Plug,Patch or New Tire
 

Ok here's a thread that I'm willing to "debate" and if someone would like to make this a poll...

I bought new tires about a month ago and with the weather being iffy lately,I'd gotten about 1000 miles on the before I picked up a screw. I quick ducked into a Autozone and bought a plug kit. Plugged it,aired it up and rode away. Now,I've used plugs many times and have seen them used without incident but I've always been told by service depts and other riders that they are dangerous.

I have always wondered why do people think that? I have never seen or heard of a plug failing in any type of tire. Even if it did,what's the worst that can happen? The tire goes flat again,right?

Now having said that,I went today and had a patch put on the inside of the tire to stop me from thinking about it. The guy roughed it up,used a fucking 3"x4" patch and THEN put two layers of rubber sealer on top of it. I'd trust that patch on a semi tire!!!

Even with all that,some of the guys here were saying they wouldn't ride on it! So here's the question,of these three options, which would you pick and why?

you've got a few inches of contact with the ground, at speeds up to 150 mph.

Risk a blow out and total your bike cause of a weak spot? ever hear the phrase "a chain is only as strong as its weakest link"?

Ok,you're a smart fella. Please explain what's causing this blowout? What are the forces at work here? How does an otherwise perfect tire "explode" because of an 1/16 hole with a patch on it? Why is it ok on a vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds but not for one that weight 650lbs with rider? How is the tire "weaker"? Believe it or not,I'm really interested in why people think that a tire will blow up if you patch it. I've heard this pov before.

Btw sometimes the repair is stronger than the original part. A weld is stronger than the steel it holds together.

done it, would do it again if i had to

when u pick up a nail, a tire doesnt explode, that said i would only plug a rear, never a front

I would guess service depts don't do it for insurance reasons. They just don't want the liability that could be possible in the event of a failure.

Personally I wouldn't ride on one, but I wouldn't stop anyone from getting either one if that's what they wanted to do.

you have rode on one, mine from last year

:lol: You could of killed me you bastard.

DUDE! I actually LAUGHED OUT LOUD!!!

alls im saying that in the rare event that there is extraordinary stress on a tire for whatever reason the first area to fail is going to be that which has a deformity.

I'm not saying the tire will blow out, per say, but it has a greater risk of failing in any way than that of an unscathed tire.


Just playing devils advocate here.

I was more concerned with the fork dumping oil from leaky seals at the time to ask about the condition of his tires. :lol:

EXACTLY my point! A tire is not a balloon! If it didn't "pop" when you got the nail,why would it pop because you patched it?

For some reason I don't totally understand I agree about patching a front. On a side note,has anyone seen a front tire go flat? 25 years,honestly never had one...

I wouldn't risk it... I got VERY lucky on a trip last year before my deployment. granted that was with slime not a patch or plug... but needless to say i won't be choosing a $2 fix to do anything but get me home.

I have only had one tire flat on my bike. It was a rear and it was worn out anyway, so I just replaced it.

whoever cleaned your wheel hates you, that slime stuff pisses whoever replaces the tire off big time.

shit if i got a flat on a new tire i'd just wreck my bike into a brick wall and collect the insurance on it.

mine went at at around 90mph... got REALLY wobbly then went into a tank slapper... I was able to ride it out and pull off... to find my rear tire was flat... took me about an hour to get my hands to stop shaking... which was fine considering i had a 3-4hr wait for the tow truck

actually they said it came off the wheel pretty easy... :idk: cause Gasman said that... so I asked...

anyways serves them right... they're the ones who sold me the slime say'n I'd be good to go... fuckers... in the end... it was my choice to ride on a less than 100% tire... so the blame is on me...


I won't be doing it again... that's for sure

No offense,but I can feel a 5-10lb difference in my tire pressure.

so can I... the tire pressure was fine... I had a nail in it.. and they put slime in and said I'd be fine... so I was riding... got a bit absent minded forgot about the nail and got a bit heavy with the throttle... the nail came out along with all the air and half the slime... it wasn't a slow leak... it was basicly a blowout

i wouldnt plug, only patch. A few things that do come to mind about tires is that they do expand at speed and what holds them together are the belts and cords built into the tires. Sometimes punctures hit and cut cords or belts and cause a bulge in the sidewall where the rubber is no longer supported. If there are any bulges or deformities after ther repair i wouldnt trust it at all.

when at the gap last year, everyone suggested i let just a few pounds of air out of my tires, cause i'd get better grip... felt like i was riding on jelly donuts.

5-10 lb dif should be a HUGE dif.

Not to contradict myself but I wouldn't trust slime either. I remember when it came out and a guy was selling it at the Cycle World show in Daytona. Plus I hear it can cause balancing issues and even slime doesn't recommend it for street bikes. I didn't consider Fix-A-Flat type repairs but can add those to the list if you want.

OMFG!!! You didn't take the nail out? Jesus,who the fuck told you that would be ok? :panic:

the motorcycle shop that I stopped at to see if they could swap in a new set of tires... they said they didn't have any and that they couldn't get to it to plug or patch it for a couple hours... but if I got some of the SLIME from the parts section... I could just put that in the tire and I'd be good to go... I asked him how well that stuff works and he said he's ridden all summer on a tire with it in cause he got a nail with in 10 miles of getting tires put on. so I truested his juedgement...

never again... I'll error on the side of caution... had I gone off where my tire went flat... I had a 90' drop and no guard rail... even if I didn't die... they wouldn't have ever found me.

then you would have died, smart guy.

the plugs that have a patch are the only kind i would use, they look like lil inverted mushrooms

i've never had a problem w/ debris in my rubber, but if it happened i'd just leave my bike on the side of the road and give up riding all together.

ok smart ass I meant if I didn't die from the fall...

yea, then you would have died because nobody ever found your ass.

You don't want to plug a bike tire. Bad idea.

Ok I checked just about EVERY motorcycle tire website and they all aprove the interior patching of their tires. Most want you to use a plug patch but all agree that the repair must be performed from the inside. They have different provisos,ie; tread depth,location of puncture,size of puncture,etc. In my mind that says it's ok to patch a tire cause you know they all have teams of lawyers who wouldn't allow them to ok repairs of any kind if it wasn't 110% ok. Ofcourse a couple of them grouse about speed, qualified repair facility, etc.

The thing I love the most was the parts guy at the local dealership telling me that he LOVES guys like you 'cause he hasn't purchased a rear tire in YEARS. He just gets the tires you guys bring in with a flat and runs them down to the tire shop down the street (where I went)and has them repaired($5 off the rim). He told me that he's literally gotten tires with less than 200 miles on them.

hell, if i'd spend a thousand on a bike just for cosmetic upgrades and shit, whats a couple hundred just for tires.

I've always wondered about this too...I definitely see both sides of it but have never plugged a motorcycle tire "just in case".

Having said this...the R6 that my wife rides got a nail in it with only 800 miles on it.:panic: Since it was her bike I didn't want to take any chances so we bought a new tire.

Soooo....

For Sale...one... 180 x 55 x 17 Dunlop Qualifier 800 miles...no wheelies...no burnouts...fat chicken strips (new rider) with one small pin hole.

All resonable offers considered. :dthumb:

I piss them off because no matter how old my tire is, I always demand it back. I don't let the stealerships keep anything. I don't use stealerships anymore anyway though. Either do the work myself or have a buddy who was a mechanic at a stealership do it for me if it is over my head.

New tire... All of the plugs I've seen before protrude through the tire leave a small bump on the surface of the tire. It's unsafe. I guarantee the plug is not the same compound of the tire and will wear differently. A small patch on the inside of the tire might be ok though.

I need to find a place to patch my tire... Fucking nail right in the middle of the tread.

Seriously,I'll pay shipping if you want to send it to me. Pm me and I'll give you my address and you can send it COD for the cost of shipping.

About 350 miles on my rear tire I got a screw. Sprayed some soapy water on it and saw tiny bubbles. Called the dealer, they said the would be able to patch it depending on where its at but they don’t recommend a patch on street bike tires.

Most of threads I’ve read say it should be ok if done correctly. But the question that made me buy a new tire is “would you trust your life to a patch?”

I may do that if I don't use it for "garage wall art" or decide to use it for a "burnout tire". :lol:

I admit I probably won't use it because it's too small for my R1 and with the wife being a new rider I'm not taking a chance of putting it on her bike.

I'll kick the idea around though. :beers:

your r1 has what sized rim? if your used to running a 190/50 you should try the 180/55, big difference on the turn in compared to the 190

I would plug if the damage wasn't close to the sidewall. I don't see any problem with a plug / patch combo.

I would NEVER use slime, or any other "Fix a flat" in any type of vehicle that I gave a fuck about.

Plug, patch or replace?

I don't know about plugging a flat tire, but I usually prefer patching and the patches work great, assuming that the hole is at an area where it can be patched.

When I hit the road, I usually carry a couple cans of fix-it-flat that Motul makes for motorcycles. I've used them a couple of times to get me to where I was going and then have the shop patch the tires up from the inside.

See this is what I love and hate about you guys. Facts don't matter at all. I could post the repair info from all six of the tire sites I looked at last night and you still would argue! Oh and I don't think you've ever used a plug because that "bump" goes away in a few miles. Plus,using a "compound difference" as a reason is laffable as we're talking about an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of surface area here,usually in the center area of the tire. I don't think traction is going to be an issue...

Anyway,I honestly respect everyone's right to make this decision for themselves and I'm not trying to force anyone into patching their tires. Just giving the facts,pure and simple. As a side note, if all you guys who won't patch newer tires would send them to me I'll pay shipping. Pm me,I'm serious.

I've never used them but I've seen them bigger than 1/4 inch. And it was sticking out nearly 3/8" past the tire. I call it like I see it. You can do whatever you want and I'm not making an argument, Im just stating what I have seen. You asked for opinions and thats what you got, if you don't like stop asking questions. Honestly I thinks it's good for the forum to have different opinions. So if you want to use a plug go ahead, I wont belittle you or make fun of you in anyway, thats your own deal..

I was talking about the plugs. NO WAY is that shit safe.

I guarantee if you find a plugged tire that had a blowout or failure of any sort after it was plugged, it will have occurred right on that fucking plug. That doesn't say something to you?

Also, maybe a plug/patch in the center of the tire on someone's bike who does a lot of commuting and no hard riding is not a big deal.... but for ME, riding on the track and fairly aggressively in the twisties, no fucking way am I trusting that shit, especially if it's anywhere away from the center of the tire. If I'm going to be ripping at the edges of my tire with a tiny ass contact patch and the only thing I have to trust is the tire and it's compound, I'm not going to ghetto-fix things.

the one flat i did have was on the front, and i just changed the inner tube.

in general tho, id do the inside patch, get it home, find a great deal on tires on the interweb once i got home, and when they showed up i would get the video camera and do rolling burnouts in bleach til i popped it, and then go put my new tire on.

pertaining just to me, if i had a nail or something in my tire, id be pissed off that there was a fucking nail on the track.

ive done all three in my car before. the shops ive been to grind down the nub thats sticks up til its flush with the rest of the tire in my experience. never had one stick out.

"I guarantee if you find a plugged tire that had a blowout or failure of any sort after it was plugged, it will have occurred right on that fucking plug."

nope-not true. yes from experiance, not heresay

Yes I'm used to the 190/50. I believe the wheel width is 6". I don't doubt you're right about the turn in but I'll probably stick with the 190 since that's what came on it and I like the look even if it's only slightly wider.

The small hole in the 180/55 tire is definitely near the middle being that she is a newb and was/is just in the learning process...not much leaning was being done at all at the time of the nail pickup.

send it to me!