Tire Repair???

[ElMartillo]

Lots of great advice here. I ride on rope-type plugged tires if necessary without worry.

I would take the opportunity to practice plugging the tire, perhaps removal and replacement of tire if you opt for a patch, and as a wake-up call to make sure I have tire repair tools and fresh supplies with me any time I'm on the bike. You can get a flat anywhere!

Cheers!

[Mudcat]

Originally Posted by Steptoe

New tyres can fail suddenly as well. ]

Now, that is just mean.

[ACD]

On the night before leaving for a long trip I noticed a leak, a big nail stuck in the rear tire. I used a mushroom type plug to fix it and rode on. This fix lasted about 6,000 km.

When I got home I replaced the tire for knobbies and forgot about the plug. Later on re-installed the plugged tire and rode about 1,000 km on it until it failed. The steel threads cut through the mushroom head and it came out. By then I had lost my plugger so I put in a sticky rope instead. Rode for a long time.

Last week I left for a 2,000 km round-trip and 50 km into it the sticky rope came out. I replaced it and rode on, to my fellow riders amazement. I found out they were not carrying tools or tire fixers other than what came with the bike! 1,000 km later got another flat! Another big nail got into my rear tire. This is getting old fast... Another 500 km and the tire spit one of the ropes. I inspected the hole and found out it had a little gash in it, perhaps 1 or 2 mm wide. I saw people using more than one sticky rope to fix a larger hole like that, but I decided to replace the tire.

On the next big town I google a motorcycle tire store, and found out not every store keeps an inventory of GS sized tires. I asked for patches and the guy suggested these:



I have never seen it before but it worked great. Push the wire through the hole from inside and pull it until the round base coated with vulcanizing cement hits the tire, then trim the excess that sticks out. I replaced all the sticky ropes with these blue mushrooms and drove the remaining 500 km without surprises (knocking on wood!).

[chrome bandit]

...is there a secret to correctly getting the string patch to behave well with the driver tool so that the string doesn't disintegrate on getting inserted into tool and tire? My first attempt with a string patch ended in square knot (I think), and I went the mushroom route. Or perhaps I'm not buying the correct brand of string...?

I'd had good success with mushroom plugs, as in getting a thousand more miles, but worry about what ACD described...the head getting snipped off by the radial tire. I do like the application technique, it's pretty easy.

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by chrome bandit

...is there a secret to correctly getting the string patch to behave well with the driver tool so that the string doesn't disintegrate on getting inserted into tool and tire? My first attempt with a string patch ended in square knot (I think), and I went the mushroom route. Or perhaps I'm not buying the correct brand of string...?

I'd had good success with mushroom plugs, as in getting a thousand more miles, but worry about what ACD described...the head getting snipped off by the radial tire. I do like the application technique, it's pretty easy.

Cheap string plugs are as good as more expensive ones. The key to inserting them is to ream the hole well, always turning in the same direction, and push the string in until 1/2" or less is out, then a smart pull on the handle to withdraw the tool should set it. Let it sit for a few minutes, then cut off the excess flush.

As posted before: http://www.jimvonbaden.com/Tire_Plugging.html

Jim

[aGremlin]

Originally Posted by JimVonBaden

Let it sit for a few minutes, then cut off the excess flush.

I always leave a little sticking out, not cutting it off flush. There is always the rare chance it could get pushed into the tyre. Equally, don't leave a heap so it can be pulled out of the tyre. Doesn't take long before it's a little puddle on the outside of the tyre...

[turbodieseli4i6]

Originally Posted by LaurelPerryOnLand

Can you afford $66 for peace of mind?***

Otherwise...proceed with other options.

***Let's think this through to it's illogical conclusion:
1. Tire fails.
****YOU LOSE FROM THIS POINT FORWARD****************************
2. Bike sustains damage during accident.
3. Bike is repaired by your insurance...minus your ($500?) deductible?
4. You sustain some damage (injury) during this accident.
5. Ambulance, hospital charges exceed $45,000 for your 1 week recuperation.
6. Your boss fired you since you were really needed at work.
7. You injure somebody else and they end up suing you for their personal injury and damage to their car.
8. You're convicted of careless operation of a motor vehicle and serve 60 days in jail.
9. Your boss REALLY doesn't want to know about you...particularly now.
10. Since you have no income for 2 months...you miss a couple mortgage payments...bank forecloses on your home.
11. All your credit cards increase your rate since you defaulted on your mortgage payments.
12. Your FICO score drops to the low 500's.
13. It takes you 4 more months (I'm being generous)...in this BAD economy...to find another job comparable to what you had.
14. You exhaust your 2 months of 'savings' and are forced to BORROW from your wife's family...you didn't have the nerve to tell YOUR family.

I think you can see where this COULD be headed...worst case scenario.

Back to my original question:
Can you afford $66 for peace of mind?
HOPE SO...otherwise park it until you have the $66.

PS..."No" I don't sell insurance...nor TIRES.

Are you a Insurance salesman?

[Twilight Error]

Plug it and ride.

I got a flat several miles from home once, no BMW dealer within 300 miles to source a new tire from and there was little chance the Honda shop 30 miles behind me would have a tire for my GS.
So I put a string plug in and rode forward.

Just outside Chadron, Nebraska (some 100 miles later), the string plug failed. So I put two string plugs in and turned around, there was an open auto repair shop in Chadron. Jimmy, who had never seen a BMW motorcycle (nevermind work on one) mounted the wheel in his tire changer, popped a bead off and installed an internal patch. The wheel was buttoned back up and I rode that tire back to Connecticut and replaced it after a couple thousand more miles.


The moral: If a string plug fails, try two. If you're unsure two will hold, the rear wheel of a GS (and likely any BMW) can be mounted in any shop's tire changer and opened up. An internal patch, with the string plug stubs still in place, will last many thousands of miles.

[apexal]

Originally Posted by webjester

Long story short, my rear Metzeler has a tiny hole right in the middle of the tread. The air holds for a day or two. Brought it to the dealer who said they won't touch it because of liability and wanted to sell me a new one. Now what? So I thought I'll see what you guys have to say.

The tire has about 6k miles on it. I found the hole submerging the wheel but couldn't see anything stuck in there. Tiny bubbles.

option1: Bite the bullet and buy a new one, considering that it has maybe a third of its life left. $200 for a new one divided by 3 is about 66 bucks. If any tire place charges that amount for repair I'll already break even.

option2: Use some spray repair goo to fill the tire and hopefully clog up that tiny hole.

option3: Master Tire Repair kit. Seems to be an awfully big hole to create and then fix it

What do you guys think?

I only see one option here: #1

[chrome bandit]

Originally Posted by JimVonBaden

Cheap string plugs are as good as more expensive ones. The key to inserting them is to ream the hole well, always turning in the same direction, and push the string in until 1/2" or less is out ...

Thanks for responding to this and posting the instructional, which I find super helpful, it just skips over my main issue - the string seems to disintegrate when I try to insert it into the tool, as if it's too big into get into the 'needle' hole of the insertion tool. When I finally did achieve partial connection, the string would not go into the tire hole, it would get jumbled up and get cut up by the insertion tool.

I did not, however, know the guidance to a) squish it flat in the beginning; and b) insert the string into the tire using the same twisting direction, so that could be part of it too.

Perhaps I just picked up cheap stuff too, couldn't figure out there is a quality bar for the tire licorice.

[LaurelPerryOnLand]

Originally Posted by turbodieseli4i6

Are you a Insurance salesman?

"Nope"...per the post. PS..."No" I don't sell insurance...nor TIRES.
"Yep"...one of these...

[TUCKERS]

The very first flat (nail) I ever had on a BMW with tubeless tires went like this:

Stopped at a Truck Stop tire shop. (I had no idea what to do).

Whilst waiting my turn I struck up conversation with an Over The Road truck driver of obvious experience.

He said plug it and forget it, don't even cut off the excess.

I got it plugged. Did cut off 'most' of the excess but left a bit.

Rode the bike until the tread wore out.

Oh, I get 12,000 miles out of a rear Tourance on 2000 BMW R1150GS. Fronts just don't wear, I throw them out at 16,000. 41psi both tires.

Regarding tire valves: On my bike you often tweak the valve trying to get air pumps on them, I have had three leaking valves. Now I use metal stems only.

[TUCKERS]

The very first flat (nail) I ever had on a BMW with tubeless tires went like this:

Stopped at a Truck Stop tire shop. (I had no idea what to do).

Whilst waiting my turn I struck up conversation with an Over The Road truck driver of obvious experience.

He said plug it and forget it, don't even cut off the excess.

I got it plugged. Did cut off 'most' of the excess but left a bit.

Rode the bike until the tread wore out.

Oh, I got 12,000 miles out of a rear Tourance on 2000 BMW R1150GS. Fronts just didn't wear, I threw them out at 16,000. 41psi both tires.

Regarding tire valves: On my bike you often tweak the valve trying to get air pumps on them, I have had three leaking valves. Now I use metal stems only.

[TUCKERS]

The very first flat (nail) I ever had on a BMW with tubeless tires went like this:

Stopped at a Truck Stop tire shop. (I had no idea what to do).

Whilst waiting my turn I struck up conversation with an Over The Road truck driver of obvious experience.

He said plug it and forget it, don't even cut off the excess.

I got it plugged. Did cut off 'most' of the excess but left a bit. (Sticky worm string plug from the outside.)

Rode the bike until the tread wore out.

Oh, I got 12,000 miles out of a rear Tourance on 2000 BMW R1150GS. Fronts just didn't wear, I threw them out at 16,000. 41psi both tires.

Regarding tire valves: On my bike you often tweak the valve trying to get air pumps on them, I have had three leaking valves. Now I use metal stems only.

[OzRob]

Originally Posted by SiouxsieCat

I say if the plug holds air, go for it, just check it on every mount for a while.
I've had plugs outlast tires and I've had plugs fail to hold air.

I have used string plugs ( snot strings) , never had a problem and just to test how secure they are I tried removing one from the inside of a worn tyre, very difficult to remove with pliers.