Tyre Repairs - Rubber compounds

[Dave Bradley]

Does anybody know whether the use of rubber componds to fill a hole left by a screw or nail in the main tread of a tyre is safe? I have recently found a screw in my tyre approx 1 inch from the edge which has not passed right through the tyre. I have spoken to a couple of garages (national chains) who will not repair it but suggested that a smaller garage may be able to fill the hole with a rubber compound. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[sddsddean]

I use a tyre puncture kit on my truck tyres. As I have a tipper and I am regulerly on building sites, I quite often pick up nails and screws. I have got a kit with an awl, to clean out the hole, then you use a tool like a long screwdriver, but with a hole in the blade end (like a needle), to push a bit of treated 'string' (which you have dipped in liquid rubber compound) into the hole to seal it. It works very well and is a lot cheaper than calling out the tyre company to do a proper repair. However, it is technically illegal to use this repair method on road going vehicles (although there are about 5 of us who do this and we have no problems). That is why you won't get one of the big chains to repair it like this. Your main problem is that the screw is near the shoulder of the tyre where the 'fabric' of the tyre is exposed to most stress. This could lead to a carbunkle developing, which could lead to a blowout. This happened to me about 3 months ago. I had a rear (luckily) blowout at 50mph. When I looked at the tyre, a nail had gone in right on the sidewall edge (you could hardly see the nail) disturbed the wires etc in the tyre sidewall and weakened it leading to a blowout. You might be OK, but I would buy a new tyre to be on the safe side. 

[ianess]

Great first reply from sddsddean.  Many moons ago it was ok to plug a tyre but nowadays, especially if the sidewall is damaged no reputable garage would attempt such a repair.  Again, at one time you could have put a tube in it but even that practice has been stopped presumably because of the sidewall issue.

I once had to renew a new tyre after only having done 50 miles because of the same thing.  Pleased I was not!!!!!

If as you say the tyre is not actually punctured you may be lucky, but why tempt fate?

[Kev_UK]

In the past I've had tyres with a nail in them and a guy has pulled a rubber bung through it and trimmed it off, but the tubeless tyre did have an inner tube fitted.

[sddsddean]

Yes Kev, thats OK if the 'hole' is in the middle of the tyres tread. It is standard practice to use a mushroom bung. However, if the hole is within about an inch of the sidewall, most tyre companies will not repair them for the reasons I stated above. Its bl00dy annoying, but probably safer to spend �50 on a new tyre than risk a blowout.

[keltik]

im with ianess. a blowout is a pretty dangerous nasty thing. so do the local RAC a favour and buy a new tyre to be safe.