Mobile tire repair in Detroit, MI.

A mobile tire plug or patch in Detroit runs about $60 to $110, done where the car sits. That covers finding the leak, pulling the nail or screw, sealing the hole and setting the pressure on all four tires. Sidewall damage cannot be repaired; you hear that on the call.

The range depends on where you are and what the repair takes. A screw in the center tread of a sedan in a Midtown lot is a quick plug. A slow leak that turns out to be a corroded rim bead on an older SUV takes longer and may need the tire broken down and the bead cleaned. The driver tells you what he found before he does anything beyond pulling the object. If the hole is in the shoulder of the tread or the sidewall, a plug is not safe at freeway speed, and the honest fix is the spare or a new tire. Dispatch asks where the nail is so the truck knows what to bring.

A plug fills the hole from the outside and is fine for a clean puncture in the tread; a patch seals from the inside and is the stronger repair. Most roadside repairs are a plug-patch combination that does both. The driver picks based on the hole, not the price.

Tire makers and the repair trade agree on the limits: the puncture has to be in the tread area, no closer than about an inch to the shoulder, and no larger than a quarter inch across. Inside those limits, a plug-patch combo installed from the inside is a permanent repair. A plain plug from the outside is quicker and holds for a long time on a small puncture, which is why it is the standard roadside fix. A run-flat tire that was driven flat, or any tire that has been run at zero pressure for more than a short distance, has usually chewed up its inner liner and is not repairable even if the hole looks small. The driver checks the inside before promising anything.

Sometimes. A pothole usually splits the sidewall or bends the rim, and neither can be plugged; your spare goes on and you drive to a tire shop. If the pothole only pushed a nail through the tread, the tire is repairable on the spot.

Detroit potholes do a specific kind of damage. The tire pinches between the rim and the edge of the hole, which cuts the sidewall from the inside or dents the rim lip so the bead will not seal. Both look like a flat, and neither is a plug job. The truck carries a jack and an impact gun, so a spare change happens on the same visit at the spare-change rate instead of the repair rate. If you have no spare, say so on the call; some trucks carry a universal spare for the drive to a shop. Report the pothole to MDOT or the city afterward, and keep the receipt, because Michigan allows a damage claim on some state trunklines when the road agency knew about the hole.

Yes. Most mobile tire calls in Detroit are at a home, an apartment lot or an office park, not on the freeway. You found the nail in the morning and the car is not safe to drive to a shop. The truck comes to you and the repair is done while you finish your coffee.

Driveway calls are the easiest for everyone. The car is level, the driver has room to work, and nobody is standing on a shoulder. Office and apartment lots work the same way, as long as the car can be reached by a pickup. Parking structures with low clearance are the exception; tell dispatch which level you are on and whether a full-size truck fits. The driver calls when he is close so you can bring the key down or leave it at the desk. If the tire is already flat, do not drive on it to meet him; a tire driven flat for even a few blocks on Woodward will tear its inner liner and go from a repair to a replacement.

Then the spare goes on at the spare-change rate and you drive to a tire shop on your schedule, not on a flatbed. The driver tells you why the tire failed, so the shop does not sell you a repair that will not hold.

New tires are not sold from the truck at this time. What the driver can do is put your spare on, check the pressure in the other three, and tell you whether the damaged tire is worth carrying to a shop for a second opinion. A tire with a repairable puncture that was simply too close to the shoulder is worth asking about. One with a sidewall cut is scrap. If you have no spare and the tire is destroyed, dispatch says so before sending a truck, so you can arrange a tow to a tire shop instead of paying for a visit that cannot end with you driving away. If you drive a lot of freeway miles, ask the driver to check the date code on the sidewall while he is under the car; tires older than six years harden and crack regardless of tread depth, and a second flat in a month is often the tire telling you that.