Use of plugs on tires

[suzukizone]

This kit?

I actually have one of those in my bike's tool kit. I was referring to a PATCH kit, to patch tire from inside.

[suzukizone]

It's not hard to see where my low-pressure-ATV-Lawn tractor theory comes from.

Those are the ones I ad just bought but it was suggested the black plugs are intended for on road tires. Either way, I plan to use a patch as the working seal & just fill in the hole in the tire with a plug, though I guess that may not be totally necessary.

DH

[bwringer]

Nealey Tire Repair kits are the finest sticky string tubeless tire repairs on the planet. Truly next-level stuff, and they work and are installed in a slightly different way than lesser sticky strings.

The Mini kit is that which you seek for motorcycle and car/light truck tires:

https://www.nealeytirerepairkit.com/product-page/copy-of-mini-repair-kit

Most of their business is people repairing enormous truck and heavy equipment tires, so their other kits with much longer strings aren't needed for the likes of us.

They do not require or recommend glue (as the Slime folks said, glue is primarily useful as a lubricant, and is optional), and they are somewhat thinner than other sticky strings. You install them in a different way (READ the instructions!) such that you end up with four thicknesses of string in the hole (they conform to the hole better) and a knot on the inside of the tire so the repair can't pull out.

If it's a simple tread area puncture, I don't really worry about it once repaired.

If it's a large or oddly shaped hole, etc. then you can install multiple plugs until you can escape the situation, but the tire should be replaced immediately.

I have Nealey kits in all our vehicles. The strings remain unchanged and sticky for many years. I'm not 100% sure how old my oldest kit is, but the plastic tube finally fell apart after at least seven or eight years of abuse; the strings and tool were perfectly fine.


I know "plug from the inside later" is the usual recommendation, but high-quality plugs are somewhat hard to find (the Slime brand are common but not very good) and far more failure-prone. I can't say I'm a fan, but YMMV, etc.

That said, it is often a good idea to demount the tire later or at least break one bead and take a look at the inside to make sure there's nothing left inside the tire, the wheel is OK, and the puncture isn't worse than you thought.

But if the whole thing was pretty straightforward (something like a nail or screw that entered fairly straight, made one hole, came out completely, and the tire didn't go completely flat at speed and potentially damage the wheel) I normally don't bother. Plug, pump, go, forget about it.


I carry a small electric "Slime" brand pump, and it's served me well. There are several compact electric pumps on the market that work well.


At all costs, AVOID the "Stop-n-Go" rubber mushroom plug system. They are worse than worthless on motorcycle tires. An absolutely delusional product marketed well.

Also, the CO2 cartridge inflators are pretty useless as well; you need more than you think to get a tire close to rideable, and if you have a leak, well, you're stuck again.



Lastly, I'll repeat my usual advice about tires in general: if any doubt is going to enter your mind at all, spend the small bit of money to replace the tire. Motorcycle tires require absolute mental confidence to function properly. All your mental bandwidth needs to be on your riding, so 100% faith in your tires is mandatory.

[Gorminrider]

It's not hard to see where my low-pressure-ATV-Lawn tractor theory comes from.

Here's the picture that didn't upload when I posted. Red plugs . No car, no motorcycle shown
slime red.jpg

[salty_monk]

Nealey Tire Repair kits are the finest sticky string tubeless tire repairs on the planet. Truly next-level stuff, and they work and are installed in a slightly different way than lesser sticky strings.

The Mini kit is that which you seek for motorcycle and car/light truck tires:

https://www.nealeytirerepairkit.com/product-page/copy-of-mini-repair-kit

Most of their business is people repairing enormous truck and heavy equipment tires, so their other kits with much longer strings aren't needed for the likes of us.

They do not require or recommend glue (as the Slime folks said, glue is primarily useful as a lubricant, and is optional), and they are somewhat thinner than other sticky strings. You install them in a different way (READ the instructions!) such that you end up with four thicknesses of string in the hole (they conform to the hole better) and a knot on the inside of the tire so the repair can't pull out.

If it's a simple tread area puncture, I don't really worry about it once repaired.

If it's a large or oddly shaped hole, etc. then you can install multiple plugs until you can escape the situation, but the tire should be replaced immediately.

I have Nealey kits in all our vehicles. The strings remain unchanged and sticky for many years. I'm not 100% sure how old my oldest kit is, but the plastic tube finally fell apart after at least seven or eight years of abuse; the strings and tool were perfectly fine.


I know "plug from the inside later" is the usual recommendation, but high-quality plugs are somewhat hard to find (the Slime brand are common but not very good) and far more failure-prone. I can't say I'm a fan, but YMMV, etc.

That said, it is often a good idea to demount the tire later or at least break one bead and take a look at the inside to make sure there's nothing left inside the tire, the wheel is OK, and the puncture isn't worse than you thought.

But if the whole thing was pretty straightforward (something like a nail or screw that entered fairly straight, made one hole, came out completely, and the tire didn't go completely flat at speed and potentially damage the wheel) I normally don't bother. Plug, pump, go, forget about it.


I carry a small electric "Slime" brand pump, and it's served me well. There are several compact electric pumps on the market that work well.


At all costs, AVOID the "Stop-n-Go" rubber mushroom plug system. They are worse than worthless on motorcycle tires. An absolutely delusional product marketed well.

Also, the CO2 cartridge inflators are pretty useless as well; you need more than you think to get a tire close to rideable, and if you have a leak, well, you're stuck again.



Lastly, I'll repeat my usual advice about tires in general: if any doubt is going to enter your mind at all, spend the small bit of money to replace the tire. Motorcycle tires require absolute mental confidence to function properly. All your mental bandwidth needs to be on your riding, so 100% faith in your tires is mandatory.

I bought one of those on your recommendation for a trip about 10 years ago... I’ve never had to use it but the tube is a bit worse for wear but the threads still seem pliable.....

[dorkburger]

Bwinger, thanks for the advice on avoiding the mushroom plugs. I got lucky I guess. As one who has logged more miles then I probably ever will, I always respect and appreciate your knowledge.

[bwringer]

I bought one of those on your recommendation for a trip about 10 years ago... I’ve never had to use it but the tube is a bit worse for wear but the threads still seem pliable.....

Good to know!

Ten years? What is this mysterious power you have to avoid punctures?

Please share your secrets, O Saline Sensei...

[bwringer]

Bwinger, thanks for the advice on avoiding the mushroom plugs.

I tried to make it work, I really did. The Stop-n-Stay kit was kind of expensive, and I carried it for several years and used it on at least five motorcycle tire punctures and a few car tires. Every one failed, except one I installed in a car tire. But the final straw was when I had a very simple, small, straightforward nail puncture about 50 miles away. By the time I got home, there were five plugs bouncing around inside the tire, and the tire went flat again just as I pulled into my driveway.

Going flat every 10 miles or so made for a slow, hair-raising ride home, and I replaced the tire rather than taking the chance it had been damaged by all the repeated deflation.

This is the crap I'm talking about: these plugs and the whole system are dangerous junk.

https://www.stopngo.com/

I think the root of the problem is that the soft rubber plug seems to easily and quickly get sawed in two by the tire belts, then the head works its way out soon after. I believe motorcycle tires flex more than car tires, so these plugs are doomed to fail even sooner in motorcycle tires.

Many of the plug/patches applied from the interior seem to suffer from the same flaw; the stem of the most easily available brand is just soft rubber, and is not reinforced. It can also be very difficult to get the flat inside patch part to bond correctly to the inside of the tire and withstand the normal tire flex.


Sticky strings, even the regular generic sticky strings you can buy anywhere, are extremely tough, and I've never seen or even heard of a failure unless the puncture is just too big or oddly shaped or angled. Obviously, there are some kinds of tire damage you can't or shouldn't repair with any sort of plug, but people have made effective repairs of some pretty appalling damage with multiple plugs in order to at least get out of the woods.

I've demounted tires that were repaired with sticky strings and ridden long distances afterwards. With heat, g-forces, and time, the string on the inside seems to agglomerate into a little lump that spreads out and bonds very strongly to the inside of the tire and the walls of the puncture. They're extremely difficult to pull out with pliers; overall it's pretty confidence-inspiring.

[fbody_mike]

I will second that the sticky strings are difficult to remove. I had patched one of my bias ply motorcycle tires with one, when I replaced the tire, I decided to grab the loop of the string from the inside with a pair of pliers and give it a hard yank. The tire started to fold itself inside out and I couldn't get the string to slip one bit. With the amount of nails I have pulled from my wife's tires when she used to work near the warehouses in downtown LA; I guess you can say that I am a bit of a pro when it comes to installing them.

[dorkburger]

I tried to make it work, I really did. The Stop-n-Stay kit was kind of expensive, and I carried it for several years and used it on at least five motorcycle tire punctures and a few car tires. Every one failed, except one I installed in a car tire. But the final straw was when I had a very simple, small, straightforward nail puncture about 50 miles away. By the time I got home, there were five plugs bouncing around inside the tire, and the tire went flat again just as I pulled into my driveway.

Going flat every 10 miles or so made for a slow, hair-raising ride home, and I replaced the tire rather than taking the chance it had been damaged by all the repeated deflation.

This is the crap I'm talking about: these plugs and the whole system are dangerous junk.

https://www.stopngo.com/

I think the root of the problem is that the soft rubber plug seems to easily and quickly get sawed in two by the tire belts, then the head works its way out soon after. I believe motorcycle tires flex more than car tires, so these plugs are doomed to fail even sooner in motorcycle tires.

Interesting. That’s the exact kit I have. You suspect the tire belts are cutting them which seems logical. I’m still in the dark ages run bias ply. I wonder if that’s why I got lucky.

[LAB3]

Caught wind of this stuff on here last year and put it in my tires for the 450 then after not being able to get the steel balance beads past the valve cores on the Goldwing I used it on those too. Supposedly balances and plugs leaks at the same time, can't complain about the way they ride that's for sure and pressure checking is almost a non-issue.

https://www.ride-on.com/

[salty_monk]

Good to know!

Ten years? What is this mysterious power you have to avoid punctures?

Please share your secrets, O Saline Sensei...

Yeah I got lucky I guess.... I've had two. One I had nothing & came home 10 miles on a flatbed. One was on the KLR & I was close enough to home to walk it back, the sidewall was stiff enough without me on it...

[mrbill5491]

Caught wind of this stuff on here last year and put it in my tires for the 450 then after not being able to get the steel balance beads past the valve cores on the Goldwing I used it on those too. Supposedly balances and plugs leaks at the same time, can't complain about the way they ride that's for sure and pressure checking is almost a non-issue.

https://www.ride-on.com/

I use ride-on on both my bike and Spyder.