Tires: flat tire repair, flat tire repair, radial tire

Question
i had a fairly new tire that picked up a nail in its side wall. the auto shop i took it to said it can't be fixed because it penetrated the side wall and not the tread area, so i had to replace the tire. were they just telling me this so i would have to get a new tire, or is it true that a sidewall puncture ruins the tire? thanx, frank

Answer
Frank,

Because the sidewall in a radial tire has a lot of unusual movement, a repair in the sidewall is just not reliable, especially considering that if the repair were to fail at high speed, something tragic could result.

Further, the area where a radial tire can be repaired does not include the outermost rib in the tread. This keeps the repair way from the most highly stressed area of the tire - the belt edges.

Another point about repairs is that the only accpetable repair method includes a patch to seal the inside and a plug to seal the internal compeonents of the tire from the outside contaminants.