Flat Tire Repair

[3Series]

Quick Facts:
Non-RFT
I have no spare and no 17mm wrench to remove the wheel.

Does anyone have any tips on how to plug a tire? I wasn't able to get the plug into the hole. Thinking about it now, I don't think I made the hole large enough when coring the hole near the steel/belt part that is on the inside.

For those that have done this, do you really make the hole much larger?

FYI, there was a nail, pressure went from 34 to 28, when I pulled the nail, it was a slow leak, when I started to core it, all the air came out.....

[hambone1983]

I say get a 17mm wrench for cheap to get the wheel out. Get a jack.
Pop the wheel out and take it to a local tire shop - 5 bux repair.
Now you will have a jack and wrench for future

[3Series]

I had an electric impact wrench, but it was stolen from my garage several months ago....errr.

I just popped into the Sears across the street. Now I want to spend $300 on a cordless impact wrench and drill combo with Lith battery and impact socket set. Also, I hope the jack I'm currently using goes high enough to get the wheel off or I'll need to make a trip to Home Depot to get some wood.

Or I might take another try tonight to see if I can at least get a plug partially in, over fill the tire and make a 1mi run down an urban/bumpy road to a tire change place before all the air deflates.

Maybe I should have bought the run flats.....

[3Series]

I was able to plug the tire myself. Now that I'm familiar with plugging tires, it's not too bad. I'm not sure if this something I would want to be doing on the side of the road, especially if its on a rear tire and the tire is still on the car.

[Price]

Have it fixed professionally (= patch on inside) anyway. Plugs more often than not don't hold for long, and any subsequent plug will fail even sooner.

[motordavid]

Good job on the plug; I carry a quality plug and bore tool set in the VetteVert, as I run non-RFTs, and a Black & Decker cig lighter connector compressor. I practiced on a couple old tires, at home in the driveway, and got ok at it, though I agree I would not want to effect the temporary fix, on the road, unless I had to. I have helped do m'cycle tires, on trips, but it wasn't 'my tire', and thus I wasn't sweating bullets, ;>)

Agree with Price: go get it done properly, at any tire joint, and a good internal patch/plug should last as long/longer than that tire.
GL, mD

[JCL]

A plug inserted from the outside is often cut by the reinforcing belts in the tire (the ones you had to core out) and that is when the plug fails. It is a low quality repair best suited for nylon belted bias ply tires. Works fine on those.

A proper repair is done with an inside patch.

A proper repair for a runflat tire is a special inside patch that is a combination of a plug and patch. It looks like a mushroom, and the stem is pulled out through the hole in the tread when it is installed. Of course, the tire is demounted and the gluing area is roughened up and then cleaned first.

[3Series]

I had the tire repaired from the inside with a mushroom patch yesterday.
Since I'm running with no spare and no RFT's, I think I might add a small drill, pliers and gloves to my repair kit if I go on a long trip. (I already carry two cans of large tire SLIME, an air compressor and a plug kit)

[bmw_jeff_X5]

I externally plugged my nearly new bridgestone RFT last August with a kit i bought at NAPA. 7000 miles later and no problems.

[Penguin]

From Tire Rack:

Tire Tech Information - Flat Tire Repairs

While an external plug may work in the majority of cases as a long-term repair, if it does fail, it will likely be when the tire is under the most stress -- precisely the worst time for a failure.

While I use external plugs as a temporary repair until I can get it fixed properly, I think it is wise to spend the $20-30 to get it fixed correctly ASAP.

None of the tire manufacturers condone the use of external plugs for anything but temporary repairs.