Punctures & Repairs

You can do that or clean it up, acid etch prime, paint and seal.

The problem with doing that is having the wheel off long enough to do a good job.

The ally rims on my Honda CB 250 Nighthawk were slightly porous and so I tripped them clean, sprayed with acid etch primer, prayed them up inside and out and left them to cure in the sun for a week or so. Fitted new tyres and they hardly lose a psi between checks (that is normally MOT time). ;-)

For a more instant repair they often use a black tyre sealant gunge that just fills the holes etc.

Cheers, T i m

;-)

Cheers, T i m

Unlikely, by the pure nature of how it works / moves. And then we have the question of 'permitted area' for what solution?

Quite. So best avoid having to have a repair made in that form?

True.

And therein is part of it's own problem. It can't offer anything in the way of a structural repair and only provides an air patch (as you say) to stop the leak ... *as long as* it maintains a good bond to the inside of the tyre?

True, whereas a 'liquid' plug would tend to fill all the voids as it passes though.

And in the case of a 'liquid' repair would simply re-seal itself again.

Why would you want to? ;-)

At the end of the day, the 'bottom line' for me is more about staying safe and that includes not having a puncture at any time, if I can possibly avoid it. If I can't, we are back to having a spare wheel (not so easy on our motorcycles etc).

ITRW, that may mean making a decision about 'confirming' to what could be out-of-date guidance / legislation and doing my research into what stuff is good and what isn't.

I've seen enough demonstrations, I've seen it work often enough with my own eyes, I've done thousands of miles on it myself to know exactly what it can and can't do and how that might compare with going without. So I don't / won't 'go without' and wouldn't want the Mrs or daughter to do so either.

Cheers, T i m

So it has to be applied to the appropriate part of the inside, rather than just squirted in somehow?

I can do without this particular car for a while - it's a sort of runabout. I'm just not sure I can get the tyre off without distorting the rim.

once the bead seal is broken then conventional old school tyre levers will remove any normal tyre, bead seal can be broken (often) by lowering the heavy end of a car onto the wall of the tyre.

But for the average person it is easier to just get a tyre shop to strip the tyre off, take the wheel home, clean and paint it, then get the tyre shop to re-fit and balance.

It's a combination of the right tools, the right location and the right technique. Oh, and a bit of luck re getting one that is 'easy' or hard.

By that I mean it can depend on the depth of the 'well' in the rim, the ability to access the wheel easily and holding it still, lubricating it sufficiently with the right stuff and having the right size tools for the size of wheel / tyre.

I might be easier to just get a tyre place to pop it off for you and put it back on once you are done. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Okay, well I'll give it a go once once the weather's warmed up a bit. It's not a high priority annoyance - I only have to pump it up every couple of months.

Good idea - I was wondering how to apply enough pressure to it.

Probably makes more sense, but I'm sort of obsessed by doing as much as I can by myself. I've been disappointed by the pros too many times.

Yes. The 'issue' is normally corrosion in the bead and so first you need to remove that (sometimes that is all it is) but then you need to resist the corrosion re-forming when you have (wire) brushed it all clean.

So, you get it clean, then spray it with an acid etching primer (to get a good key) and then getting a few good coats of a hard paint or lacquer over the top to resist further corrosion and protecting the primer. If the corrosion is fairly deep you might find the use of an ally wheel cleaner good for getting it really clean (but watch out as it's often an acid of some sort).

I have even seen badly pitted rims filled with a flexible body filler to help allow the tyre bead to form a good seal (before being painted over etc).

You also need to insure the inside of the bead is cleaned up properly and there are no lumps of corrosion embedded in the rubber etc.

Cheers, T i m

Goo idea. ;-)

That can be annoying though (and could mean running the tyre slightly soft before you get round to topping up etc).

As MrC mentions, sometimes the biggest issue can be getting the bead to break but as long as you are determined and let science help you (levers, weights and fulcrums) you can often do it.

Big 'G' clamps, blocks of wood, Youtube etc.

A set of (3) tyre levers aren't that expensive and long and thin give you more leverage and less space taken up by the levers themselves are better than short and fat. A small tub of 'paste' may also be a good investment.

A new valve while you are there and they can be re-fitted using a std valve key and a ring spanner (but the right tool isn't that expensive on eBay). ;-)

It all depends how often you are likely to do such things and / or if you just like doing it for your own reasons / entertainment.

You will still need to get the wheels balanced at the end but they will sometimes do so for 'a drink' if you just walk them in there.

Cheers, T i m

Mine would prefer not to get the punctures in the first place. ;-)

Punctureseal, a real present that just keeps giving. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

Dan S. MacAbre submitted this idea :

I once tried and failed, but the maybe more difficult part is getting it to reseal. I don't have a large compressed air flow. In the past I have just about managed it by tightening a rope round the tread, then applying air. I was interested to see a technique of squirting lighter gas into the tyre and igniting it. The resulting explosion expands the tyre against the rim.

I can't imagine how you could ignite the lighter fuel but it sounds 'dramatic' ;-)

I've done it with a trailer tyre but I do have a compressor- the motorhome needs 80psi and normal airpoints in garages are set at 60 or so max. I 'killed' a couple of the small ones and decided to invest in something man enough (person enough in these PC days?) for the job.

I once saw that on a Ray Mears thing. Seemed to work well enough. I only have an ordinary tyre inflator, so I'm not sure it will push the thing out enough when it's not yet sealed.

I have a small garage type compressor, with an air tank and that isn't person enough to get the air in rapid enough to form a seal.

a piece of rope used as a tourniquet will do the job, if you use lighter fluid then it is essential to immediately after the fire, start blowing the tyre up, otherwise as the air inside cools it suctions the tyre back in and may pull it off the bead again

that type of plug is not now legal, but had been used for years I have always done my own puncture repairs using plug patch mushrooms its only a 5 minute job once you have the tyre off the rim

I found I had to inflate it twice. I'd got a local place to push the tyre back so I could paint the rim, painted it etc. Inflated it once and it didn't quite go on the 'bead'. So I let the air out, put some air in, and 'bounced' it as I inflated it. That did the trick. It is only a small, trailer, wheel so man-handling it isn't too bad.