My lad has just had a nail go through his back tyre, and he is talking of getting it repaired on Tuesday.
Personally I have never had a type repaired - I have always taken the opinion, rightly or wrongly, that a repaired tyre will never be as safe as it was before the burst, and my life is worth more than the 50 quid it would cost to put a new one on.
Am I Right, or should I stop worrying and get a life!
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Depends where the puncture is, but the tyre dealer should only repair one which is safe to be repaired anyway (in fact, you could theorise that they'd err very much on the side of caution since a. they don't want any liability, and b. they'd rather sell you a £50 tyre than an £8 repair.)
Anyway, got sidetracked there... they should be perfectly safe, the hole is plugged from within, imagine a plug of a similar overall shape to a baby's dummy, so the air pressure in the tyre pushes it further into place and seals it tighter.
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I've always had tyres repaired unless the fitter has advised that the damage was too great.
However, I read an article not so long back by a Bridgestone tecnichal chap who gave some good reasons for not doing so. He said that slow punctures were the most dangerous for the tyre, as it may have been running for some time at considerably reduced pressure before it was noticed. The heat build up caused by running soft can damage the adhesives used in the laminating process and cause the tyre to fail at a later date. Similarly with residue such as tar, fuel, grit, etc which can embed in the perforation and react with the adhesives.
Now I know Bridgestone are in the business of selling tyres and would like us to replace all four every week, but what he said does seem to make sense and when you consider that all your one hundred and whatever mph pride and joy is sitting on are those four bits of rubber, maybe we should play safe.
BTW, what he had to say about tyre sealants would fill a book, and none of it was complimentary.
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most dramatic tyre failures, and failures of any kind occur when somethign is very new or very old.
Tyres get worn out before they age, so its probable that a well repaired tyre is more reliable than a new one.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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puncture repairs are ok if properly done but only in the tread area,tom ,sorry but your posting is rather self contradicting .regarding slow punctures and heat build up as use of a proper tyre sealant PREVENTS slow punctures by sealing the hole immediatly any intrusion is made(up to about 6mm in most cases)above this it can delay total deflation maybe giving you time to get to the hard shoulder for example,obviously it wont help with a 2 inch gash in a tyre.If you look closely at car rallying you can see sealant stickers on some rally cars and their tyres work harder than most.properly used tyre sealant has to be a help to road safety.
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I would say that if the tyre is repaired with the newly approved plug & spike method, and not too near the edge of the tread, it should be perfectly safe. A better topic would be how much does it cost ?
My wife does about 5000 mls a year and has had 2 punctures in the last year, as opposed to my 20000 miles a year and no punctures for years.
The first one cost me £8 at a small local tyre place.
The second one cost me £17 at a larger tyre place in Reading, which just goes to show what can happen if you neglect the golden rule of asking the price first ?
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Looks like I'm worrying about nothing then. Well that's good news.
.*********
:-)
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I'll still be nagging the tight lazy sod to get a job though!
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Roly ,it costs me £5.80 per litre to buy sealant and 4 litres is plenty for 5 x16 inch tyres = not much for peace of mind
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puncture repairs are ok if properly done but only in the tread area,tom ,sorry but your posting is rather self contradicting .regarding slow punctures and heat build up as use of a proper tyre sealant PREVENTS slow punctures by sealing the hole immediatly any intrusion is made(up to about 6mm in most cases)above this it can delay total deflation maybe giving you time to get to the hard shoulder for example,obviously it wont help with a 2 inch gash in a tyre.If you look closely at car rallying you can see sealant stickers on some rally cars and their tyres work harder than most.properly used tyre sealant has to be a help to road safety.
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The comments about tyre sealant were not related to heat build up, but due to the chemicals in the sealant reacting with whatever is used in the laminating process of the tyre. I was not expressing an opinion of my own, merely repeating what Bridgestone say. Whether you take Bridgestones advice seriously or with a pinch of salt is a different matter.
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I'm afraid I would rather change a wheel than drive on a tyre filled with gunk that is sealing a split that could be growing and growing until it fails spectacularly with me hammering down the motorway.
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I'd ratehr fill a tyre with gunk than have to change one on the motorway.
I'd then get it changed at teh earliest opportunity and I'd not be hammering it until it had new tyres fitted.
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I read often, only post occasionally
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I'd ratehr fill a tyre with gunk than have to change one on the motorway. I'd then get it changed at teh earliest opportunity and I'd not be hammering it until it had new tyres fitted. -- I read often, only post occasionally
The problem being that with the gunk in you don't know if you have a puncture. A nail could be damaging the carcass of the tyre without you knowing.
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If damage can be reapired, then it can be a tempting option, especially if it is one that has been bought recently ;)
I have to admit, I am sceptical when it comes to repairing such things, and would visit more than one place to see what they say. If the concensus is that it can be repaired, then I would use it as a spare for my car.
On occasion when I have found a nail in the tyre, and it has been repairable, I have done so...but never if it is SWMBOs car in which she and the kids travel. Spare or not, repaired or not...it's always been (and will be) a new tyre. Safety of my family is paramount and I never skimp on tyres.
Thats just IMHO.
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Im not plain stupid, just a special kind of stoopid.
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I take the attitude that I will buy hundreds of tyres throughout my life. I am not prepared to risk a blowout - having once suffered one - simply to get a few more miles out of one of them.
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putting sealer in would not be a reason to stop checking tyres on a regular basis for damage,small nails etc can be removed but any signs of bulge,damage or cuts etc means change it.I certainly never skimp on tyres and always change both tyres on an axle at the same time in fact with the 4x4 I change them all,what do you do when you get a puncture on a not quite half worn tyre to keep braking in balance?
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Personally I don't have a problem using tyres that have been puncture repaired. As long as the tyre was not damaged in an area it shouldn't be, ie the sidewall, and the tyre was not run flat, and the tyre is repaired properly then I don't see a problem in having tyres repaired. Now remoulds on the other hand, I consider them quite dangerous.
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Tyre repairs, which are carried out under very poorly controlled conditions are inherently variable in quality.
Tyre repairs which are carried out as part of an industrial process with appropriate safety and quality checks are more consistent.
I would therefore argue that remoulds are *statistically* of higher quality than a typical repair made by a spotty YOP in the back of dimly lit tyre depot.
The tyre tread caps that you see littering the sides of roads and motorways aren't just faulty remoulds. They are tread disbonds caused by excessive heat, which is usually caused by running the tyre with insufficient pressure. The resulting sidewall flexing, and the hysteretic properties of rubber generate the heat.
People get into fits of indignation when talking about second hand tyres. When you buy a second hand car, you also, by default, buy second hand tyres. The only difference is that when you buy second hand tyres, you can inspect the inner walls of the tyre.
number_cruncher
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I had a nail in a rear tyre of my Mondeo last summer a few 000 short of a new set of tyres and just before a family trip to Cornwall, had it repaired and then bought four new tyres a couple of months later. I felt rather uncomfortable with it though when the car was heavily laden with wife, kids, camping gear etc. A new tyre would have given peace of mind.
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Yet another thread that I read with disbelief!
I've had dozens of tyres repaired some of the on high peformance stuff and never given it a thought. I've also plug repaired racing tyres in the past, with the old rubber rod & solvent, not the more modern nail shaped repair. Never once has any given trouble so amazed at level of paranoia about doing it. As regards remoulds, large amount of track day & race & rally cars run on remoulds. People such as Colway have done very well manufacturing them. Also the vast amount of commecials run on either remoulds or recaps.
Jim
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