wmtire

OK Chap, I"m going to use your statement there to point out something ....... even though I know it may just be the terminology used. A lot of people use the term "plugged" to mean fixed.

In the tire biz, when someone says a tire is plugged, it entails pushing a rubber/leather plug from the outside of the tire, into the hole. THIS IS A HUGE NO-NO. ........if done for any other reason than a temporary, emergency thing to get you off the side of the road and to a tire shop. A plugged tire is not a fixed tire.

I see a lot of my fellow tire techs who plug tires, mainly because it is fast and cheap. They can plug a tire without removing it from the vehicle or rim. They aren't doing you any favors, when they do this.

You ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS want your tire patched from the INSIDE (Do you hear me, the INSIDE) of the tire. This will require removing it from the vehicle/trailer, and removing it from the rim. It does take time and more money, but that is the way to fix a tire.........and is also the only Rubber Manufacturers Association (RMA) approved method. The RMA is made up of tire manufacturers and other in the rubber/tire business.

http://www.brakeandfrontend.com/Arti...re_repair.aspx

If you don't have the tire removed from the rim, there is no way you can see the damage that may be on the inside of the tire. I observe many a ruined tire on the inside each week at my business, from where the tire had been run too low of air or run flat. If you just plug a tire from the outside, and it has this unbeknownst internal damage...it will blow out soon, sometimes in your face when you are airing it back up. A tire blowing up with 50+ psi, while you are crouched down in front of it, does not make a pretty picture. Even if shrapnel from the tire doesn't hit you, just the shock wave of the pressure will hurt you.

Another thing about outside plugs, is tread separation. Air and water always try to find places to escape. When you just stick/cram/jab a plug into the tire, you may temporarily seal the outside hole, but you did not seal the inside one. The air pressure will work around the plug inside the tire. If it can't escape straight out, then it will seep between the plies of the tire and 'separate' the plies from the rubber they are encased in. When this happens, the tire is junk. I see this every week also.

No tire manufacturer will adjust a separated tire, that has been plugged. You might can get a dealer to adjust it, especially if he is the one who plugged it....but they will have to eat it, because a manufacturer won't.

I also observe every week, where someone had a tire plugged, and didn't even take the nail out, because they didn't see it. They just crammed a plug down in the tire beside it, making a new puncture. Sometimes we find the nail inside the tire where it got pushed inside by a plug, and is cutting the inside of the tire every time it rolls. Tire plugs also dry out and start to leak. Probably 20-25% of all the flats I repair are from leaking plugs. We cut the plug off and put a patch over it.

What you ideally want , is for the tire shop to put a 'patch insert' into your tire. This will be a patch that has a rubber insert attached to it. It is glued in from the inside of the tire. The technician will first take a small drill with the appropriate size tire bit on it, and ream out the hole where the tire was punctured. This removes any loose/cut steel and cord. They will then grind the inside of the tire, and apply glue. They take the patch insert (working from inside to out) and pull it into place. The puncture hole is now sealed by the insert, which will keep dirt and water out of the hole from the outside ... and is sealed inside by the patch, which keeps air from escaping and/or separating the tire.

This is what they look like, along with the bit that you use with them. Sometimes, if the angle of the puncture is too great, you have to use a two piece patch and insert....but the application is the same. You put the insert in, then put the patch over it.



I don't carry "plugs' or a plugging tool at my shop.....and never have, nor never will.

If you do find yourself in an emergency situation, where you need to plug a tire......remember to get to a tire shop as fast as you can, and have it checked/fixed properly. If the tire shop only wants to plug it, then find another one to do business with. Remember the guy who plugs your tire, already got paid. He's not the one on the side of the highway changing the flat tire that wasn't properly repaired.