Pinchazo

Yesterday at the gas station I asked the guy to check my tires. I do this about once a week and give the guy a Q5 tip for the work. While it's only about $.65 and in the states you would think I am offending the guy, keep in mind that for that same amount I can get a guy to mix cement for me by hand for an hour.

My tires need to be at 40psi, but after our long bumpy trip last week they were down to 35, 20, 35 and 8. The 8 was the one that worried me. He filled it up, but I noticed at the dump today that it was very low again. Luckily I had my handy emergency tire repair can and filled it up so I could go get it fixed.

I've seen lots of "pinchazos", or tire repair shops, on the sides of the road but have never had the pleasure of stopping by one. The tire was maintaining air just fine after my magic can, but next week I am taking a generator and a bunch of doctors 5 hours round trip on a bad road and don't want to get stuck changing my tire at night in the middle of literally nowhere Petén.

I pulled up and explained my problem. They then proceeded to look for the leak by pouring muddy water over the top of my tire while looking for leaks. I have seen my air conditioner repair guy do the same thing on our Blazer, but he puts soap in his water to look for bubbles. I wasn't sure what these guys would see, especially after I told them about the quick repair. After moving my truck so they could not see a leak underneath it, they told me they were going to pull off the tire. I thought finally. After taking off my big 70 lb. tire they submerged it in water. I had a brief flashback to when my dad used to teach me how to repair my bicycle inner tubes in the same way. I'm not sure how normal this is, but at least they got the tire clean and didn't find any nails. After still not finding any leaks I asked them if they could take it off the rim and look inside for any punctures.

This is when they informed me that since I used the can of repair foam they would not be able to fix my tire. They said patches don't work after that and the only thing they may be able to do would be to put an inner tube inside my tire. Luckily they informed me that the can appeared to be working and I wouldn't have any more problems with my leak. (I'm glad they are positive about what is not their problem.)

Maybe somebody can tell me if this is really as crazy as I am assuming it to be. These are 6 ply tires and I don't know that they will have an inner tube strong enough to hold up my tire. I politely declined and made a mental note to buy a few more magic cans next time I go to the city so that I can prepare for the worst on this one. We'll see how this holds up.