So, on the way back from a wrecking yard, ironically, something came out of my tire that caused a serious leak. Long story short, had it plugged at a AAA center long enough to get back to my buddy's garage, where I used a patch from the parts store so I could get home. It still leaked a little bit afterward; I chocked it up to it raining outside and being a rush job, maybe something didn't cure properly. Few days later I took the tire to a garage to have it "professionally" patched, it held air just fine for a couple days, until I drove it. Started leaking down slowly again. Never did find any debris or what caused it; hell, you can't even see the puncture from the outside because it's a tiny slice in a sipe of a tread lug. Very bizarre. Anyway, is there a way to salvage this tire? It's a 2 month old Coker American Classic...kinda pissed that this could be a $250 waste. I'm probably never gonna be able to fully trust this thing, so I'll end up having to replace it for comfort sake eventually, but can I use something to improve the patch somehow in the meantime? Perhaps air it fully out, and slather more rubber cement and an even bigger patch? Don't wanna hackjob this up, but damnit, I had other plans for that money in the meantime...
Did you use a pull patch or a flat patch?Also we have had problems with the non flamable glue,we went back to the good old style glue.
If it's the side of the tire it's highly unlikely your not going to have a patch last. Hindsight now,but did you purchase road hazard insurance with Coker or do you possibly have it with your insurance company? HRP
Long ago when I was a starving peon with 2 kids and a mortgage, I ran over something that put a 3-inch rip(edit--IN THE SIDEWALL! CERTAIN DEATH!!!) in a brand new radial tire (which had just maxed out my credit card and life savings for the next 3 lifetimes.) I had no way remaining to buy anything, so I was in Kamikaze repair mode by necessity. The tire was not reasonably repairable and of course no garage could risk repairing anything like that. I was able to squeeze out the price of a radial tube and 3 or 4 "witches hat" patches...tearing a steel belted tire off of its wheel by hand was great fun, too! I think it took 3 of said patches and a bucket of goo to spackle over the rip, leaving a nasty bulge where most of the poor tire's structure was missing, and I got it back together around its tube (which was, of course, clearly labeled as NOT for use in a tubeless tire like this.) When I discarded that tire some years later it had close to 40,000 on it and it was still full of the air I had put in with a hand pump during my repair. No, I do not suggest trying this...but...hey, we're not hotrodders because we're sane!
I like the plug patches that have a 1-1/2' patch inside the tire bonded with cement. I have found that you have to drive the car for a while after patching it to "set" the patch so that it doesn't leak.
A patch/plug is the way to go. You ream out the hole, scuff the inside rubber, slather on the rubber glue, and pull the plug end from the inside out seating the patch against the tire. When I was doing 10+ of these a day I would slather more rubber sealer on top of the patch and light it on fire to vulcanize it to the tire. Never had one leak.
Is that a steel belted tire? If so, it could have a tiny broken wire pushing up through the patch while driving.
The "pull patch" will work the best in your case, unless, like mentioned above, it is in the sidewall area or at the edge of the tread. Tire repair stories, WOW, I have a million of them.......Every hear of Shoe Goo? Used it once to replace a section of tread block that was torn from my modified tire, just to pass inspection. Got a tire shot out just north of KCMO on I-29. Fixed a cracked tire stem with a hose clamp, forgot about it for 3 months......Bought my 1992 o/t truck in 99, had the original spare, had to use it in 2009, it lasted 1 mile before the entire tread peeled off, still held air as I limped it into a tire store....I was working in a tire store when the helper came running from the tire machine, yelling RUN!. He had stuck a air hose on a valve stem with out a chuck....needless to say the tire blew up.....knocking over three stacks of new tires.
On a restoration where the old tires had a lot of pin hole tire leaks and tubes were not to be had, I used some of that spray rubber coating that is advertised on TV now. The tires structure was not comprimized, its just that old race tires just plain leak and this stuff is just a cold vulcanize that I sprayed the inside of the tire with.
Peggy got a drywall nail in the very outer edge of a brand new tire. Not one tire store would patch it. They said it was against the law as it was too close to the side wall(radial tire). I had to purchase a new tire as no one in Az serviced a Les Schwab tire that was made only for Schwab. They said buy a new tire & they would ship it to me for the shipping. After several very heated phone calls they shipped one @ N C but I still had to pay for shipping & mounting & balancing. No more Schwab tires for me. Shoe Goo is great stuff I punctured a large tractor tire on a snag & put shoe goo in the hole(center of the tread). The tire was still holding air & working years later when I sold the tractor
Thanks y'all for the excellent advice and experience. It wasn't on the sidewall, but straight through a tread lug on the very outer row of lugs. Now the sidewall itself took abuse from being flat, which is why I'll never be able to trust it... It's very possible a wire could be poking the patch. I'll have to try a combination of the witches hat patches and fire. If it doesn't work, well...it'll be interesting to watch. Tomorrow morning after work I'll try and pull the tire off and re-do the patch myself and see how it goes if I have the time.
Hey, D-Day; Coupla of eons ago, working @ Sears, in the tire shop, I got to fix a lot of tires. Turned out that I must've done a decent job, as none of them ever came back due to the patch letting go & I would've heard about it, as they were real anal about making sure we were told about our mistakes. Anyways, after the hole was located - & we *never* fixed anything in a sidewall, nor the edge 'twixt the sidewall & tread - we set the tire in a machine that pulled the wheel-mount surfaces apart about a foot. I wiped out the inside of the tire where I was going to work. Then I used a small 4" wire wheel in a air grinder, ground the surface down into good rubber - maybe going 1/32" or so - & wiped the tire inside out again, so's it was clean & dry. Then I applied the glue (sorta like rubber cement), waited for the glue to dry to the touch, & applied the patch, which was somewhat thin rubber (1/8"?) that was pre-glued. Then we used a thin roller on a handle & some muscle/pressure, to really get the patch to set into the glue. Roller was about 1/8" thick, 1 1/2" dia. Always seemed to hold & work well. If a tube was to go back in, the ground area & patch would get dusted w/talcum powder - or some such. I never argued when folks wanted the tire patched & then a tube installed, other than to use radial tubes. The rubber glue & patches were very similar to the "Monkey Grip" type that come in a tube. Or used to, haven't looked for them for quite awhile. The GOOP stuff sounds interesting. The vulcanizing patched were done the same way, but set on fire, & then the tin overlay of the patch was pulled off. Haven't seen those for a real long time, & IIRC, they were discontinued prior to me working at Sears (~'73). I never was able to get the glue/string type stuff to work on my personal tires. Have never seen the "witchs' hat type", looks interesting. You will have to check for steel wire(s) coming thru, probably have to find them by touch, rather than sight. I have used almost new radials that were damaged, by using radial tubes. As long as the tire insides are clean, not separated, nor cut, this should work. Nobody will give you advice, or tell you to do this, including me, but I will tell you what worked for me. Although, I matched my driving style to the known issues, & stupidity was kept to a minimum. . FWIW, & HTH. Marcus...
I repaired a few while working at my Dad's service station many years ago, sounds like the same way we repaired them. No comebacks!
We get those up to 4'X4inch for our 'semi' type tires,I would pull the new(older)patch & check & see if a steel wire has poked up & pin holed the patch,since you have it off buff it down & repatch-Just saying
I worked for Goodyear 11 years. The best repair are the plug patch(witches hat as some describe it). Good old rubber cement works great. If the hole is in the tread face area repairing can be done. The patch should last the life of the tire. Sidewall damaged is never repairable.
What he said; I put in 35 with Mother Goodyear and repaired farm, industrial, auto, truck and earthmover. The pull through patch does two things: it seals and reinforces the liner to prevent air loss and seals the penetration to prevent moisture and other contaminants being forced into the injury as they are trapped under the tire as it rotates. A tire with a 1000 lb load, running in water, will inject the water into the tire at the same pressure. Anything less is unacceptable. The liner HAS TO BE CLEAN! The hole HAS TO BE CLEAN. Buff the liner and ream the hole, clean both with rubber solvent and let dry thoroughly. The oil and contaminants on the liner HAVE to be removed. The cement must be relatively fresh, the can left open lets the cement gel. The cement must be dry before the patch is installed. Once pulled through, the liner patch must be "stitched" down to seal the patch and remove any air trapped. The cement used must be compatible with the patch. Bias ply, tube type tires are more forgiving than radial tubeless to inadequate repairs. Any repair should be installed so correctly that the tire is expected to run the rest of its tread life.
If the hole is on the sidewall, forget the patch....it'll eventually fail due to the way the sidewalls deflect under load. Put a tube in it after making sure there is no wire strand to puncture the tube, and drive with the confidence that it'll hold air....until you can replace the tire with a better one.
The Jalopy Journal
