Repair or replace trailer tire?

[Howard]

Hello all. Long time lurker - 1st time posting. After returning home from a trip last week, I noticed the following day that one of my trailer tires was mostly flat. After inspecting, I found a nail in the tread of the tire. The tires have about 4500 miles on them. They are the original "HiSpec Oracle" tires that came with the trailer. The flat tire appears to be in good condition with plenty of tread. Questions to the group: Is it safe to repair the tire and continue using? Or should I replace it? If best to replace, should I replace all 4 tires at this time? Thanks in advance for your comments.

[Gunny Rio]

Good afternoon Howard.
In my experience you can repair it. I would not repair it with a plug tho. Take it to your local tire shop and have a truck tire patch installed on the inside. The risk here is that they can only install a patch if the hole is inboard the side wall (on the flat tread surface of the tire) by 1.5 inches. If they can put a patch on it, I'd replace it.

[Howard]

Thanks Gunny. Looks like the nail is just under 1.5” from the side wall. I’ll take it to the tire shop to see if it can be repaired.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Howard

Hello all. Long time lurker - 1st time posting. After returning home from a trip last week, I noticed the following day that one of my trailer tires was mostly flat. After inspecting, I found a nail in the tread of the tire. The tires have about 4500 miles on them. They are the original "HiSpec Oracle" tires that came with the trailer. The flat tire appears to be in good condition with plenty of tread. Questions to the group: Is it safe to repair the tire and continue using? Or should I replace it? If best to replace, should I replace all 4 tires at this time? Thanks in advance for your comments.

What did your TPMS read when you parked. We need to know if you drove on the tire when under inflated.
If the tire was fully inflated you can take it to a tire store. If the puncture meets industry standards for location and size an the inspection of the interior indicates no damage it can probably be repaired.
If however you don't have a TPMS there is a good chance you drove with the tire under inflated and it is now scrap.

[Howard]

I don't have a TPMS so I don't know what the tire pressure was when I parked the trailer. This experience has given me incentive to acquire a TPMS.

The tire shop was able to repair the tire (plug & patch). I had them mount the repaired tire on the spare rim and mount the spare tire (never used) on the trailer wheel. I'll be taking it easy if I ever need to use the repaired tire in the future.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Howard

I don't have a TPMS so I don't know what the tire pressure was when I parked the trailer. This experience has given me incentive to acquire a TPMS.

The tire shop was able to repair the tire (plug & patch). I had them mount the repaired tire on the spare rim and mount the spare tire (never used) on the trailer wheel. I'll be taking it easy if I ever need to use the repaired tire in the future.

Glad things worked out. I have posted the only direct comparison of TPMS on my blog Rv tire safety net. Nothing for sale. Just 500+ posts on tires, TPMS, inflation and loading. Special post on how I suggest people set their TPMS from a tire design engineer.

Retired Design & Quality Tire Eng. Have a tire blog www.RVTireSafety.NET

[Howard]

Thanks Tireman for sharing the link to your blog. Looks like you have a lot of good info there. I’ll be spending some time browsing thru.