Afraid to plug a tire?

[MBrane]

On the first day of a recent ride the ride leader picked up long nail in his fresh PR2 rear at about the 3/4 point of the tread i.e. closer to the edge than center. He plugged it with a rope plug, and continued the ride. He was 2-up on a fully loaded MTS1200S, and doesn't ride slow. We had to stop for air periodically as it was still leaking a bit, but it held up for nearly 2 more days of serious road-burning. On the third day on the way home it started leaking too much to continue so he plugged it again with 2 ropes only to find the air chuck had been stolen from the hose where we stopped. After an hour of waiting for a tow the driver suggested they try to air it up, and it held. Got him home the last 100 miles or so.

[FrankoQ]

Here is my fix.

The little metal piece was slowing letting the air out. In 4 days, I had a flat.

Removed the metal piece.

The sticky worm is in:

Cut the extra pieces:

the metal piece:

I hope it holds.

[spud786]

Busy little shop, your mushroom patch came loose? Im not using that type,but a Lead wire combo patch, which enables traveling at angles.

I use special rubber cleaner , special Blue Flamable Glue(woom!) and these combo patches are also coated with self vulcanizing rubber in the Hole area and the stem. I buff the area with a drill and copper wire brush during the cleaning process. Afterwards, I coat the entire repair with (LINER) repair agent.

IMO these steps are necessary for strong Vulcanization, and 100% reliable repair

[Dae]

It's probably better to replace a tire after getting a puncture but in my case I have 3 separate incidents of objects embedded (2 nails & sharp piece of metal) just within the last three weeks. I will replace the tire because the last puncture is too big to hold air after using worm type of plug. Never had a puncture in a motorcycle tire in nearly 30 years, until October where is seems like my rear road3 acted like a magnet for any metal objects. If I changed the tire after each puncture I would be out over $1,000 just in the month of October. I will be plugging my tire in the future because knowing my luck, I will probably pick up another nail within a mile after installing a new tire.

[BusyLittleShop]

Busy little shop, your mushroom patch came loose? Im not using that type,but a Lead wire combo patch, which enables traveling at angles.

Affirmative... my mushroom patch came unglued... I don't recommend them anymore...

[KevCarver]

So far:

Highway trip home- 968 miles

Since then, commuter duty- 915 miles, including a long day of Cherohala, TN68, GA60, and various other twisties totaling 435 miles today alone.

I kicked it the other day and it felt/sounded funny, so I measured the pressure. 42psi, I guess my shoe was flat!

[spud786]

So far:

Highway trip home- 968 miles

Since then, commuter duty- 915 miles, including a long day of Cherohala, TN68, GA60, and various other twisties totaling 435 miles today alone.

I kicked it the other day and it felt/sounded funny, so I measured the pressure. 42psi, I guess my shoe was flat!

Is this a worm recieving road contact?

You can always install a new worm, for insurance, just pop the old one in and install new, sounds like you have the miles about where mine begin to fail.

I recently changed out a rear tire that had an internal lead wire combo patch, special blue flamable glue, rubber cleaner and Liner repair agent over the repair was used, held up beautifully till end of the tires life.

Saftey seal or Slime type worms are the best external repair , but I had to go to internal repair , as the worms for me failed normally about 1000 or 1200 miles if recieving heavy road contact.

[KevCarver]

It's just off the center, so not contacting heavily. Today in the twisties it got worn down to flush.

[spud786]

The tire I repaired internally, i ran over a 2 and 1/4 inch wood screw dead center of the tire, in addition the screw wallowed the chit out of the hole, Hole would fit a pencil eraser, I plugged with an external mushroom to get home, as I didnt have my worm tool with me. Then I broke in down for the internal repair.

The tire only had about 1000 miles of life left, I could have used a worm after getting home. Since the tread had that little life left, the effort breakin it down, is someway questioned when close to end of life over the worm

[KevCarver]

...aaand finished!

Saturday morning 30 psi, so I re-inflated to 42 and could hear hissing from the original plug. So I re-plugged it! Reamed out the original and stuck in a new one.

If I kept track of the mileage correctly, I got 1949 miles on the original plug. Again, it's just off center tread. So not 100% road contact in all riding. It never even wore flush until I took it up to the mountains, and still was two weeks before it lost any pressure after that ride. Just commuting I think it would have lasted until the tire was worn out.

I did some light riding yesterday on the second plug at it was 41 psi this morning. I guess I'll continue as I did on the original. Not sure the tire has another 1900 miles in it anyway.

[spud786]

Between rain riding, road contact , and use, all are factors in the life, Ive found the worms last the longest for external repair. But you never know when it will begin to fail, 1900 mile is pretty good, well above my average.

So what do we say to those who say they last thousands and thousand of miles and dont fail?

Just depends on factors , including alittle luck.

Thats why I had to invest in all the chemicals and acessories for a True reliable repair that wasnt a constant babying ordeal with leakage and failure.

But I use a worms for temporary repair, 1 out of ten may make it to end of life of the tire from my experience, and it all depends on the factors, do a quality internal repair and its a done deal.

[JamieDaugherty]

I've used plugs in m/c tires before. I certainly wouldn't use that tire on the track, mainly because of the carcass distortion and temperatures. For the street they have held up just fine for me. About the worst I can report is some slow leakage from the repair. If you take your time and ream out the hole carefully you can prevent that.

[JIMLARCH]

Nice write-up.

Interesting that the el-cheapo repair was the one that got you home.

Will you now;

Replace the tire?

Remove the tire and plug it from the inside?

Leave it as it is?

I've always been leery of repairing a tire on a motorcycle for extended use.

A rapid loss of air on a 4 wheeler is a nuisance, a rapid loss of air on a 2 wheeler seems like it would be a disaster.

Even if you blow the plug....... IMHO ......... It's not going to lose the air like blowing a valve stem ....... AND the side walls on these high tech tyres are stiff enough to support the bike a lot better that the old radials ..... or car tyres for that matter........Just my opinion...

The plugs or worms will give out eventually if any road contact, usually they fail with me, 500 to 1200 mile, depending on the type of external repair. rain is bad for worm plugs, and the rubber is too soft with stop go types. Usually they'll start leaking verses blow out ,with either type.

The only time I've had them last the life of the tire , is if theres virtually no road contact , like in between a tread block, but dead center in the tire, normally takes on strong acceleration which reduces a plugs life considerably.

Rode my GSXR1000 from Toronto to Halifax, Nova Scotia. On the day I was to ride back the 2000 k I found I had a nail in the centre of my rear tire. Plugged it at a gas station using the conventional worm method. Rode the bike back at speeds of upto 150 km/h. About 400k of that was in the wet. No trouble whatsoever, didn't lose a pound of air. By the time I got home you couldn't see where the plug was. Sold the bike a month later, so can't say how long the mend lasted (advised the dealer to replace the rear tire because it was plugged).

I wouldn't have any concerns with plugging a tire. If a plug can take the power of a 150 hp bike, I don't think a 100 hp VFR would be any problem.