built in early 2017 and we live in Los Angeles.

 

[JoulesThief]

Los Angeles is near the Pacific Ocean and salt air. Sodium Chloride will rust almost any steel it gets in contact with, inclucdng Stainless steel. Foggy mornings inland of the ocean will do it, too. No worried, rotors are a wear item and replaceable.

I got nails in r/f and r/r of the Passat last week. It's construction season now.

 

[msvphoto]

You are lucky. Tire shops I have tried won't repair outer tread block damage.

Yes, hand washing is always a good inspection opportunity. Good advice.

Here in Santa Cruz my mom watched her Subaru rust away to nothing in less than 100k miles. Car was kept outdoors, seldom washed, and she lives a couple blocks from the beach. Rust is evil.

 

[RonDawg]

You are lucky. Tire shops I have tried won't repair outer tread block damage.

THIS! I have a nail embedded deeply into the outer-most groove of one of my Alltrack's tires. Local Just Tires shop says their lawyers won't allow them to fix it, because the end goes into the outer block (went in at an angle). He did suggest going to a non-chain independent.

The car barely has 8k miles on it and the tire isn't losing air. Plus it's only used for situations where driving the eGolf round-trip would require more than one quick charge, which aside from road trips is extremely rare.

 

[miimura]

I also got a screw in one of our original e-Golf tires. It was losing air and the TPMS did put up a message on the dash. The tire shop said that the patch inside the tire must be completely on the flat portion, not bent up the inside of the sidewall. I had to buy a new tire.