GreekDeno

Went and saw Pete at Tire Source (Boulder, CO) today. Basically what happened is that I got a flat (for reasons I'll get into), and kept driving about a mile on it (around 15-20mph) to a gas station. This lead the inside of the tire to be torn up by the inside of the rim. When we took the tire off you could see all the black pieces in the inside. Pics to follow tonight of the inside. Then when I filled it that is what caused the elephantitus. Today it was down to "normal". So next q was why did the tire lose air. We thought it might be the sealant on the inside. Upon putting it into the water we could see it was leaking from the valve stem. So pulled the stem and we could see the seal was shot.

So in conclusion, I need to order a new valve stem from HRE and Pete is getting me a new tire. Had I changed the tire right away instead of driving to the gas station I would be fine, just $10 for a new valve stem.

Pete is a stand up guy and was more than helpful. I can't say enough about how good a person gets treated there. He was going to put a new tire on while my T1-S was on its way so I wouldn't have to drive on the spare, but b/c of the stem he didn't and I'm on the spare (another HRE 545 but w/ a low tread SP9000). While I was there, at least 4 people thanked him personally for the tires they had just bought. I guess you just don't get that feel from a corporate type of store or many other stores for that matter.<ul><li><a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/s4/msgs/1645862.phtml">original thread</a></li></ul>

LI-S4

I did the same to an S-03. Ran on it not knowing it was flat. The side wals are so firm I never it when flat after I hit a pothole. Bent the rim, the tire went flat, I trashed the inside edge and threw the tire away.

GreekDeno

same thing, but my tire went flat from the valve stem leaking