Geez, I’d have them do the repair just for the psychological benefit to the crew and the value of doing a ‘dry run’ of the process, not to mention the CYA factor.
Amid all the "I know more than you" claims and pontifications of this thread - this is the most cogent comment made so far.
As it stands, and I spent ten years on the shuttle in one capacity or another, it's like the "we're not Hurtz" rental car company assuring a customer that they can make it from Boston to San Diego on three good tires and the little spare dough-nut - doing it to save the $50.00 a new tire would cost them at fleet discount and because the maintenance shop was crowded when the issue came up.