Ran over a screw

Ran over a screw Tuesday.
Wed, the tire light comes on. The front left tire has 25psi in it. Wife notices the screw in tire.
I pump tire up so we can drive a few miles.
Thursday wife goes to a Les Schwab in Idaho Falls to have them pull screw and plug the tire.
Les Schwab doesn’t charge anything and they call it ‘warranty’ work.
How can they claim warranty when I bought the car from a dealer in Salt Lake City?
Or are they just being nice so I will consider them for future tire work?
Or can they claim warranty work from Dunlop?
Or did they just want to ooh and ahh with their first EV in the shop?

Just curious,
-Barry

My local independent(?) tire dealer routinely repairs flats as a courtesy, even if I didn't buy that particular tire from them. Good PR IMO.

BarryP said:

.
Or can they claim warranty work from Dunlop?
Or did they just want to ooh and ahh with their first EV in the shop?

Just curious,
-Barry

Click to expand...

Yes

Les Schwab has legendary customer service and a corporate culture that has apparently survived the death of Les without an heir apparent or hostile takeover bid. They'll fix anyone's flat quickly with a smile just to gain goodwill. Pricing tends to be higher on tires. I've given them a chance at selling a new set twice now due to that goodwill, but the margin over their competition was too high for my blood...

After a month and a half of happy driving I got my first flat tire. A half inch long self tapping screw made its way into the middle of my rear right tire and it must've happened when I went past some contruction zones.

I discovered it right after parking and going to connect to an EVSE at the movie theater. I heard a hissing and sure enough a nail/screw was visible from where I was standing. My tire had not gone flat yet and I didn't call road side assistance either. I had enough air in the tire that I drove home and made it there safely.

Today I had one of my tech friends here at work patch, plug and balance my tire/wheel. I saved myself $150 towards a new tire. I'll thank my friend with a 6 pack of quality craft beer. Lastly, my friend noticed that the OEM Dunlop Enasaves are run-flats, another cool tidbit about our spareless i-MiEVs!

Interesting. Run-flat capability hasn't been mentioned before. Good to know.

Also, there is an air compressor and a can of fix a flat under the rear seat on the passenger side. There are two small handles under the front lip of the seat to release the cushion.

I'm beyond uncomfortable without a spare tire and am looking at possibilities.

Is there any conformation or second source to corroborate your friends statement about the ensaves being a run flat tire. Seems like Mitsu would be touting that in their literature?

Aerowhatt

PV1 said:

Interesting. Run-flat capability hasn't been mentioned before. Good to know.

Also, there is an air compressor and a can of fix a flat under the rear seat on the passenger side. There are two small handles under the front lip of the seat to release the cushion.

Click to expand...

I had no idea about the air compressor and can of fix a flat. Is that part of the "tire repair kit" mentioned in some official documents? I remember reading that but not finding it.

**********

He could very well be wrong. I'd have to get very specifics about the Dunlop Enasaves, and the sidewalls/bead, maybe email Dunlop directly. I haven't verified myself, it was his observation. My rim bead area wasn't damaged regardless and I made it home safely. He said the run-flat bead protection allows you to get to a shop without damaging your rim bead area. The tire can be scarified in order to keep the rim in good shape. This may justify the $150/tire cost of the OEM tire vs say an $80 Yokohama HP AS. For a car designed without a spare, it makes sense to have run-flats as standard options. That or have your own spare(s).

I look forward to driving my i-MiEV again. I noticed a gallon of regular went up to $3.25 and some areas $3.35, Luckily my ice echo kept me going but now it's the i-MiEV's turn. Phew!

davidricardo86, hope you don't mind that I moved the last series of posts out of 'your' thread and into this one, as we might find that in the future the discussion will be easier to find. About to move a number of posts into a new Spare Wheels thread...

It was mentioned as hearsay evidence (sorry I feel like a lawyer saying that . . . couldn't resist) that the Dunlop Ensaves are a run flat tire. At Dunlop's website they have a section on their run flat line up. Putting in the iMiev data it returned no matches and I couldn't find anything in the specific Ensave literature that mentions run flat capability. It would be nice if true, but it sounds like it was a mistaken impression by the friend fixing a tire puncture.

I'm open to convincing though it would be nice!

Aerowhatt