Questions about mobile tire service

In Austin and the closest suburbs a technician is dispatched within 5 minutes of your call, guaranteed, and drives straight to you from our South Austin base. For the outer cities the departure time depends on where the nearest van is, and we tell you the real figure before you hang up. Arrival time then depends on distance and traffic. Central and South Austin sit closest to us.

Yes. We answer the phone and dispatch around the clock, every day of the year, holidays included. A late night call is handled the same way as a midday call, and there is no extra charge for nights or weekends. Call or text (512) 573-0135 and a technician heads your way.

No, as long as we can reach the car and the wheel is accessible. Many customers leave a key at a front desk or with a neighbor and stay at their desk. We call when we arrive and again when the work is finished, and we handle payment then.

We can still help. The van carries a compressor, so if the spare holds air we inflate it and fit it. If the spare is damaged or missing, we repair the flat tire on the spot when the puncture is in the tread, or bring a replacement tire out to you. We also carry the tools for lug nuts that will not break loose.

Yes, we work roadside on I-35 and the other Austin highways. On a narrow or fast shoulder we may ask you to roll slowly to the next exit or a nearby lot if the tire and the car can take it, because that is safer for you and for our technician. We do not tow.

Starting prices are published: a plug repair from $50, a patch repair from $75, a used tire from $100 and a new tire from $150, with locking lug nut removal from $50 and a valve replacement from $75. The exact figure for your car is quoted on the phone before we dispatch anyone; tell us the tire size, what happened and where you are. There are no hidden fees and no night or weekend surcharge.

No. A call at three in the morning on a Sunday is quoted the same way as a Tuesday afternoon call. We are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year, and the price you hear on the phone is the price you pay once the work is finished.

Our quote covers the trip and the work together, so you hear one number on the phone and nothing is added on top later. We confirm that price before the van leaves. If what we find at the car changes the job, we tell you the new price first and you decide.

Not the way most customers work it out. You are not paying for a tow, a rideshare to the shop or hours away from work, and the tire is handled where the car already sits. We quote the full price on the phone, so you can compare it with a shop before we drive out.

We repair punctures in the tread area with a plug and a patch. Damage to the sidewall or the shoulder cannot be repaired safely, and neither can a tire driven flat long enough to chew up the inner liner. When a tire is finished, we bring a new or inspected used one and fit it on site.

A combination of both is the right repair. We take the tire off the rim, inspect it from the inside, seal the hole with a plug and cover it with a patch so air cannot travel along the puncture. A plug pushed in from the outside without removing the tire is a temporary fix.

Every model: Model 3, Model Y, Model S, Model X and Cybertruck. Three things make a Tesla call different and we carry all three: jack pads so the car is lifted at its four points and never on the battery, the tools to cut back the acoustic foam inside the tire for an inside patch, and a torque wrench set to Tesla's 175 Nm. Tires in Tesla sizes are sourced the same day from Austin distributors.

Yes. Most Tesla factory tires carry a strip of sound-deadening foam bonded inside the tread. We take the tire off the rim, cut the foam back around the puncture, buff the liner and fit a combination patch and plug from the inside. The tire loses a few square inches of foam and nothing else. A string plug pushed in from outside cannot seat properly through that foam, which is one more reason the tire comes off the rim.

Do not drive on it. Tesla ships every model without a spare and the factory tires are not run-flats, so a flat destroys the sidewall inside a mile and turns a $75 repair into a new tire. Get off the lane, stay with the car and call. We bring the repair, or a tire in your size, to where the car is, which is what the spare would have done without the second trip.

The labour is the same as any car: an inside patch repair from $75, a used tire from $100, a new one from $150. Tesla sizes sit above that new-tire starting figure because the tires themselves do: a 19, 20 or 21 inch EV-rated tire costs more than a 16 inch one, whoever fits it. Send the size off the sidewall or the door placard and you get the exact figure on the phone before the van moves.

We cover the Austin metro from our South Austin base in 78744. That includes downtown and central Austin, north Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, Georgetown, Leander, Kyle, Buda, San Marcos, Hutto and Manor. If you are near one of those and unsure, call and we will tell you right away.

Yes, parking garages are one of the places we work most. Most decks have enough clearance for the van, and where they do not we work near the entrance or on an open level. Give us the garage name, the level and the space number when you call so the technician finds you.

We work across the metro, out to Georgetown in the north and San Marcos in the south. Past that we look at each call, because a long drive changes how the rest of the day runs. Give us the cross streets or drop a pin, and we will answer on the phone.

You pay on site once the work is finished and you have seen the tire on the car. The amount is the number we quoted on the phone before dispatch. The technician confirms which payment methods we take while giving you that quote, so nothing is a surprise at the car.

No. We do not ask for a deposit before sending a technician. You get the price on the phone, the van drives out, and payment is settled at the car after the work is done. If the job turns out different from what you described, we go over the price with you first.

Often it is. For a repairable tread puncture, during store hours, with a car that can be driven there and time to wait for a bay, that free repair is a good deal. It fails in three cases: the car cannot be driven on the tire at all, it is 2 a.m. or Sunday evening, or the tire is not repairable and you are buying one anyway.

Air pressure falls about 1 PSI for every 10 degrees Fahrenheit the temperature drops. A cold front that takes Austin from 70 to 40 overnight leaves a tire three PSI low and trips the light on your way to work. Check the pressures cold and set them to the door jamb figure. If the light stays on, a sensor or a slow leak is the cause.

Read the DOT code on the sidewall. The last four digits are the week and year it was built, so 3419 means week 34 of 2019. Manufacturers commonly advise an inspection from six years and replacement by ten, whatever tread is left. Texas heat is hard on rubber, so a tire parked in the sun ages faster than the date suggests.

On a front or rear wheel drive car you can replace one, as long as the other tire on that axle is close in tread depth. The gap matters most in rain, where mismatched grip on one axle changes how the car brakes. All wheel drive is stricter. Many makers set a tread depth limit across all four, and the owner manual gives it.

The legal minimum is 2/32 inch, and wet grip drops off well before that. Put a penny in the groove with Lincoln's head down. If you can see the top of his head, the tire is at or below 2/32 and it is finished. A quarter checks 4/32, which is where stopping distance in rain gets noticeably longer.

Not automatically, and we do not do alignments, so we have nothing to sell you here. Get one if the car pulls to one side, if the steering wheel sits crooked on a straight road, or if the old tires wore unevenly across the tread. Fitting new tires does not change the alignment, but bad alignment will chew through them.

Use the figure on the placard inside the driver's door jamb, not the number molded into the sidewall. The sidewall number is a maximum the tire can hold, not what your car wants. Check pressures cold, before the car has been driven, because rolling heats the air and the gauge reads high. A compact spare carries its own, much higher figure.

If you are in a traffic lane or on a narrow shoulder, yes. Getting off the road matters more than the tire does. Go at a crawl and stop at the first safe spot you reach. Know the cost: a tire run flat wrecks the inner liner and often the sidewall, so a repairable puncture turns into a new tire, and the rim can bend.

Yes, and we will point you to it. TxDOT runs the HERO patrol free on about 337 miles of I-35, US 183, 183A, US 290, SH 71 and Loop 1, changing flats and airing up low tires. Call 512-974-4376. It runs 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at weekends, except I-35 between SH 45 North and SH 45 Southeast, which is covered around the clock on weekdays. Outside those hours, call us.

We torque every lug nut to the figure for your vehicle, usually around 80 to 100 lb-ft on a passenger car and 100 to 140 on a light truck. We look that number up rather than guess it, because an impact gun on its own does not set torque. If a wheel ever feels or sounds loose, stop and call us.

Usually not, but tell us before we arrive. Sealant coats the inside of the tire and has to be cleaned out before a patch will stick, which adds time. It can also clog the TPMS sensor in the wheel, and a clogged sensor sometimes has to be replaced. Sealant is a way to reach a safe spot, not a repair.