tyre puncture repair

Hello,

I saw a nail in my tyre. I know I should have left it in place to make identifying its location easy but I couldn't resist pulling it out to see how long it was, to see whether it had pierced the tyre. It was less than a centimetre long and it was imbedded in a thick bit of tread in the middle of the tyre. I put some washing up liquid over the hole and not much happened but I think there were some slow forming microscopic bubbles, so perhaps a very slow puncture.

I phoned around and most places want to charge £20 for a repair, though one garage explained it was £3.95 for the repair and the rest was for a valve and balancing!

I took the wheel off and found another nail nearer the edge. I haven't removed that one to take a look at yet! I went to a garage for advice and they think it can be repaired but will have to be sent away for a "major repair". To have both punctures done will cost about £70. A new tyre is probably £90+ and it is a fairly new tyre so plenty of tread left.

Should I get the repair done and save some money, or would you buy a new tyre. I hadn't heard of these major repairs before, I thought the tyre could not be repaired if it was too near the edge.

The garage was selling holts tyre repair cans and they said if you must use one, holts can be washed/wiped out and the tyre repaired whereas other makes make the tyre irreparable and the customer has to have a new tyre. Is this right? Why would someone make a repair can that writes the tyre off?

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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"Sales outlet promote brand they happen to stock" Hold the front page...

To get you off the side of the cold, dark, wet motorway as quickly as possible. If they deflate rapidly, tyres are very often damaged beyond repair before you've even stopped the car, so whether the fixgoop "writes it off" is irrelevant.

And, as you pointed out, it's rarely even economically viable to do more than a minor repair.

Reply to
Adrian

Just don't take it to the p[lace in Luton that used to advertise 'Puncher repair'. For old box(t)ers?

Reply to
Ramsman

If you cannot do it yourself then just get a new tyre. Puncture repairs in the centre area of tread can often be made successfully, back street tyre places usually charge a tenner. Edge punctures should not be repaired as the flex makes failure likely. Although one of my rear tyres has an edge repair with a mushroom patch that has been fine for several years ! I have seen people get a tube put in tyres with edge punctures, but its not really a good idea unless that wheel becomes the emergency use spare.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Which is why I'm happy that my new Focus has a spare wheel, though they probably carried out the mpg tests without a spare....

Watchdog recently tested some 'tyre repair' aerosols, and the results were variable.

Reply to
Gordon H

punctures themselves are very variable. A straightforward, nail in, pulled out puncture is usually easily fixed by aerosol, one which has been run till it is flat probably won't. Mind you a self tapping screw can repair a simple puncture for many miles.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

{Not really a direct answer but on topic} Years ago the Mrs picked me up from the station and as I got in I noticed the n/s/r tyre looked a bit soft.

I pumped it up (foot pump) and when I got home I detected a small leak in the middle of the tread area.

I had half a bottle of Ultraseal left over (from motorcycle and trailer use) and as a bit of an experiment I jacked up that corner, removed the valve core, used up the rest of the Ultraseal, replaced the valve core and pumped it back up again. I span the wheel a few times by hand, lowered the car, removed the jack and then just drove up the road and back to spread the sealant about.

That tyre never lost any more air (than any other) and was on the car for a few more years till we finally scrapped it.

I also helped someone similarly who had got a puncture (a very big nail in the middle of the tread) on a very new motorcycle tyre. Again, he rode that tyre till it was ready for replacement (not that long on the rear of some sportsbikes). ;-(

The thing there is that Ultraseal is supposed to be 'installed' prior to getting the puncture, not as a get_you_home emergency function (yet it worked on both occasions). ;-)

On the other point, I recently removed the 'Ultrasealed' tyre from the back wheel of my wifes XV750 and the sealant washed out easily with a garden hose.

I can't say what it would be like to repair a puncture conventionally after using Ultraseal as I've never had a puncture (that I knew of) with the stuff fitted. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

p.s. I have no connection with any tyre sealant suppliers but mention the brand of what I have used and speak of personally because I know that not all such solutions are created equal. When I say 'Ultraseal' I am only talking of that, not any other / generic tyre 'slime' or foam sealant.

Reply to
T i m

Any recommendations on how to remove tyres, or do you happen to have the appropriate specific tools for the job?

I've got a set of wheels (granted they're for a car not a bike) and could do with removing the tyres to sell the rims. Having not even tried yet I wasn't sure how easy/difficult this is going to be.

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

If it's in the shoulder, then you can't fix.

If they're holes in the main tread, you want to go to a local motorbike shop and get a sticky rope repair kit - then plug it yourself at home, without even removing the wheel from the vehicle.

Reply to
SteveH

The first problem is to unseat the bead, this is very difficult to do at home, the only practical way for an amateur is with another suitably heavy vehicle, jacked up high enough to get the deflated tyre/wheel under one wheel, then lower the jack, pushing one sidewall to the middle of the rim, repeat for the other side, then remove the tyre with tyre levers and suitable rim protectors. All in all you would be far better to take the wheels to a tyre place and get them to remove the tyres for a fee.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

they are only really suitable as an emergency repair by the owner.

"All tyre depots have to repair tyres to British Standard AU144e - which means briefly - the tyre MUST be removed from the rim - the inside of the casing MUST be inspected for damage and the overall condition of the tyre assessed for suitability for repair - then the inner lining MUST be correctly buffed - then the repair MUST be done using an approved plug-and-patch with correct tyre cement - then the tyre remounted on the rim and re-balanced. Anything less than this procedure may result in a defective tyre which could blow out at high speed. "

Reply to
Mrcheerful

Life was so much simpler with inner tubes, when you could tread them free.

Reply to
Gordon H

It occurs to me that my last puncture might have been a puncture repair, but I don't think so. ;-)

Reply to
Gordon H

But a puncture would be an instant flat, possibly with loss of control as the tyre flopped off sideways. Most modern tyres will stay on until you stop, assuming you hear/feel it.

A customer rang the other day to ask me to go round and fit his spare wheel (he is 92) he had waved his wife away in the car and realised that the back tyre was flat. She drove to the Doctors (2 miles) thinking that she had left a window open causing a noise, on the way back she decided that the potholes must be getting bad. Surprisingly the tyre was still on and the rim undamaged, the tyre even blew up (with a screw still in the hole ), but was obviously in need of replacement after its battering.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

I sort of have some tools that are sometimes sufficient (like G-clamps and bits of wood to form a bead breaker, a 10 tonne press if they resist and various tyre levers / rim protectors etc) but I also have a friendly shop that will often do the job for me for nowt (or let me do it myself if they are busy).

As has been mentioned elsewhere, deal breakers re not using the right tools / machine can be getting the bead(s) broken and then getting the tyres off the rim without damaging the tyre / rim (depending on which you intended to keep).

Use of some suitable tyre paste can make a big difference (getting a tyre off and on).

I made a balancing spindle for bike / scooter wheels but not bothered to do the same for car wheels yet (mainly because they last much longer than bike tyres so I'm not doing it so often).

Bottom line, bike tyres I can and often do do myself, car tyres I can but generally don't.

Cheers, T i m

p.s. My Messerschmitt KR200 has split rims, as did my old Lambretta scooter and that makes changing tyres *very* easy. ;-)

Reply to
T i m

I, and many others, have run with 'temporary plugs' as a permanent solution in motorbike tyres. I'd happily run a car with one - you're not going to get a blow-out, it'll be a slow deflation if the plug fails, so it's such minimal risk, I'm happy to do it.

Reply to
SteveH

Certainly you may be confident in them, but it isn't good practise to recommend to someone else, just in case. They may not have the expertise to know when it will be safe, nor apply it correctly, hence the need for an approved standard, there must have been many cases where there have been problems with poorly/unsuitably repaired tyres failing, for the powers that be to draft and publish a standard for puncture repairs.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

The tyre place is saying that it can be sent to a licensed place where they vulcanise the rubber to repair it but I don't know any more than that or how true this is.

Reply to
Stephen

I used to just drop the tyre off and stick a patch over the inside of the tyre where the puncture was.

Reply to
Stephen Foster

Thanks Tim (and MrCheerful) for confirming what I'd feared might be the case! Will take them to the tyre shop and see what they'll do for me.

Mathew

Reply to
Mathew Newton

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