Keith said: "… Here is another reason to not worry, even if the patch were to fail, and that is very unlikely, the tire is not going to blow out suddenly… "
Not exactly.
MOST of the time, this is true, but sometimes the tire will fail suddenly at the damaged location. While technically this isn’t a failure of the patch, we need to consider this as part of the picture.
Yes, I am in the U.S., the greater St. Louis MO area.
Hmmmm, I read the ENTIRE car manual when I bought the car 18 months ago. But obviously it is time I spend some time going through it again with particular attention to the TPMS. feeling really sheepish
The car is due for an oil change and tire rotation in the next couple weeks. I will request the dealer to give an extra look at those tires.
I found yesterday when I checked the tires (morning after returning home on the patched work) that when reinflated they had been overfilled to 40 pounds. The sticker on the car says they should have 35 pounds and I usually fill to 36 during hot weather and 37 during cold because the ride and handling is slightly better I found after experimentation. I had thought on the drive home they felt a bit high. But with that oh so very convenient tire inflator mini air compressor I have it was easy to first bleed out the excess then make sure both tires were filled to 36 so all four tires are the same.
You know, although money is an issue, these are, afterall, just tires. They can always be replaced at any time for safety and/or peace of mind. I have had a couple of flat tires from nails in years past. One required a new tire, the other was patched and lasted a long time more.
I do very much appreciate all the feedback, information and advice!
Now to spend part of the rest of the morning rereadIng the car manual…
…still reading, still learning!
Aggghh, sorry, I forgot to not use the mobile site setting for posting so it ran multiple paragraphs into one mega paragraph mess. My apologies for making reading my post difficult.
“Not exactly”
Capri Racer, I’m inclined to disagree with you, but I am aware that you work for a major tire manufacturer so you may have some information that the rest of us don’t have access to. I have plugged many tires for myself and family, without the internal patch and have never had a failure from the plug or plug site. I do believe it could happen though, but I don’t think it would blow out.
I have had two actual blowouts with modern radial tires, both due to a defect in the tire and not due to any repairs. Neither of the tires had ever been repaired, all 4 tires on the car were from the same lot and bought at the same time. (Michelin BTW, even the good tires can have a defect) After the second one failed a month after the first, I had the tire store replace all 4 tires.
These blowout occurred in the side walls, the side walls had never been scuffed, and was due to a defect in the cords. A 2" section blew out of each tire, yet they still didn’t blowout like an old tube tire, but they did go flat over a couple of seconds.
I live in farm country and once had a flat due to a plow tine that had come off a tractor and got embedded into the road. It made a gash about an inch long in the tread section and it still did not blow out either. I actually had time to pull over and watch the tire go flat as I got out the jack and the spare. The hissing of the escaping air is what alerted me to the problem.
Edit: I do know what a blowout in an old tube type tire feels like, I have experienced that in my younger days, a couple of times.
Hey, at least mine are modest 16" size tires. Years ago I was a lowly paper shuffler at a company doing global oil exploration. The shipping department regularly crated and sent replacement tires for vibrator/thumper trucks which literally thumped the ground hard enough to create seismic waves that were analyzed to locate areas with oil and/or natural gas deposits and best spots for siting where to drill. The trucks were massive machines and the tires huge. I have often wondered what type of air pressure goes in such giant industrial sized tires or on big farm equipment such as combines, etc.???
I think some combines and tractors are liquid filled. Adds weight for traction. But I could be wrong.
You are correct
We have lots of off-road equipment in our fleet, and some of the tires are liquid filled
@Marnet, ther is probably a button you push to change the information on the display. If you push the button often enough, the tire pressure might show up. That’s the way it works on our Cobalts. Even though it’s a different brand, this set up is used by several manufacturers.
Okay, checking the car manual affirms the following. Yes, there is an idiot warning light for low pressure which I had forgotten about. No, there is not any readout of specific pressure like I had in the Impala. The readout was nice to have and I confess I miss it but is a feature I class as a luxury. 
I’m not familiar with the Toyota Camry models but does this apply for checking the tire pressure?
The Multi information display in the video was first available in the 2015 Camry. Features like this are not available on economy models.
My 2014 LE (one step up from base trim) does NOT have the multi information display.
Not a big deal. Yes, it is a very nice feature but I’ve managed without it for 33 years out of the 40 years I’ve been driving. Due to physical limitations I’m not able to change my own oil or do other basic maintenance beyond checking the oil level, checking fluid levels, adding fluids, etc. But I figure that the day I cannot use a tire pressure gauge to check the tires for myself will be the day I should no longer be driving.
@“the same mountainbike” Please check your message inbox for a relate but off topic question. Thank you, sir.
Keith said: " …These blowouts occurred in the side walls, the side walls had never been scuffed, and was due to a defect in the cords. …"
I am going to disagree with you here. My experience is that tires hardly ever fail in the sidewall due to a defect. Most of the sidewall blowouts are caused directly or indirectly from a road hazard - a puncture or an impact.
And, yes, I do have access to some information that isn’t available to the general public. I used to analyze failed tires to find out what caused the tire to fail - and I passed that info on to the design engineers. Just an FYI, defects are hardly ever the cause of a failure. Most of the time it is underinflation, with road hazards being the next most likely, followed by design (that is the durability of the materials and where they are placed.)
@Marnet ,
On our 2012 Camry LE there is a button labeled “CAR” to the right of the radio screen. One of things that button leads you to is tire pressure. Do you have the “CAR” button ?
CapriRacer: I once saw a tread that had just separated from an automobile tire, rolling down the highway next to the auto, at 60 MPH. If that’s not due to a defect, what is it due to?
But, rereading, you did say hardly ever…
" I once saw a tread that had just separated from an automobile tire, rolling down the highway next to the auto, at 60 MPH. If that’s not due to a defect, what is it due to?"
It could have been a re-tread. Many of them were very badly done, and prone to failure.
Or an underinflated tire overheating and losing its tread.
Capri Racer, I assure you it was a defect. I take very good care of my tires and often get 100k miles out of them.
When I took the first tire back to the tire dealer, they argued that I had to have hit something, even though there was absolutely no evidence, but they had to replace the tire anyway because I had the road hazard warrantee. When I came back with the second tire, they didn’t ask any questions and it was actually them that decided to replace all 4 tires, I didn’t even have to ask, although I was going to. I think they knew something.
I have plugged many tires for myself and family, without the internal patch and have never had a failure from the plug or plug site.
Patches? We don’t need no steenkin’ patches!!
I have had the same experience keith.
I believe the explanation for the disparity in results people post has to do with the fact they will sell a tire plug kit to anyone.
In the hands of someone who has some knowledge and skill, they work fine.
The real trouble probably comes in when someone has neither…but thinks they do…