Hi from broomfield! Could have been tires that were run flat for a ways. Hard to say without mo= re data. Did you see any steel when you did the patch? YES NOPE9 wrote: >I have asked a question at the end of the note. > >I have two used tires ( obtained at Mexican tire shop ) on the front of my= Explorer. >1/4 inch of tread is left. I was driving on a dirt road that had rocks on= it from time to time. The rocks were as large as 1 inch. > >First I got a slow leak on the passenger side front tire. I fixed that wi= th a plug of tar? impregnated string. Father down the road there was a sof= t !bang! and the driver side tire was leaking from a hole about 5 mm wide. = I put some impregnated string in this hole and slowed the leak such that t= he tire would hold air about two hours ( I am waving my hand in the air ). > >Since it was *labor day holiday Monday* no tire shop was open where I was. >I elected to drive back to Denver with two cans of tire inflator at the re= ady. >I was stopping every 10 minutes to look at both tires. >15 minutes out of Fairplay , I ran into a massive traffic stoppage. The t= raffic was NOT moving at all as far as the eye could see ( which was about = a kilometer ). I did a U-turn and pulled off on a side road. > >Now I decided to extract the spare tire and replace the driver's front tir= e. I had two lug wrenches and an ABS cheater pipe. I weigh 111 kilograms = and have medium large muscles. After straining , standing on the wrench , = etc...... ( since the lug wrenches extend away parallel to the centerline o= f the lug , it is hard to get super good torque ) ..... I was unable to rem= ove any ( that is zero ) of the lugs. > >I drove back to Fairplay. ( I am omitting a lot of swear words in this de= scription ). After trying to find an impact wrench ( none ) , finding a hu= ge crescent wrench ( did not work ) ..... I called a tow truck. Just then = a large teenager happened by and he and I applied the T-lug wrench to the l= ugs. He was utterly amazed at how tight they were. We got 4 of the 5 lugs= off and then ( as I feared ) , the lug wrenched snapped ( previously coul= d see that it was winding up ). With even more difficulty we removed the l= ast lug with the one-side wrench ( which flexed quite a bit ). As each lug= released , it made a cracking noise. > >I oiled the lugs , put on the spare , cancelled the tow truck , and went b= ack to Denver using an alternative route. > >Could these have been counterfeit tires ? It appears they can be easily h= ole punched by a rock. They say they are steel-belted radials. Looking cl= osely , the sidewalls seem to be wobbly with a sine curve of period 30 to 4= 0 cms and an amplitude of 5 mm. Normally I do not drive on rocky roads. > >99guspuppet > > >--=20 >http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive >View/change your membership options at >http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .