Need your advice on a good inside automotive tire patch

I would use what the patch company recommends. Tech's "Rub=O-Matic" rubber cleaner has no MEK in it. it is basically a light naptha (pure petroleum product)

Rema uses a water based pummice product to buff the rubber liner for repair. Their flamable pre-buff is almost pure N-Heptane. Their non flamable pre-buff is Triclorethelene

The "glue" is also specific to the patch product being used. -I would not mix one company's glue with another companies specialized patch products.

Like I said before "don't screw around with tire repairs" "It's only YOUR LIFE at stake." Don't prove yourself stupid.

It aint MEK., and yes, low speed is required because if you burn the rubber the tire is FUBAR. Best thing for "grinding" the liner is a prep disk on a low speed die grinder or air drill.. Use a PROPER PREBUFF cleaner, or a pure hydrocarbon solvent like napyha , white gas, or even TRicor. (all components of the major tire repair companies' pre-buff cleaners).

In a pinch, use tire patch glue ans scrape it off with a razor blade.

snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca posted for all of us...

Oh, more memories. Monkey Grip - I can still visualize the can and lighting the glue....

Let's take this tread to re-vulcanized condoms. Maybe more posts.

It is a butyl rubber sealer containing hydro treated heavy parafinic petroleum distilates, carbon black, di(benzothiazol-2-yl) disulphide, and zinc oxide along with butyl rubber resin.

It is made for the job, and you would be far better off not using anything (the way it has been done for many years by many tire repair professionals) than using something untied and unproven in it's place. Like I said before: "Dont screw with tire repairs" "It's only your life riding on that repair"

Either do it right, or get it done. Criminal negligence charges stay with you for life if you happen to survive and someone else doesn't

Ashton Crusher posted for all of us...

So I guess the research the tire co's means nothing to you.

+100 If he won't listen to me, mabee he'll listen to someone else. He asks for advice - then won't take it. That sounds a bit like an idiot to me - sorry but I have to call a spade a spade.

Mineral spirits and MEK are totally different materials. Mineral spirits is closer to the right product but can have all kinds of fraction in it that could inhibit proper vilcanization.. White gas (coleman camp gas) is about as close to the "real thing" as he is going to find at a big box store like Home Despot. - much better to just get the right stuff

+1 Very good advice, hope it's heeded.

He's only trying to plug a hole the "right way." Nothing wrong with that. I think it's a bit impractical, but that's just my opinion. And I don't agree with your "criminal negligence charges" for plugging a tire. A tire plug is a simple repair. Might as well say you can't work on your suspension or gas tank or electrical system.

Vic Smith wrote, on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:44:01 -0600:

The point here is to learn.

It's sort of like a biology lab.

Nobody forces you to cut open a pig, but, we all cut open pigs and frogs and shrarks to study them.

That's sort of why I'm doing this. (The tire is ruined already anyway, because I drove on it for about a mile, assuming, wrongly, that it still had enough air.)

Today I went to a few shops but I had to do other errands.

So far I've second sourced the first two of the three fluids.

1. Inner liner solvent

If you don't make any money on the tire sale you have to keep the lights on doing the mounting.

Saving a few bucks is good, but it can be false economy at times. Our town is fortunate to have a good family owned tire dealer that has fair prices and incredible service. I know many customers that won't go anyplace else and have a story about how Dennis helped them out with a tire problem.

clare wrote, on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:22:36 -0500:

I think you totally missed the point. The tire is already ruined because I drove on it. Nothing I do to it will ruin it any more.

However, I can experiment on this tire, so that I can see how the entire patch process works.

Remember what this group is all about. It's not a ladies' knitting group you know.

So, we're not afraid to wind our own garage door springs. We're not afraid to replace our own struts. And, we're not afraid to patch our tires correctly.

You seem to know a lot, which means that you know the average fool is too stupid to patch their tires correctly.

But, the rest of us aren't average fools! (pun intended).

At this point, I'm working on *what* exactly the carbide bit does. This bit looks nothing like the spiral reamer that comes with the el cheapo outside plug kits.

The carbide bit, I think, is supposed to smooth the sharp edges of the cut belts.

Do you concur? Or is there a *different* reason for the carbide bit?

clare wrote, on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:09:54 -0500:

Darn. Someone said it was MEK.

That was good to hear because MEK is easy to come by. But, if it's not MEK, then we have to start anew to figure out what it is that we can find in a common hardware store.

Makes sense not to want to melt the rubber. How does 500 RPM sound for speed?

I have seen those half-round grinding disks which seem like a nice thing to have in my toolbox for cleaning the inside of the tire.

Googling to see the box store equivalents, it seems that Naptha isn't sold at Home Depot, but it is sold at Lowes:

LOWES: Crown 1-Gallon Slow to Dissolve Naphtha Item #: 206531 | Model #: CR.VM.M.41

Are you sure the prebuff solvent is naptha, and not MEK?

Interesting idea!

This makes sense, especially since you already have the glue on hand, and, as noted by someone, the remainder of the glue will likely dry well before you ever get to use it again, so, you may as well use it up.

Depends on the research. They have a financial interest in anything that results in them selling more tires in total or more tires then the competition. Competing is hard, getting the gvt to mandate something stupid so you can make more money just takes a few lobbyists and greasing some palms.

Tekkie® wrote, on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 17:19:10 -0500:

I know this was directed at someone else, but, let's remind ourselves this isn't the ladies' knitting group.

We're here to learn how to repair things, and, in this case, what we want to learn is the proper way for a homeowner to repair a car tire that has a puncture wound.

So far, we have learned a *lot* (at least "I" have), as I have read the wrong way and the right way to repair the tires.

The only thing I don't have are the 5 tools and the 3 fluids, so, my quest right now is simply to find homeowner-style alternatives.

One could rightly say just buy the right tools & fluids, but, you have to realize that we're only going to repair one tire every few years, so, we really need to be smarter than that.

Sure, it's *easy* to buy exactly the professional tools, but, if we're smart, we can buy the fluids and tools and be able to use them for other things.

For example, of the three fluids, we seem to know at this point:

1. Pre-buff solvent

clare wrote, on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:24:36 -0500:

This isn't the ladies' knitting group. Nothing has been patched yet. This is a *discussion*.

What we're seeking is a second source for the fluids used in tire repair. If you think that these fluids are *super special*, then you have a different opinion than I do.

I *assume* (yes, I know) that these three fluids are commonly available. I'm just trying to find out *what* they are.

You would probably say "just buy the professional stuff" and that *might* actually be the best answer. But, oftentimes the best answer, for a homeowner, is to use the same fluid, but packaged for the homeowner.

For example, if the pre-buff fluid is either MEK or Naptha (as has been opined so far), both are easily available at Lowes.

The sealer is the trickier fluid to figure out what it is, since that is the fluid that protects the inner seal.

This is interesting. You have far more experience than I do, so I greatly appreciate your advice. Today I stopped off at Costco to see what they use, and they showed me a can of their stuff, which they use as part of the final repair. But I don't know what other shops use.

The trick now is to figure out *what* that tar-like substance is made up of, to see if we can find a second source in the home box stores.

clare wrote, on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:26:28 -0500:

This is an interesting trick.

Seems to me, the goal of the pre-buff solvent is to dissolve a thin skin of the inner liner, so that we're down to a different layer of rubber for the patch to adhere to.

What I like about this trick is that it negates the need for the pre-buff solution, although if the pre-buff solution is Naptha or MEK, it's easy to come by in the home box stores.

So, the real trick will be to find a substitute for the final inner liner sealer.

Ashton is about the only guy cheaper and less intelligent than DannyBoy on this group. I plonked him a long time ago so only see his crap when someone answers him.