SOS Roadside Service does tire work where your car is parked: a new tire fitted when yours is past saving, your spare put on, or a repair when a repair will do. A technician comes to the car in San Jose and eight more South Bay cities in California, looks at the tire first, and tells you which job it is. Call (650) 898-3789, 7:00am to 8:00pm, seven days a week, and have your tire size ready.

On a freeway, or stopped in a traffic lane? Call 911 first, then us.

We have an average response time of about 18 minutes. Finding a new tire in your size adds time.

What does a mobile tire technician do?

A mobile tire technician drives to the car and does the tire work there, so the car does not have to be driven or towed to a shop. For us that has meant new tires fitted at customers' houses and at the side of the road, and spares put on in work parking lots.

Tire jobs customers wrote about

Two Prius tires, I-880 southbound. One tire was on hand. The second had to be found.

Hard to find tires for a Prius, he had one and located a second for a two tire replacement.

A 1961 VW Bug on Highway 17. A blowout with the family aboard, on the way to a VW show in Capitola. A new tire went on the car's Porsche alloys and they still made it to Capitola.

They got everything all swapped out and installed perfectly. No scratches and new tire is perfect.

Spare first, then a matching tire at home. The flat could not be repaired where it happened. The spare went on so he could drive home, and a matching new tire was fitted at his house.

We weren’t able to repair the flat on site, so he installed the spare to get me home safely. [...] he had the new tire installed, everything put away, and the job fully taken care of.

Two tires for a Tesla, fitted at the house. His mom's car needed a pair, sourced in Oakland.

[...] went all the way to Oakland and came back and replaced both tires at our house [...]

A 7x12 enclosed trailer. One tire had a nail in it and was repaired. Another was swapped for her spare.

He also checked, and fixed, the tire pressure in the other tires.

More are on our reviews page.

When does a tire need replacing instead of a repair?

The technician decides at the car. A nail or screw in the tread is the kind of damage that can be repaired; that job is on our flat tire page. These mean a new tire:

• Sidewall damage. A cut, a bubble or a blown-out side cannot be repaired. The Prius on I-880 had both: the front left had blown out its sidewall and the back left had a bubble, so both tires were replaced.
• A hole near the edge of the tread. Too close to the sidewall to repair.
• A long drive on the flat. Driving on a flat can ruin a tire on the inside while the outside still looks usable.
• Tread worn to the bars. The wear bars are the raised strips across the bottom of the grooves. Once the tread is down to them, the tire needs replacing whether or not it has a nail in it.

A bubble or bulge in the sidewall means the tire can fail without warning. Don't drive on it any farther than you have to, and call.

When a repair will do, we say so.

Usually all tire people recommend making more money by changing the tire but he was very truthful on patching the tire and took care of me asap.

Before we get there

• The tire size. It is molded into the sidewall: a run of numbers with a slash and the letter R in it. Read it off the damaged tire; if that one is shredded, the tire on the other end of the same axle is usually the same size. A phone photo makes it easy to read out on the call.
• The wheel lock key, if one lug nut on each wheel looks different from the rest. It is usually in the glove box, the center console or with the jack. Without it, getting that wheel off is a much bigger job.
• The spare. Say whether the car has one and where it is. Some cars come without one.
• The exact spot. The address, or the lot and the row, or the freeway, the direction and the last exit you passed.
• On a freeway shoulder or in a traffic lane: call 911 first and do what they tell you about staying in the car. Don't try to change a tire with traffic going by.

Mobile tire service questions