Tire Plug in a Performance Tire?
 

Would you guys accept a patched rear performance tire as a permanent fix?

I picked up a nail in my right rear tire on the Turbo. 305/30/19 Bridgestone Potenza RE050 N1 with only 3,000 miles. Luckily, it was smack in the middle of the tread and not near the sidewall. The local tire shop repaired it with a interior patch-plug. They said drive it and forget about it.

I would never do a track day with it, but do you guys think its safe to do spirited street driving for another 10K miles until I need to replace them due to wear?

I had the same issue in one of my Sumitomos. I didn't have any issues with street driving.

I hate to eat $800 in rubber if that patch will hold safely. I do test the boost frequently on freeway on-ramps, interchange loops, and drive canyon roads occasionally, but I'm not racing canyon runs anymore...and rarely break 100mph.

I actually do not know, all I know is that in Europe a repaired tire automatically goes to the S rating, so you can't use it on a high performance car.

Not sure if they are just being anal or whether there are known issues with repaired tires at high speed (approaching their speed rating), just would hate to be swallowing a bridge abutment for the sake of a couple of tires....

Dennis

I've done it many times without issue. If it's mid-tread I wouldn't sweat it.

I believe that something like a nail in the tread properly plugged should have no effect on driving. If it installed improperly then you could have a slow air leak so check the air pressure regularly.

Thanks Matt. I'll try to forget about it then.

So far so good. 5 days and several heat cycles and still holding steady pressure. I'm going to let go (unless I go OCD again).

I carry a plug patch kit in each car.

Absolute necessity when you are living in an area being built out.

Can't tell you how many times I've been back on the road before the wife finishes calling roadside.

Typically I prefer the interior patch but have never had a fail from either solution.

I just did this on Friday. 250 miles since, no issues.

I had the same concern with a rear on my turbo. They patched it with one of these.
https://www.zoro.com/camel-tire-repair-boot-pk20-15-296/i/G1808292/?gclid=CJrdhbqmp9ACFU5LDQodvVoDFQ&gclsrc=aw.ds
It held until there was cord showing on the inside 1/3 of the tire when I noticed the wear and replaced the whole set.

A plug patch is only as good as the installer. They usually hold up well with a quality install.

If its not giving any issues leaking I'd roll with it and not worry. You will wear those tires out well before its an issue! ;)

I had a tire shop years ago install a patch as you described on the RR of my SC. It was fine, I even tracked it with that tire. I never had a problem.

I've done it, granted, never in a car as brutish as yours, but I've never had any problems. I suspect that you'll be fine even at quite elevates speeds.

I'm going to be in the minority here, and say that I'd probably not run that tire. It's just sh*** that the tire costs that much, but it's just not worth keeping it on the car IMO.

I would run it on the street but not on the track. At track tire temps who knows what the expansion difference could be between the plug and the tire bed.

I have run a plugged tire for way more than 10K miles on the street w/ no problems.

I would not do it with just a tire plug, but if they dismounted the tire and put the patch on the inside of the tire, no sweat. I carry a set of plugs for road trips and I would plug a tire with no hesitation to get back home. I would want it dismounted and a patch put on the inside as a better fix.

It depends on the plug. There are two types, afaik... the rubber coated rope, and a solid rubber plug. When I bought my 996, one of the rear tires had three plugs in it. And the guy was running it in DEs like that with no problem.

I don't think I would use the rubber coated rope for a repair on a tire to be tracked.

This (rubber coated rope)
http://extremehowto.com/wp-content/u...g-for-tire.jpg

versus this (mushroom plug)
http://media.tbccentral.com/themes/b...epair2_270.jpg


More info-graphics:

https://rma.org/sites/default/files/tire-repair.jpg
http://www.tirerack.com/images/tires...ure_ill_sm.jpg

I have a plug kit in a bag of tools that I carry on any bike that I take out and had to use it only once - 10 yrs. ago - and it worked until I changed the set.
.
Two years ago I got a nail in my RAV4 and went to a tire place and told them that I had a manure spreader on my farm that needed a "plug patch" and they just gave me one - I had the correct adhesive in my shop.
Of course it was a lie but to buy a box of them was too $$ for me to bother with.
They would not have given me one for a highway vehicle, I'm sure.
It remained and worked for me until my new recent set.
.
https://www.zoro.com/camel-tire-repair-boot-pk20-15-296/i/G1808292/?gclid=CJrdhbqmp9ACFU5LDQodvVoDFQ&gclsrc=aw.ds

25 years ago when I was in the motorcycle business I went to a Bridgestone tire seminar. They ran a rear motorcycle tire with a dozen plug-patches at high speed without problems. Their advice was don't worry about it.

Let's look at it another way, has anyone, anywhere, ever had a plugged tire fail? I've been on this board a long time, and this question has been posted dozens of times over the years. Never once has anyone experienced a failure of a plugged tire. Be it rope or internal plug.

I have plugged a lot of tires with the rubber-rope Harbor Freight kits.

I have never experienced a failure.

Especially with the repair on the inside I wouldn't worry about it. It's not like it's going to fall off.

At the dealership level, PCNA did not want us to plug tires. It was a liability issue with them. I think they felt you never knew if the penetration damaged a ply. I think their concern was after a dealer plugged a tire, if the customer took the car to the track and that tire caused an accident...they did not want to open that can of worms. We referred customers to the local tire shop for plugging/patching.--Dave

Its like when I was in college, 40+ years ago, I worked at a bicycle shop, in Northampton, MA, home to Smith College (women's college, a rich school with lots of parents who were lawyers), we did NOT patch inner tubes, the Boss said we didn't need the liability for a $2.00 patch versus a $5.00 new inner tube. Plus labor to take the tire off and on. Same work, different liability.

That's news to me and i'm in Europe...
I've done 240kph with a plug, it's really no big deal if you ask me.

Obviously you don't do it right after the plug was done. But you do not get a tire blow out from a plugged minor leaking puncture.

If it's patched from the inside, I would. If it's plugged from the outside, as long as it is in the center of the tire (which it is) I would for street use, but probably not for track use.

I learned my lesson about tires during my very first track event, at age 18 in the family 320iS at Road Atlanta, when my plugged-on-the-outer-edge left front tire started losing lots of air by the end of the first day. Rotated a good tire to the left front, put the spare on the right rear. Then that one blew in the esses. Minor thrill.

Hole needs to be at least an inch away from sidewall for success.

I'm sure they were more than happy to sell a new $500 tire.;)

Yes, I have. It was on my truck. It used an internal tire patch. It's a much different application with much higher PSI than you'll see on a street car. Basically, on a truck tire, if you get a nail then the tire is done. Those tires are like 10-ply and a single ply (patch) will not hold air for long. Since heat equals pressure, and heat also softens the patch glue, I would not use a patched tire under high heat conditions either.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1479326324.jpg

I have had plenty of plugs in my life. As long as they are not on the side wall or on a "slick" tire/R compound you should be good to go.

We have a tire plugged on our SUV and I forgot all about it until this thread. Plugged it 3 years ago. This is on our summer tires and we run Blizzaks for the winter so it has had 3 spring, summer and fall cycles on it.

It might be a good tire, but certainly not a great tire.

(someone had to say it)

Typical car forum BS.

Before calling roadside?
So, you're jacking the car while she's on the phone?
Even if this lie were true, it does NOT take 5 minutes (phone call)
And sorry, no chance in hell you're getting the right leverage with the wheel still on the car.

You need to jack up the car
You need to dismount the tire.
You need to remove the nail (can be a fight when it's flush)
You need to drill out the hole
You need to fight the tire and jam in the plug
You need to repeat this 5 times, since the plug comes out with the tool.
You need to re-inflate the tire.
You need to remount the tire.
You need to jack down the car.

I noticed a slow leak the last few weeks.
Jacked up the car today and found the nail.
Got a plug kit and got it done, after several attempts.
I will monitor the pressure over the next few days.

I've plugged a hole by the side of the road

Turned front wheel to the side
found the hole with some water
The nail was already gone
ran the hand drill through 5 times
stuffed the plug in
cut it off with a boxcutter blade
re-inflated it with the little compressor
drove it home

obviously the rear can be done as well, it's just more work jacking up the car and getting the wheel off..

But that's not a complicated thing either : you have to do the same thing if you want to put on a spare tire.. Same skill set.

Not unless you count a another nail and another plug. I must have had 4 or 5 plugs in one tire on my accord. I toss that thing around more than you 997, run on rough gravel roads, sometimes take the green lane, never a problem. When I saw it splitting on the outer edge of the tread, or where tread used to be, I bought new to me used tires.

I lost 20 minutes Saturday morning getting those used shoes. It's a beater. And I beat the hell out of it, more so than anyone else here does with any car they have. I can promise you that.

I carry a plug kit in my 911 and it is so small it just stays in the trunk. I have never needed it, but I also carry a can of fix a flat that is old enough I may toss it and get a new can. In the 911 as all you likely know it is a royal pain to get a flat in the rear. Jack up the car, remove both front and rear tire, put the front in the rear position, put the collapsible spare tire on the front, and find some place to put the dirty flat rear tire. On a road trip with my wife the car is packed full and I honestly have no idea how I could do that.

I have been lucky in my 25 years, and 41 states of roads trips and I have not had one flat.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1605538003.jpg

This all came out of my 911 and I left the tool bag and car washing bag in the car.

I put the plug in a performance tire in the rear without jacking the car up. Your clothes get dirty though. You have to roll it ahead to where you can get to the leak and with it on the car you can push hard and it doesn't go anywhere.