Would you plug this tire?

[olscout]

Epoxy is the absolute wrong thing to use anywhere on a tire, it doesn't flex. If you get a GOOD QUALITY plug kit, you'll be fine....Safety Seal or Black Jack, never had one of those fail. Get the kit with the reamer, lube and plugs and follow the instructions, no cement needed. People who have bad luck are using cheap Wal-Mart kits with lookalike rope plugs with little to no real rubber. A good kit will cost you around $75, but it's worth it to have plugs that actually work and tools that won't break, driving the insertion needle through your hand.

 

[ACEd]

Thanks for all the replies. Yes it’s losing air. I went on a trip yesterday and got home late around 11:30pm and got back in it today around 4pm which is when I noticed the low pressure dash light on and found the screw, it was reading 24-26 psi this afternoon. Drove around an hour or so and didn’t lose any additional air but have a feeling I’ll wake up to more air lost naturally, and cold air is coming in.

My gut tells me to pull the screw, drill out a nice small hole and work the plug in with some rubber cement or epoxy. (This is what I did with my last tire plug as the hole itself wasn’t big enough and couldn’t get the plug in). That’s what she said. Anyways, worst case if it doesn’t hold it should be a slow enough leak where I get the dash light again and can safely pull off and put the spare on, no real blowout risk.

And to think 2 days ago I stopped and changed a spare for a very elderly & disabled man and his wife stranded with a flat… and to add insult the little ring on the end of my factory scissor jack where you hook and turn snapped off as soon as it got under pressure. Reverse karma x2…

Personally I would NOT try to repair, but if you choose to try I would patch from inside. Potential issues are due to flexing at shoulder, esp at belt interface and repair ability to flex without tearing.
Also as was pointed out - you want to look at inside of tire to see how badly it is damaged - it could be anywhere from a pinhole if object was just long enough to get thru that big lug of tread or it could be a monster hole that damaged the inner liner particularly if tire was run at low pressure. If there is more damage to inner liner, air can get into plies and cause separation (big bubble) which could fail catastrophically.
There used to be mushroom shaped plug/patch combinations you could put in from inside and pull stem thru. Dont know if they still make them. As for Epoxies - stay away from anything that dries to rigid condition (most epoxies). Any repair will need to be flexible to have a chance at working.

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

Personally I would NOT try to repair, but if you choose to try I would patch from inside. Potential issues are due to flexing at shoulder, esp at belt interface and repair ability to flex without tearing.
Also as was pointed out - you want to look at inside of tire to see how badly it is damaged - it could be anywhere from a pinhole if object was just long enough to get thru that big lug of tread or it could be a monster hole that damaged the inner liner particularly if tire was run at low pressure. If there is more damage to inner liner, air can get into plies and cause separation (big bubble) which could fail catastrophically.
There used to be mushroom shaped plug/patch combinations you could put in from inside and pull stem thru. Dont know if they still make them. As for Epoxies - stay away from anything that dries to rigid condition (most epoxies). Any repair will need to be flexible to have a chance at working.

Yep ...these are the patches you are talking about ... lug and patch style ... You have to grind a bit from the inside around the hole then you slap these from the inside and pull out ... I like these patches better than the flat ones ... it plugs and patches ... they last forever ..

 

[jp28173]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll skip the DIY plug and take it to the shop that did my lift & tires a few months ago. I sent them the pics a few mins ago and they already confirmed they should be able to make the repair, probably a patch like the one in the post above. It's a locally owned and extremely reputable shop so fingers crossed. Appreciate everyone's input.

 

[LouM]

Yep ...these are the patches you are talking about ... lug and patch style ... You have to grind a bit from the inside around the hole then you slap these from the inside and pull out ... I like these patches better than the flat ones ... it plugs and patches ... they last forever ..

View attachment 506872

This style of plug/patch is about the best type made, it fills the hole and seals the inside of the tire carcass.
I wouldn't hink twice about that type of repair. A plain plug from outside the tire I'd use to get by a day or two till I could repair it myself or a local shop would.

 

[rick phillips]

I've been waiting for someone to mention those "Patch-Plugs", may be harder to find, but, for me, by far the best available.

 

[06 Dodge]

Yeah, I rolled a bread truck because the back tire blew on a straight road, so I take exception to that. Back tires blow at speed the truck comes around. I drove for an outfit that didnt have dually bread trucks, they still don't, lol. I didnt everything right, didnt matter. Didnt hit the brakes tried to hold a loose wheel and let the truck safely come to a stop, tried to even steer into the spin as the truck was 15 degrees into it's spin, still hit the embankment and rolled.

I have seen a right front tire blow out on a truck that caused the truck to Roll over totaling out the truck, it was not a plugged tire... Until today did not know they had a plug patch that CheechDogg.0n37s posted a photo of, but still would not feel comfy with it on my steer axel full time, for me it would be a spare only tire...

 

[indept]

This style of plug/patch is about the best type made, it fills the hole and seals the inside of the tire carcass.
I wouldn't hink twice about that type of repair. A plain plug from outside the tire I'd use to get by a day or two till I could repair it myself or a local shop would.

The regular DIY plugs work great. I've successfully plugged over 30 tires over the last 30 years and never had one fail but OP's is a little too close to the sidewall for me to use one. The OP is making the right choice taking it for a patch.

 

[Burla]

I have seen a right front tire blow out on a truck that caused the truck to Roll over totaling out the truck, it was not a plugged tire... Until today did not know they had a plug patch that CheechDogg.0n37s posted a photo of, but still would not feel comfy with it on my steer axel full time, for me it would be a spare only tire...

To be sure, any blowout is dangerous!

 

[06 Dodge]

The regular DIY plugs work great. I've successfully plugged over 30 tires over the last 30 years and never had one fail but OP's is a little too close to the sidewall for me to use one. The OP is making the right choice taking it for a patch.

Patched/Plugged tires may be 1000% safe but I'm old school OTR that has been taught an seen first hand why Patched/Booted/Plugged and or Sectioned tires never go on the steer axel...

 

[mikeru]

We used plugs in the Goodyear tire stores I worked at in the 80's. But after plugging we'd dismount the tire and put it on the spreader to check the inside of the tire. After inspection, if damage wasn't severe we'd cut the excess from the plug and then patch from the inside. Similar to the patch/plug combo, our repair fills the hole to keep water and debris out, and a patch to keep air inside more reliably. If the plug went into the shoulder or sidewall we'd have to scrap the tire and sell the customer a new one. But we didn't make that judgement until we looked at it from the inside.

 

[magman777]

I just seen your question and not sure if you did anything yet but here's my 2 cents. Just last week I had one like that and took it to a tire shop. The man didn't even dismount it. He said on the corner like that you can't patch because the flex of the tire in that area will break the patch loose. Same thing with patch plugs, which is what I would have done lol. He put what he called a fat plug in it. It was kind of light brown in color and very rubbery & flexible. He said if you drill in that area you will end up with a broken belt. He told me that plug would last the life of the tire!

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

This style of plug/patch is about the best type made, it fills the hole and seals the inside of the tire carcass.
I wouldn't hink twice about that type of repair. A plain plug from outside the tire I'd use to get by a day or two till I could repair it myself or a local shop would.

Yes, this is the only way we repaired tires if they were repairable

I've been waiting for someone to mention those "Patch-Plugs", may be harder to find, but, for me, by far the best available.

Most big tire shops should carry these, they are the go to patch repair for tires

I have seen a right front tire blow out on a truck that caused the truck to Roll over totaling out the truck, it was not a plugged tire... Until today did not know they had a plug patch that CheechDogg.0n37s posted a photo of, but still would not feel comfy with it on my steer axel full time, for me it would be a spare only tire...

Those patches have been around for years, surprised you have never seen them ...

Patched/Plugged tires may be 1000% safe but I'm old school OTR that has been taught an seen first hand why Patched/Booted/Plugged and or Sectioned tires never go on the steer axel...

If a patch is on the flat area it's fine especially with these types of patches, but we too always put those patched tires in the back, rebalanced all tires and just rotated them as part of the tire repair ...

We used plugs in the Goodyear tire stores I worked at in the 80's. But after plugging we'd dismount the tire and put it on the spreader to check the inside of the tire. After inspection, if damage wasn't severe we'd cut the excess from the plug and then patch from the inside. Similar to the patch/plug combo, our repair fills the hole to keep water and debris out, and a patch to keep air inside more reliably. If the plug went into the shoulder or sidewall we'd have to scrap the tire and sell the customer a new one. But we didn't make that judgement until we looked at it from the inside.

Yeep, putting the tire on a spreader is the only way to see how bad the damage is to the tire , most of the time if they are on the flat area then they should be fine, but on the side walls or close to where his is at we have to really be careful and explain to the customer the risks... but we also refused a lot of tires for liability reasons

 

[Jeepwalker]

I've used just the regular inexpensive kit, the T-handle is more convenient for me. Like I say, haven't had one leak.

 

[06 Dodge]

Those patches have been around for years, surprised you have never seen them ...

The reason I have not see one is because I have not had a flat in many years ( knock on wood)

 

[CheechDogg.0n37s]

The reason I have not see one is because I have not had a flat in many years ( knock on wood)

Let's keep it that way! lol ......

 

[mopareg]

Plugged mine , use it as spare

 

[turkeybird56]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll skip the DIY plug and take it to the shop that did my lift & tires a few months ago. I sent them the pics a few mins ago and they already confirmed they should be able to make the repair, probably a patch like the one in the post above. It's a locally owned and extremely reputable shop so fingers crossed. Appreciate everyone's input.

NE thing better than a Walmart DIY kit. I have those in the garage, the ole reamer and rope plugs. BUT they get used on my Lawn Tractor tires, not my 5800 lb truck.

 

[Rlaf75]

The best way to fix it is with a plug patch from the inside but I wouldn't be afraid to plug it and continue using it.

 

[Nicholas Cove]

Same man. I've used thousands of plugs. NEVER seen on fail yet. All in the tech.

The best way to fix it is with a plug patch from the inside but I wouldn't be afraid to plug it and continue using