Can Tire Puncture Be Fixed?
Can Tire Puncture Be Fixed? Hi.
Can someone tell me if a tire puncture by a nail can be fixed or is it utterly compromised? The tire in question is a 275/40-17 Falken with about 40% tread, and I don't know how long the nail stem is, but it obviously penetrated deep enough for air to leak out. Also, the puncture spot is about 3 inches from the side edge.
Thanks.
Can someone tell me if a tire puncture by a nail can be fixed or is it utterly compromised? The tire in question is a 275/40-17 Falken with about 40% tread, and I don't know how long the nail stem is, but it obviously penetrated deep enough for air to leak out. Also, the puncture spot is about 3 inches from the side edge.
Thanks.
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I would have to agree and disagree at the same time. I would say it depends on the type/severity of the "hole" left in the tire (ie. nail puncture vs. cut/tear). You can simply plug, cold patch or hot patch a puncture/cut or a combination of them. Most plugs these days are what I believe they call "self-vulcanizing" meaning they are inserted in the puncture and heat up as the tires hit the pavement and the plug melts INTO the puncture, sealing it up in the same manner that a hot patch would. Basically, it all comes down to the amount of time you want to spend on it yourself or pay a shop to do. It's much more time consuming to completely dismount a tire to apply a cold or hot patch versus 5 lugs and a plug. As far as paying someone to do it, I think you are looking at $15 for a patch and, I dunno, $5 for a plug...
As an aside, I plugged a nail puncture in my pass. rear Falken last August... I have yet to lose tire pressure from it.
as long as its done right, and using a decent part, a plug can last the life of the tire. i have plugged and know plenty of people who daily drive on plugged tires, getting 50K miles on them. i even know people who have autoxed on plugged tires.
Ugh... must be karma... I got not only a puncture tonight from a nail but also an inch piece of metal in the side wall that ripped a chunk out and was stuck inside there just glaring at me... 
Some places don't do plugs anymore because they say it's unsafe and unreliable, which is a load of bull. I worked at a shop that did tires for a while and I had more issues with patches leaking than plugs, not that there were many.
I also put a plug in a tire on my dad's tow rig for his boat one weekend and the plug lasted the life of the tire (another 20,000+ miles).
Bottom line, I haven't seen anything that tells me that there is anything wrong with a plug. In fact, the patches that I preferred to use actually were a patch that had a plug built into the middle so it was kinda like doing both at the same time.
I also put a plug in a tire on my dad's tow rig for his boat one weekend and the plug lasted the life of the tire (another 20,000+ miles).
Bottom line, I haven't seen anything that tells me that there is anything wrong with a plug. In fact, the patches that I preferred to use actually were a patch that had a plug built into the middle so it was kinda like doing both at the same time.
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From: Amarillo, Tx
