Driving from the house this weekend, I found my lr tire low about 10 pounds. I backed up to the house and discovered a nail in the tire. Hole is small, not close enough to the sidewall. Defiantly plug-able. This post is not about the merits of patching vs plugging vs new tire replacement. This is about easy, hassle free, save your ***, back on the road in ten minutes w/o even jacking up the car.

First things first: I fixed tires in early college years. Get yourself a decent tire plugging kit. I personally over the years have tried the type they sell at the local auto parts stores. They are not worth it. They mostly do not work. And even if you do get a good one, and you have never plugged a tire, find an old tire and plug it (for practice). The kit I bought has four times the plugs that I will ever use. A lot of force needs to be applied to drive the plug into the tire. This is where the cheap kits won't work. You need the heavy tee handle. You will also find that you probably need a few types of pliers to pull the nail out - Maybe even needle nose pliers.

Pic 1 - the kit
Pic 2 - the nail.
Pic 3 - make note of the direction that the nail went in. You need to plug in same direction.
Pic 5 - the plug

I also carry a spare tire and jack in the trunk in case the plugging will not work. This whole process took 15 minutes including the time it took to get the camera and take photos.

I personally know that this repair is good enough to drive many miles - if I drive the speed limits. I have bought myself the time and convenience to decide what my permanent repair option choice will be.

 

Excellent! Thanks for posting this. Who made your tire repair kit and where did you get it?

 

thanks for posting. I agree w/ you plugging is the why to go when you need some options.

 

I have used these types of plug kits before on other cars with great success. You can often repair the tire without removing the tire or even putting in additional air if it has not been leaking for long and you can plug it quickly. I would be careful about driving at high speeds ( > 100mph, on a track, etc.) but for normal driving speeds in the US, I would not worry about plugging tires.

 

tread looks low - new tires seem like the next step

 

This was purchased from patchboy.com ( I think I paid about $40 )

 

The kit above is not the right way to patch a tire. You need to remove the tire from the rim, clean and ream the hole out to clean it up (use a drill if you have to), scuff the inner liner of the tire with sandpaper, and then install a patch/plug from the inside out. That's the only way you can be assured plug will not be thrown out from the centrifugal force of the tire spinning. See the size of the hat on these plugs? It's inside the tire and attached to the plug. These can't be thrown out.

True story: I once had a 1200 sportbike with a plugged rear tire like the one above. I put the bike on a dyno once and threw the plug out at only 125 mph indicated on the dyno. The bike was capable of way more, and I had seen those higher speeds on occasion. If I would have been on the bike at the time it would not have been pretty.

It's certainly easier to do it that way above, but not the right way. Take the time to do it right.

 

That's helpful, but please reread his post:

"This post is not about the merits of patching vs plugging vs new tire replacement. This is about easy, hassle free, save your ***, back on the road in ten minutes w/o even jacking up the car."

 

.....and we all know that life gets in the way and the next thing you know it's weeks later and you never took the time to have the job re-done right.

Point taken, but It's my job to remind people here the right way to do it whenever I get the chance.

 

I thought the right way was to order 4 new tires from Tirerack?

 

Damon, so what would you recommend be done if you realize that you have a nail, you have the kit and have lost a bunch of air?

Have it towed to a repair shop and patch with your patch?
Drill it out on site, plug with the reddish wick type thing, then get it patched right?

 

I'm not saying the "outside in" method is a bad idea to get yourself off the side of the road, just don't forget to have it redone the right way as soon as you safety can.