Last night I hit something in the road that caused a flat quickly. Not sure what it was. Heard what sounded like something hitting the wheel well, which is common around here because people use the street as a landfill. Maybe a half mile down the road, the steering started to get heavy and the truck started pulling to the left. Then I heard the telltale noise. With it being dark, rainy, and lots of drunk people out, I decided to get to a parking lot to deal with it which was maybe a couple hundred yards up the road, so I did drive some on the very flat tire. Luckily I have a newer full size spare, so I put that on, but I could not find the damage on the flat tire. Whatever punctured it was in and out quickly and cleanly. No visible sidewall damage on the outside. The tire did bend in, but after laying in the bed of the truck for a few minutes, it popped back out.
I dropped the tire off at a tire shop for them to look at, but I'm wondering if I should even be messing with trying to get this tire plugged/patched? Pretty sure the puncture is somewhere in the tread, but with the sidewall going flat and having the weight of the truck on it, plus driving maybe a couple hundred yards (or less, not more), I'm wondering if that compromised the tire in some way that might not be visible even when removed from the wheel?
I don't want to just replace it if I can avoid it because the tires have a lot of tread left and were replaced as a set of four, but have been in service almost 25K miles...one new tire would kind of throw my matching set off. Obviously though, if the tire isn't safe because of this, I don't want to risk a total sidewall blowout that could ruin the wheel or worse.
If the sidewall is damaged, will it be visible inside the tire, or could the damage be totally hidden until a blowout?
I dropped the tire off at a tire shop for them to look at, but I'm wondering if I should even be messing with trying to get this tire plugged/patched? Pretty sure the puncture is somewhere in the tread, but with the sidewall going flat and having the weight of the truck on it, plus driving maybe a couple hundred yards (or less, not more), I'm wondering if that compromised the tire in some way that might not be visible even when removed from the wheel?
I don't want to just replace it if I can avoid it because the tires have a lot of tread left and were replaced as a set of four, but have been in service almost 25K miles...one new tire would kind of throw my matching set off. Obviously though, if the tire isn't safe because of this, I don't want to risk a total sidewall blowout that could ruin the wheel or worse.
If the sidewall is damaged, will it be visible inside the tire, or could the damage be totally hidden until a blowout?