Rep Power: 288

ok...My soon-to-be father in law is of the old school thinking that radial tires do not accept plugs properly.

this being said, this past Saturday, he came into my shop and needed 2 tires fixed. The only thing we use in the shop unless we run out, are plug/patch combos....



this is similar to the style we use....inserted from inside of tire through penetration hole and sealed from inside by patch... this pic loks like it is a metal plug which I highly doubt it would be, but just in case, the entire one we use is made of rubber and similar compounds...

with the way todays tires are manufactured, I don't think that he will incur any problems as no one else has incurred any problems (bubbles, belt separations, blowouts caused by plug/patch). I feel as long as it is done properly there will be no complications, save for the tire is not a 'virgin' (read that on another website) anymore, hehe. that said does anyone else have any input as to if there is any grounding to his ideas about plug/patches being bad for radials or not?

thanks in advance, I only ask this cuz I've never really stopped to analyze this at all, what with having done at least 4 or 5 hundred tire repairs at least, using the plug/patches, I even did one on my mom's Rav-4. oh well opinonate away fellow 7th genners....

 
Rep Power: 288

Anyone?......Anyone?.......Anyone?........

 
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Do you really need to bump a thread thats 11 hours old? It would have made it 6 posts down the forum. Completely unnecessary

 
Rep Power: 288

I'm definitely bookmarking this link...

everything from the stickies is here in one neat little package save for wheel and tire sizes...

yeah I see your point about bumping something like this, I just like things to run quickly I dunno....

 
Rep Power: 288

I guess no one else has an opinion on this?

 
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combos are fine, we've never had ANYONE come back to have a combo re-done.

 
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They are fine, seperate plug and patch is better tho.

 
Rep Power: 288

if you inadvertantly place the patch wrong you could miss sealing the inner injury.... thus making the repair unsafe....

 
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Actually you'd have to be pretty blind to miss seeing the plug that would have been put in minutes before. By using a plug/patch combo there is always an air bubble that cannot be pressed out if the puncture went in on an angle. You can easily see the bump in the patch where the plug is twisted. When you use a seperate plug you can grind the plug right down level with the inner liner; leaving a smooth surface to apply your patch.

 
Rep Power: 288

it's safer to grind and smooth inside before doing any repair work, even if you're not using a separate plug/patch its safer to grind down inner before repair IMO, and by missing I meant to say not getting it properly centered, er go, placing patch nearly off the plug...or not waiting for cement to dry and having patch slip... when applying a separate plug always level the plug with the inner liner, you in turn negate the possibility of creating more damage by having to grind down the plug on the inside....

 
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I meant you elimate the posibility of having an air bubble with the one piece plug/patch. When you use a plug/patch combo, you CANNOT grind the plug stem level (since it's one piece). Sometimes an air bubble is inevitable.

 
Rep Power: 303

Maybe he should get the road hazrad warranty. I have those on my tires. It was free with the purchase of 4 so why not get it, but if I do encounter any type of tire damage then the tire is replaced with a new one at no cost to me. I figured more people would do this then rather pay for some crappy patch job.

 
Rep Power: 288

agreed

I do not know of any place that would w/o a doubt replace the tire w/o properly inspecting it. They will do what they can to avoid replacing a tire, unless need be (sidewall or shoulder damage or interior malfunction barring). If they do that they are losing money. if it can be repaired theywill do it, if they cannot fix it they will most often judge either mileage or in wal-mart's case tread wear to pro-rate a tire. I have certificates from Discount Tire on my tires, they will certificate any tire you bring in as long as its w/in a certain tread (correct me on that if I'm wrong, but they did it for me when i had falken 502's, yes 502 not 512). the tires that were on his truck were original with sale of vehicle, so no warranty is issued with them.

 
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He is worried about nuthin man, you did him a good job bro, I have had my same tire on my vic plugged 3 times! A patch and a plug is the best repair you can get for a flat/leaking tire! Costco fixes my leaks/flats and they use patch/plug , to me the best repair for a tire. Why is he worried???????????????

 
Rep Power: 288

I'll let you read the first two lines of the first post again