i started noticing my rear tire was low, i was having to fill it every week. i pulled a big nail out of it today and put a plug in it. just wondering if i should take it to my tire guy and let him patch it from the inside. some people say plugs are permenent and will never come out while others say dont trust em.

any thoughts.

 

In a perfect world, the ideal way to repair a punctured tire is to use both plug and patch. The plug seals the hole so moisture / water does not get to the steel belts and cause it to rust. The patch seals the air leak to the inner liner. Getting just a patch could lead to big problems as water can get to the belts and rust them out. Only using a plug does not guarantee an air tight seal.

That being said, I've run a tire with 2 plugs in it before and no problems, I've also run a plug and still had a very slow leak and the patch took care of that. I've never had a plug come out. Doing a plug is cheap and easy, DIY stuff, but the patch is another story. I was just to lazy to take in to to put patches on in the past. If you do any kind of high speed or sprited driving I would recommend both.

 

I've ran plugs on prev. cars before w/ no probs, but if you do alot of high speed driving, I would opt for a new tire (high speed blowouts/flats are BAD!!!) If it's on a rear wheel, I'd stick with the plug and burn the hades out of em every chance you get till you HAVE to get new tires. j/k Plug should be fine just wouldn't book it a buck 60 on the interstate.

What part of Bama you from???

 

I have (plugs only) in 2 of my stock tires, one of which I put in and another done by a tire shop.

I hit 150mph in a speed run last weekend and I have not lost any air or plugs before or after that run.

The last plug was put in about 3 months ago.

No I don't recommend doing high speed runs with tire plugs, even though I did.

 

I actually pulled 2 nails out of one of my rear tires. Plugs worked just fine, have also used plugs in the past and done 140+ with no issues. I always seem to remember I have plugs after I do $hit like that. Not recomended by any means, but I havent had issues and I do trust them.

 

We've used plugs for years on police cars. Zero probs.

 

not recommended for high speeds. but ive had them and was ok....

 

Luckily high performance tires wear out fast so oxygen ozone migration inside the plies has a limited time to do it's nasty work............tires begin to fail exponentially after 20,000 miles or 2 years without a plug or patch.

 

i plugged it last night, it was a PITA but i think its ok. i plan on taking it today to have the inside patched, shouldnt cost more than 30 bucks. the tires have around 10000 miles on them, so they still have another 10000.

RevLimit, I live in the ham. actually trussvegas.

 

The best thing to do is patch the tire from the inside...

 

I've had the plug/patch and worked just fine. Even under race conditions.

 

Question, I just had a plug put into my front passenger tire. I went to a tire shop and they said they wouldn't patch it because it was too close to the shoulder. However, the screw was close to the shoulder (i.e. near the sidewall) but the hole was on the flat part of the tire. They still said they wouldn't patch it, so I took it to a gas station and had it plugged.

Seems to be holding up, but my question is, how likely are blowouts and does it matter what part of the tire the plug was put into for it to be more effective or not???

 

Generally when I repaired tires I would refuse to fix any puncture past the beginning of the outer tread blocks, it really depends on the shape of the tire.
Also the proper way to fix a tire is with a plug/patch combination (looks kind of like a mushroom) Repairing a tire does mean that the speed rating is decreased so if you have a V rated tire consider it a H rated tire.