At back end of the winter I got a puncture in one of my car winter tyres. Nearest place was a well known tyre establishment round the corner from work.

“No, cannot be repaired. We can get you some new tyres tomorrow ‘though”

I declined and stuck on the summer tyre.

Today I was tidying the garage and thought I’d take the tyre to the the local independent tyre place. £10 later I have a repaired tyre back in the garage.

I guess the only question is which one is dodgy. Just because something can be repaired doesn’t mean it should be.

The indie tyre place has no incentive to do a repair on an unsafe tyre though.

If you are concerned about thee legitimacy of the repair you can check if it falls withing the prescribed repairable area.

http://www.etyres.co.uk/images/etyres-tread-gauge.pdf

This is only one of the factors to consider if it is possible to repair the tyre but a reasonable place to start.

I guess the only question is which one is dodgy. Just because something can be repaired doesn’t mean it should be.

True, but what might be well dodgy on a tyre rated for a Porsche Carerra Turbo or a Maserati is probably well within what’s acceptable on a winter tyre on an average car.

Its not a case of being dodgy on one and not the other – from memory there are legal implications here.

Regs dictate what can and cannot be repaired – not whether it is a hardcore motor or not.

Also it’s how the patches work.

Anything on the shoulder is a no no because the base of the patch needs to sit flat inside the tyre. If it’s on the shoulder with lateral stress it can come unstuck and fail catastrophically (says my local indie tyre place that took the time to show me the problem and how the patches work).