Patching tyres.

newman

Registered
There's been a few posts about patching tyres.
I use to work for Bandag the tyre retreading company and was taught to patch tyres properly. You would not believe the amount of tyres which came in with patches hanging off because they had not been patched right, so if you are thinking about getting you motorbike tyres patched be carefully as you don't know if they have been done properly, the thing is would you want to take that chance. I wouldn't I'd buy a new tyre.
Now I'm not sure about newer faster cars but when I done it, it was alright to patch car and truck tyres, but if not done properly you could still have problems.
I would put the way to properly fix a puncture if anyone is interested.
 
You dont patch street bike tires at all.Defenately do not plug a street bike tire.Dirt bike tires yes, no biggie.I have never had an issue with car tires being patched.
 
I just went thru this on my brand new busa. Safety pin hole in rear tire. After much debater I broke down and bought new tires. Just not worth the risk on a big capable of high speeds. I happy though brand Pilot Rode 3's:cheerleader:
 
To patch a car tire, you need to first dismount the tire off the rim, clean it out.Take a grinder with a rough bit on it and roughen the area that is to be patched, take some cleaner and wipe the area to be patched.Take the glue and apply to both the tire and patch and let set a bit before applying the patch.Apply patch and let cure for a bit.Thats the way I learned when doing tires years ago.I have plugged tires but in no way recommend it.
 
I've seen how a reputable shop plugged my rear tire with a mushroom plug from the inside. They did all the stuff that karnage said. The mushroom plug was placed from the inside so that the leg of the mushroom goes through the hole. However, after that the guy took a heat gun and heated the area around the plug until it formed a uniformed surface with the inside of the tire.

So, if looking from the inside, you see a pretty much smooth surface with a slight bump in it where the plug was inserted. I believe the heat triggered some sort of volcanization process in the plug material so that the tire and the plug became like on piece. That seems a lot more reliable than relying on the glue alone.
 
It was years ago, and I may be using the wrong term (chemistry is my weakest area because my HS teacher didn't know how to teach, and I hated it), but the important point I wanted to make was that the plug/patch was heat treated and in the end looked like an organic part of the tire. And even in such case IIRC I was advised to take it easy.
 
Karnage has got it right, but we was taught to clean the place before starting roughing it up as well let dry, put the centre of the patch over the hole, mark four sides of the patch with a marking stick and just buff the size of the patch, but I used to do it a little bit bigger so the patch would not be on the any of the unbuffered part of the tyre, we used some thing called a rocker to rough up the area, clean again let dry, glue on tyre and patch, leave until dry to the touch, put the patch on and using a little wheel thing ( can't remember the name of it as it's been over 20 year since I've done it) and working from the centre of the patch roll it out wards to make sure there is no air trapped under the patch, then put some powder (can't remember the name again) on it so a inner tube will not stick to it, finished. I think I got everthing.
 
you should do what makes you feel comfortable.....

but there are many people that have run thousands of miles on plugged/repaired tires. i currently have one on my bike as i type this. I have run thru the mountains and even a couple of trackdays on a tire with a plug....
 
I've run a plugged tire to the end of the tire's life span. At relatively high speeds with hard cornering... its just a matter of what your comfortable with. Sometimes your financial situation doesn't allow you to fix things immediately. In a perfect world you would replace immediately.
 
Back
Top