Tires Deflated by a Cactus

I know cactus spines are sharp (ask me how!) but didn't know they were this sharp.

Is my tire repairable? Here's the story.

I Was out wheeling in the desert last Thursday (4/7/22). On Saturday my low pressure warning light came on for my passenger rear tire--was 23psi. Filled it up to 33 psi with my on-board compressor and decided to keep a watch on it. Well today, (Tuesday) the pressure is back down to 23 psi again.

So I took the tire off and replaced it with my spare (which by the way had lost pressure all the way down to 18psi in the two years I have had my truck--never bothered to check the pressure--learned a lesson today on that too!)

Sprayed soapy water on the tire to see where the leak was. Eventually found 1 main leak and also 6 smaller ones. Even the main (largest leak) was completely silent and I could not feel any air leaking out of it. The 6 smaller ones barely leaked at all. Nevertheless looks like my tire dropped 11psi in 2 days. No bueno. See the pics below.

None of the leaks are visible to the naked eye, but all of them are on the sidewall. I must have brushed or backed into a small cactus beside the trail.


Main (largest leak). The blue in the bubbles is from the pen mark I made around it.


5 More Smaller Leaks in sidewall (white bubbles)--none visible to the eye and can't feel any air leaking



Largest leak with no soapy water on it--can't see or feel anything. Just to the left of the end of my finger.


1. So is this repairable--or is a new (set??) of tires in my future?

2. Does anyone know a good tire that won't be damaged by these darn cactus like this one was? (The ones I have now are the stock Goodyear Wrangler A/T 265/70/R16 that came with by 2020 Off Road.)

 

Not repairable with punctured sidewall.

 

Thats sucks OP but sidewall repairs are futile. Looks like you're due for new tires anyway. Maybe some E rated tires this time?

 

Try Slime Sealant and jiggle the tire around to coat the inside at max psi/

 

I had nail once right on sidewall. Was able to take it to a shop and have the inside cauterized. Truck was only a few months old at the time. Able to run tire to 40k. Keep in mind it was a fairly small hole.

 

Hmm. Haven't heard of that before.