where do i go to rant...a little
 

i had the worst day ever! i took a friend to lunch because her car was broken and on the way back i heard a strange noise. i thought nothing of it, maybe i had run over a rock or something i thought. i left work at 3:00 (luckily) that day and not so much to my surprise was my flat tire! i had one of the guys in the warehouse air it up for me and i drove the 15 miles to the tire store by my house. they informed me after i had waited 45 minutes that they could not fix my tire because there was a screw in the neck of it! i don't see why they couldn't fix it but i'm sure someone on here knows and will tell me. anyway, they preceeded to tell me that my car has a brand new tire size and that they don't even show it in the computer yet let alone carry it. they called a few other stores, and someone must have been watching out for me because ONE store had ONE tire for me. i had to drive on my ever flattening tire all the way out to BFE in rush hour traffic to wait another hour and pay almost 100 dollars for a new tire. and the tread doesn't match. but that's not something i really care about. i just want to know why our tire size is sooo hard to find? and why they couldn't fix my old one? i could have been worse but i still got mad about it.

A GOOD tire shop can fix almost anything other then a blow out.. but your tire leaked.. the hole couldn't have been that big..it probably was possible it could have been fixed.. and if fixed properly.. it would have been the strongest part of your whole tire.. a lot of places just can't be bothered.. and why fix a tire (which in my experience, they'll just do for free), when they can get you to pay for a brand new one..

I don't understand why they didn't atleast do a 'crappy' patch job for you to drive to your new tire on.. what kind of place was this?!

you said the screw was in the "NECK" of the tire? I know a bit about tires....I have been around cars modding them for a LONG time...and have never heard of any part of a tire refered to as the NECK....exactly what part is that? from my experience the only part of the tire a shop won't repair is if there is damage to the sidewall....if anything is in the treaded area....no problem...if its sidewall...forget it. its not a good idea to mess with sidewall damage....and the reason a shop won't touch it is because of liability issues.....if they were to repair it....and you didn't go on and get the new tire and it were to BLOW there and cause you to wreck....YOU could blame them for the repair.....that is why they wouldn't mess with it.....if in fact it was the sidewall that was damaged.

Hmm I had a sidewall repaired before.. but that was before the 'I spilled hot coffee on my lap and im sueing' age..

they (discount tire aka. americas tire co.) referred to the neck of the tire as the part where the tread and the sidewall meet. so i suppose that repair would fall into the "liability" area were they to patch it. they circled such a large area i wasn't really sure where the screw was, and by that point i was so angry i didn't really care either. it may have even been in the last section of tread before you get to the side wall. i can't recall exactly.