A few days, if the tire is holding air. Leave the nail where it is, check the pressure each morning, stay off the highway, and get it to a tire shop this week. If the tire is losing pressure fast or you can hear air, stop and fit the spare.
Repair is cheap or free when the nail is in the tread. It's a new tire if it's in the sidewall.
What's actually happening
The nail is working as a plug. It's a bad one, but it's sealing most of the hole, which is why a nailed tire often holds pressure for weeks.
Progressive's guidance is that a slow leak can run for several hundred miles before you're forced to deal with it. The same page warns that driving on the nail keeps enlarging the hole and can damage the structure of the tire, which is why "it still holds air" isn't a reason to put it off.
Pull the nail and the leak gets much worse. Don't.
How long you can go, by situation
It comes down to how fast the tire is losing air, and where the nail is.
Situation | Can you drive? | How long |
|---|---|---|
Nail in tread, pressure stable | Yes, local trips | Up to a week while you book a repair |
Nail in tread, losing 2–5 psi a day | Yes, top up daily | 2–3 days, then repair |
Nail in tread, hissing or losing 10+ psi overnight | Swap to spare | Zero miles on the damaged tire |
Nail in shoulder or sidewall | Swap to spare | Zero miles, tire is scrap |
Tire has gone flat and been driven on | Swap to spare | Zero miles, probably scrap |
The last row matters. Mechanic Base points out that driving on a flat tire, even briefly, can ruin the inner liner and take patching off the table. Then you're buying a tire instead of paying $30 for a repair.
Progressive's rule is not to drive more than a couple of miles on a flat. I'd say less. Pull over as soon as it's safe.
Where the nail is decides everything
Tread area only. That's the industry rule, published by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association, and every chain follows it.
The USTMA limits are specific. The puncture can't be bigger than 1/4 inch (6 mm) across. It has to be in the tread, not the shoulder or sidewall. The repair has to be a plug to fill the hole plus a patch on the inside to seal the liner, and the tire has to come off the wheel for an internal inspection.
A plug on its own is "unacceptable" by that standard. The rope-style plug kits that take five minutes from the outside don't meet it. They work as a get-home fix, but a shop will tell you to come back for a proper patch-plug.
Costco adds two conditions from its own policy: no repair within 16 inches of an existing one, and nothing with tread below 2/32 inch. USTMA also says a tire that already has a bad repair in it gets scrapped, not repaired again.
What it costs
Usually $20 to $60, and often nothing. SlashGear's 2023 figures run $20 to $50 with odd cases over $100. Mechanic Base puts the typical patch at $30 to $60 and says it's 15 to 20 minutes of labor.
Discount Tire repairs any tire that meets USTMA guidelines for free, whether or not you bought it there. Costco is free for tires bought at Costco, and some warehouses will patch outside tires for about $10 to $19 if you're a member. Call first, because that part varies by store.
A DIY rope-plug kit starts around $7 online (SlashGear). It's the right thing to keep in the trunk and the wrong thing to call a permanent repair.
Run-flat tires are a separate case. USTMA notes that some makers restrict or forbid repairs on run-flats, so check your tire brand's policy before you assume it can be fixed.
Should you replace instead
Only if the shop says it's unrepairable, or the tire is near the end of its life anyway. A proper patch-plug in the tread lasts the rest of the tire's life.
Replacing one tire on an all-wheel-drive car can be its own problem. Many AWD systems want all four tires within a few 32nds of tread depth. If yours is well worn, ask the shop about shaving a new tire down to match, or budget for a pair.
What to do today
- Check the pressure on the nailed tire and write the number down. Check again tomorrow morning. The difference is your leak rate.
- Leave the nail in. Pulling it turns a slow leak into a flat.
- Look at where it sits. Tread: book a repair. Shoulder or sidewall: put the spare on and plan for a new tire.
- Call Discount Tire or your Costco and ask about free repair before paying $30 to $60 elsewhere.
- If it's losing more than about 5 psi a day, swap to the spare now and keep the damaged tire off the ground so the liner survives.
Related reading: tire plug vs patch · how long you can drive on a spare · driving on low tire pressure · how to read a tire size
Sources
- USTMA: Tire Repair Basics
- Discount Tire: Tire Repair
- Progressive: Can You Drive With a Nail in Your Tire?
- Mechanic Base: How Much Does It Cost to Patch a Tire?
- SlashGear: How Much Does It Cost to Patch a Tire?
- Costco Guides: Costco Flat Tire Repair Cost
Featured image: Nail in Tire Treads by Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0. Source
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