Need your advice on a good inside automotive tire patch

I'm gonna patch my first automotive tire this week.

I need your advice on a good inside automotive tire patch as I got a flat today, switched with the spare, and went about a half mile to the nearest auto parts store.

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All they had are bike-tire-type patches at the one auto parts store I stopped at today; they only had crappy passenger tire patches (little round things, very thin).

I prefer rectangular-cut larger patches (dunno why - I just feel they might hold better). Those that are something like three or four inches long or so.

I can easily remove the tire and replace it on the rim and balance it afterward so this question is only about the patch. I do not want to patch it from the outside because I feel that isn't as good as from inside.

Where do you get your inside-tire automotive tire patches? What type of patch/glue/prep do you recommend?

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Reply to
Danny D.
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The "patch-plug" is the ideal tire repair as it combines the best elements of the patch and plug worlds; the patch keeps the plug from shifting out of place, and the plug helps the patch to stay secure to the tire.

Reply to
WWS TEXAS

WWS TEXAS wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:57:48 -0800:

I didn't know those existed, so thank you very much for the idea!

Googling for "automotive tire patch plug" I see that the Rubber Manufacturers Association recommends them

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I found the repair procedure here:

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I found a "steelman" brand 1/8th inch tire repair patch/plug unit. Is that a good brand? STEELMAN JSG381 1/8-Inch Tire Repair Patch/Plug

Do you suggest any specific glues or tools that might not come with the patchplug set?

Reply to
Danny D.

Interesting to learn this:

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Wondered why it cost me $30 to get a tire repaired a few years ago. The tire has held up well.

Reply to
Frank

Frank wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:23:09 -0500:

Out here, at $100/hour shop rates, it could easily cost more just for the labor, plus you have to rebalance and they often destroy the valve and they are brutal on your expensive soft rims!

I'm sick and tired of the brutish monkeys prying off my BBS hubcaps with screwdrivers, damaging the soft rims, torquing the lug bolts to 100 foot pounds instead of 84, not removing the old weights when balancing, putting the same psi into all four wheels, etc. They're just horrid.

So, I'm just gonna do it myself.

But that takes knowledge, so, I'm glad you pointed me to that web page. It shows that you don't want *air* to get in between the plies, so that's important to put the plug in there to prevent air from sneaking in between the plies.

They call them "mushroom" patches in that article and they say that the patch keeps air in and the plug keeps air and moisture out of the plies.

I just want to do the job right, instead of letting the monkeys do the job wrong. This will take all the advice you know of!

Reply to
Danny D.

I worked at Sears changing and repairing tires and a few other minor repairs. They had plug/patches similar to them back in 1970. Used a lot of them.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Ralph Mowery wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:44:04 -0500:

Yikes! I hate Sears! I promised myself in 1981 that I'd *never* go to Sears ever again! I tell everyone *not* to go to Sears!

< begin rant >

When I was young and stupid, I brought my 1970 clunker to Sears for a $100 alignment.

The car had 90K miles on it and I had failed inspection (in those days, they lifted the front end and checked for suspension wear).

I brought it to K-Mart, who, for something like $20 told me I needed to replace the idler arm, the pitman arm, and the tie rod ends.

I replaced all of them, and started to do the alignment but quickly realized that I just didn't have the tools to MEASURE the angles correctly (and to convert inches to degrees, etc.). I got as far as doing the toe but gave up when it came to camber and caster.

I had MARKED EVERYTHING though, with yellow nail polish, because I wanted a before-and-after look at things (I was pretty detailed, even then).

So I take it to Sears, pay my $100, and watch they guy. He never once touched the car, but at one point, I was distracted by the shop asking me to pay so maybe he did the work while I wasn't looking?

Anyway, I pay and drive home and put the car on a lift to snap pictures. Guess what. Not a single eccentric was touched! Not one. I could tell because I was sloppy with the nail polish and not a single bolt was even MOVED!

The bastards. They stole my money. And my time. And, I'm sure, I wasn't the only one.

I go back. I complain. They put it on the lift. Not a single thing was right except for the toe (which "I" had done myself!).

Turns out, they mechanic *ADMITTED* he didn't do a thing! He said his charts only went back 10 years and my car was 11 years old! Can you believe that.

I should have complained to high heaven and gotten a refund. I just let them re-align it.

I wasn't as crotchety when I was young, but I would have complained to the district attorney or something had I been the age I am now.

It's criminal what Sears does to rip off people. Absolutely criminal.

I watch all my alignments like a hawk watching a mouse now. Sears sucks. I will *never* ever go to Sears for the rest of my life, and I make sure everyone knows how bad they are.

The're criminals. I'm sorry you worked there, and I do apologize for the diatribe. It's not your fault they are criminals. It's their fault.

< end rant >
Reply to
Danny D.

I just use "strings", with rubber cement, and it works well. I follow the instructions.

I used to use "plugs'.

My probe/rasp tool finally broke, so I bought a better quality one. Maybe I bought a better quality of both.

Reply to
Micky

I was about 19 at the time. Just a part time job while in school. I don't know about the quality of work, but at that store I know they did make an attempt at doing whatever was suspose to be done, maybe others don't.

I do know lots of places will rip you off. Local Ford dealer did to a friend. He took a car with a V8 to get the plugs changed. It came back with the same miss in the engine it had. They only changed 7 plugs as the

8th was very hard to get to. He went back and complained and was asked how he knew the plug was not changed. He said because 7 were of one brand and the hard to get to was another.

I hate that a local 'shade tree mechanic' got too old and quit. He was an honest man and good at what he did. I had him to do several jobs for me like changing a timing belt. He recommended a few othe things such as the water pump as it was driven by the belt and all it was 4 bolts to do it. Said it would not be any more labor and just his cost of the part. Bet not many if any dealers would do that.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Until I looked into your problem, I thought they were just plugging from the exterior and NTW (believe Sears owned) said they had to patch from inside.

My flat was on a Sunday and I took it to NTW as dealer where I bought tires and repairs my car was closed.

I had extended warranty as AWD on Subaru requires all 4 tires are equal.

Company would not honor warranty since I did not return to where I bought them but the shop where I bought them reimbursed me.

Reply to
Frank

Frank wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:13:37 -0500:

I make every mistake you can make, and I've made that buying tires by warranty mistake also. In addition, I bought the useless extended warranty.

Once I tried to return a tire I thought wore too early and the tire under warranty would cost MORE than a tire NOT under warranty because I had to have THEM do it, and I had to pay for the mounting and balancing and I originally bought it on sale where it was no longer on sale (although I could get it from Tire Rack cheaper!).

End result, even *with* the pro-rated warranty, the replacement tire under warranty cost more than that same tire (same exact brand and model!) not on warranty!

Likewise, I have paid for the extended warranty, which, when you bring a tire back, they told me that alignment wasn't covered (which may be true - but then why did I bother). So I never buy extended or by warranty ever again.

Also, I used to get tires at Costco for the "free" mounting and balancing and repair, but, unfortunately, the *wait* at Costco is forever (hours and hours) so it's not worth it unless you drop it off and come back (which isn't convenient for me).

So, I forgo all warranties and just buy tires from Tire Rack by performance and price and fit. And I mount them myself now that Harbor Freight sells that nice red mounting kit. And I balance them statically, very carefully - and since they have expensive rims, they're almost perfect and don't vibrate at all. Who knew that dynamic balancing was a waste? I didn't. Until I tried the static balancing.

Which so far works perfectly for me.

Reply to
Danny D.

Ralph Mowery wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:13:01 -0500:

This is true. Anyone, not only Sears, can rip you off.

That's why I recommend my own kids do three simple things when they bring their cars to a mechanic:

  1. Mark everything (e.g., mark the plugs, bolts, water pump, etc.)
  2. Ask for the old parts back (they'd better be the same marked parts!)
  3. Watch them while they're working (if they let you)
Reply to
Danny D.

I never knew they make such a thing. Sounds like a good idea though. A local tire shop will patch a tire for $10 or less, so I just let them do it. Getting tires off and on rims is not easy without a "tire machine" and I still would not be able to balance them....

I will fix bicycle tires, those small tires on garden tractors and wheelbarrows though. Most of the time I just put a tube in them. Those small tires seem to always leak around the rims no matter how well they are mounted. Tubes solve that, and those small tubes are not very costly.

Reply to
Paintedcow

I go to Sears for Craftsman tools, but I rarely buy anything else. I dont let Sears or any of those big chain stores work on my cars. I go to a small local mechanic if I cant fix something myself.

Many years ago, I took a car to one of those large chain stores for an alignment. It was an old car, so they probably did not want to work on it. They wrote an estimate to replace half the steering parts, and it was a large amount of money. I left, and took the car home and checked all the parts they said needed to be replaced. None showed excessive wear, but the idler arm was a bit sloppy. I replaced the idler arm. Then I took the car to a small tire shop that also did alignments and some other work. They charged about $20 more than the chain store for the alignment, but they did the work and said all the parts were fine.

I will never take another car to Sears, K-Mart, or any of the chain stores for any repairs.

I once tried to do an alignment myself. Forget it.... I'll never try that again.

Reply to
Paintedcow

Paintedcow wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:34:59 -0600:

I am the same. I "do" buy Craftsman tools, although, lately, Harbor Frieght tools work fine - but - maybe because I already have all the basic tools, so, what I need are things like tire changers and static balancers nowadays (not wrenches and screwdrivers).

Remind me to tell you the story of when I want to AAmco (again, as a stupid kid) when they wanted to charge me $400 for a new transmission when the real problem turned out to be bad motor mounts (causing a screeching of the belts).

I found this out ONLY because I didn't have the money to pay $400 to Aamco. They were "professionals" so I believed them, but, when I went to a mechanic, he said the only problem was the motor mounts, which, after I replaced them (pretty easy job) *was* the problem!

So, AAmco is either incompetent, or crooks. And, we all know they're not *that* incompetant.

The end result is that you can only trust yourself, and the guys here who aren't making any money off of you and me.

Thanks you guys! (PS: Where the hell is Oren & Chris?)

Don't get me started on the actions of Midas Muffler last I went there!

Alignment is one of the last bastions that a shade-tree mechanic doesn't do.

I *bought* all the tools (e.g., digital levels) and made a toe measurement tool. While toe is the easiest of all, it's not easy to measure nor to even UNDERSTAND alignment. I think I understand it better than most, but, even so, we need about $500 to $1,000 in tools to do the job easily.

Notice, we do NOT need the $50K to $100K tool that the shops use. They have VASTLY different requirements than we have. We just need a level garage floor, decent measurement tools, a decent lift system, and the knowledge of how to convert inches to degrees and vice versa.

Reply to
Danny D.

Paintedcow wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:13:55 -0600:

You live in a different world than I live in, because NOTHING is $10 "or less" at a repair shop. Absolutely NOTHING. Maybe you live in Kansas or Texas, or some other cheap state, but this is California. Absolutely nothing is $10.

I just called three local tire-related shops. Most charged $30 for just the patch (not the patchplug). The cheapest was $20 for a plug from the outside only.

Anyway, the cost isn't the issue. They *never* do the job right.

It's not that they don't KNOW how. It's that their CUSTOMER generally doesn't know how. So, they cheat.

Every single time. You can NOT get a good job from them, unless you ride herd on them, and you may as well just do it yourself.

Besides, I've changed and mounted my own tires using the Harbor Frieght tool. For low-profile performance tires on aluminum rims, the job is EASY. As easy (almost) as changing brakes and rotors.

It's not difficult at all (until/unless you get to the really thick sidewall tires such as SUV tires - which ARE harder!).

Reply to
Danny D.

Paintedcow wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 13:13:55 -0600:

It's very easy to mount and unmount "medium" profile (50 series) tires on BBS aluminum rims using the Harbor Freight tool.

I have done SUV tires (70 series) too, which are much harder but still doable.

I wouldn't go any bigger than 17 inch diameter though, nor any taller than 70 series (and I prefer my 50 series as the shorter and thinner the sidewall, the easier it is).

The aluminum rims don't get scratched at all (a bit of red paint, that's it) and the steel rims are actually more of a pain because in my experience, they're harder to balance and the weights go on differently (bang on edge versus stick on the inside).

All you need are three things, none of which are expensive:

  1. Compressor (most already have that)
  2. Tire Changing Tool (Harbor Freight has them on sale periodically)
  3. Static Wheel Balancer (same as above, costs more than the changer)

My first 5 wheel replacement job payed for all the tools as the price for the tools and weights was almost exactly what it would have cost for a shop to mount and balance the five tires I had shipped to my house from Tire Rack.

Reply to
Danny D.

I like the deal I got at Tire Discount. They rotate the tires for free and will patch anyones tire in the famialy for free if they give them your telephone number. I have not used the repair service, but while waiting on a rotation I was talking to a man and he told me this was his 4 th repair. The dealer treated him just as good as if he was buyin 4 new tires and told him to come back if he has another flat.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Take it to a real tire shop and have a "mushroom" patch installed. It has a plug and a patch combined.. The "tech" product is one of the best.

Reply to
clare

Take the tire off yourself. Take it to the shop for repair. Remount it yourself. Thatway you are not paying the "monkeys" to damage your wheels.

Reply to
clare

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