Man Takes Car To Discount Tire. Then A Worker Refuses To Put Air In His Tire. Now People Are Defending The Worker

"That’s how your tire blows up..."

Man Takes Car To Discount Tire. Then A Worker Refuses To Put Air In His Tire. Now People Are Defending The Worker NOTE: add language warning

Photo by: trippychidi & Eduardo Barraza

Stacy Fernandez

By: Stacy Fernandez

Apr 6, at 6:00pm ET

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Getting air in your tire should be a simple errand. Pull up, fill up, leave.

But one man's trip to Discount Tire turned into a whole ordeal, and the internet is taking the shop's side.

In a video with around 9,600 views, content creator Chidi (@trippychidi) shares his frustration after a Discount Tire employee refused to put air in his tires because the pressure was too low.

"They told me they couldn't put air in my tire because that s--- was under... 10 for the PSI," he says, visibly irritated.

Rather than wait for a new tire or take the shop's advice, he went ahead and filled it himself anyway, then headed to a local shop where workers plugged the tire and aired it up.

"[Expletive] Discount Tire," he says.

Discount Tire advertises free tire pressure checks at every location, no appointment needed. You pull into the air check lane, they measure each tire's pressure, do a quick visual check of the tread, and adjust to the vehicle's recommended PSI. What they don't spell out is what happens when the PSI is so far gone that airing it up isn't safe. That, apparently, is where Chidi's visit went sideways.

What You Need To Know About Tire Pressure

Here's the thing about tire pressure: most people don't think about it until something goes wrong. According to Pirelli, most passenger vehicles are designed to run between 28 and 36 PSI. That recommended number isn't arbitrary, it's what the manufacturer determined keeps the car handling, braking, and operating safely.

Anything under that is technically not recommended, and US law actually requires vehicles to have a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) that alerts drivers when pressure drops below 25% of the recommended PSI, the threshold considered severe under-inflation.

According to J.D. Power, anything below 20 PSI is considered a flat tire, and the general rule of thumb is to treat 28 PSI as an absolute floor. Driving on a tire with a PSI that low, let alone inflating it, carries real risk. A severely underinflated tire can overheat and cause the tread to separate from the body, which at highway speeds can mean a blowout.

How Do You Repair A Damaged Tire?

According to AAA, there's a meaningful difference between the three options to repair a damaged tire:

Plug: Inserted from the outside, fills the hole with an expandable adhesive material. Fast and cheap, but on its own it's not the industry standard.
Patch: Applied from the inside of the tire, bonds with the rubber to seal the puncture. Requires removing the tire from the wheel.
Plug-patch combo: The approach most manufacturers consider safest. The patch seals the inner liner, the plug blocks water intrusion. Rarely voids tire warranties.

But there are situations where none of the above will cut it. AAA notes that punctures on the sidewall or shoulder of a tire can't be repaired—those require full replacement.

Same goes for holes larger than a quarter inch, damage at an angle greater than 45 degrees, or tires that are already worn down or showing visible deterioration. A plug on a tire that's already compromised isn't a fix. It's a delay.

Was The Discount Tire Worker In The Right?

People who commented on the post overwhelmingly took the Discount Tire worker’s side.

“So when you drive below 15 psi of air, it starts to create run flat (tire shavings) and that’s how your tire blows up, we have rules and regulations to follow. We are just doing our job to keep you safe,” a top comment read.

“Discount Tire won’t risk the safety of others on the road. The repair is free. You would [be] surprised how many end up back at the shop on a tow truck when the tire blows out,” a person said.

“I promise you it’s not them, it’s the way the machine is made. If it’s under 14 pounds of air then it won’t air anything up. The only ones that air up from 0 are the ones inside on the wall,” another wrote.

What do you think?

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Motor1 reached out to Chidi (@trippychidi) via TikTok direct message and comment, and to Discount Tire via email. We'll be sure to update this if either responds.

Warning: The below video contains explicit language.

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