What to do about a nail in my tire

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I had a nail in my rear tubeless radial Metzeler Tourance tire on my V-strom. A Nealy string plug worked for a year, then it started slowly leaking through the fibers. The tire was well worn by then, anyway.

I've read of many V-strom riders who've plugged tires, and never a report of a catastrophic failure.

Ride-On sealant goop and balancer is also highly regarded.
 
Originally Posted By: brave sir robin
I have never heard of a shop saying its ok to patch a motorcycle tire. ....


All the shops I have been at, all officially did not patch/plug motorcycle tires and we had a note at the bottom of the tires servicing price boards to that extant. Some of the mechanics would do it, despite the shops official policy. In all cases a internal patch was a must or they/I wouldn't touch it. It was usually done as no charge or written up as a miscellaneous non-descript item.

If you are breaking the tire down that far off the wheel, you may as well put a tube in it for another $10-15 and call it a day.

I have no issues plugging/patching a MC tire though as I said it depends on where the damage is.
 
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As others have said, i would be very cautious plugging a motorcycle tire.

On the flip side of that coin, I have had alot of tires plugged over the years. Not one has failed due too the plug.

Good luck!
 
Originally Posted By: spasm3
Originally Posted By: yeti
when I see a thread title such as this, I REALLY miss gary.
OP -- do nothing. go on a highway run, about 90mph.,and natural selection will fix it for you.


That was uncalled for.


thats what i thought to..
 
I've plugged tires out of necessity on the road and ridden on the tire until the tread blocks wore off,never had a failure,but I'm not a screamer on my bike either.
Try a plug. If its gonna leak it'll happen fairly fast.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
I've plugged tires out of necessity on the road and ridden on the tire until the tread blocks wore off,never had a failure,but I'm not a screamer on my bike either.
Try a plug. If its gonna leak it'll happen fairly fast.


I did this on the rear tire on the little ninja 250... it had less than 100 miles on it and when i did my pre-ride inspection it was obviously low. I used a $4 wal-Mart kit and plugged the tire.. I even gave it 3 days, testing preasure each day to see if it had dropped even a little.. it was fine, mind you i dont live in a curvy/mountain/hilly area.. i live in the flat lands and it would be clear fairly quickly it i was low on preasure just riding down the road or making simple turns. I would not suggest repairing a high performance tire that is used for its intended purpose.. Ive not had any problems with my repair and that was this past spring..
 
I had this exact thing happen to me. When I got the bike out in the spring, the back tire was low and I found a nail in it. I have no idea how long it had been in there, but it was not losing air fast enough to notice last year. Being on the cheap side, after much debating, I decided to plug the hole. I carefully weighed whether to replace or plug. I plugged to save money. On my first ride, all I could think of was if the tire was going to blow. The ride was not enjoyable, and that is why I have the bike. I cut the ride short, came home, took the rear wheel off and bought a new tire. Best decision I made. I can now enjoy the bike. Roger
 
Thank you all for the responses. I even think the comment by Yeti was meant in a way to be blunt towards the side of safety and not to be mean. With all that said, I think I am going to try the plug at least for a little bit. It appears that people who have real experience with the rope style plugs have had good luck with them. My hole is in the tread groove in the center of the tire, My ride is straight flat ground. I'll report back after a while and let you guys know. As always.... Thanks for all the quick and honest feedback. Travis
 
Originally Posted By: Trigger
My hole is in the tread groove in the center of the tire, My ride is straight flat ground. I'll report back after a while and let you guys know. As always.... Thanks for all the quick and honest feedback. Travis

So it is tubeless?

I don't have vast experience with this, but the plugs I've installed in punctures in tread grooves eventually developed slow leaks--I think after a couple of thousand miles or more. Not really a big deal, but they got replaced with patches.
 
Originally Posted By: Trigger
Thank you all for the responses. I even think the comment by Yeti was meant in a way to be blunt towards the side of safety and not to be mean. With all that said, I think I am going to try the plug at least for a little bit. It appears that people who have real experience with the rope style plugs have had good luck with them. My hole is in the tread groove in the center of the tire, My ride is straight flat ground. I'll report back after a while and let you guys know. As always.... Thanks for all the quick and honest feedback. Travis


Worst case scenario is you buy a tube so don't get too discouraged if the plug isn't successful.
I've never seen a properly applied rope plug fail in a tire with enough rubber to make the plugging of it worthwhile.
I've plugged both the front and rear,within 45 minutes of each tire going flat on the side of the highway on a ride into the mountains.
I was almost in Canmore when the rear went flat,small puncture,unsure what was the culprit exactly. Then the front about 10 minutes past banff.
This was last spring and i'm still riding on both the same tires.
Both now require replacing but the plugs held for well over 12000kms.
Follow the instructions to the letter and I'm sure you'll be fine.
Update us with whatever the end result is.
If it does leak buy a tube. A plug properly done will last the life of the tire however you only get 1 chance. If it fails you can't remove it then try to re-scuff the hole and so on. Just too much potential debris that you may not completely remove which may compromise the plug. Just food for thought
 
If you plug it correct, not a worry. I've plugged a front myself and I won't even admit how fast I've gone with the tire plugged for a few seasons. When we took the tire off to change (friend has the shop and tire machine), he said the plug flattened so much it was never going to leak. I guess the high speeds helped flatten the plug nicely inside. Not saying the speed part was smart and it was a few years back, but just pointing out nothing wrong with a plug.
 
For some riders tire plugs are unsafe... they would spend too much
attention on the plug and not enough on where they're going and what
they're are doing... it short it's a barrier for which only a new
tire can solve... so even thought they may not find the right words
to express their fear... I still respect their choice...
 
I was talking to a friend yesterday about the safety of patching motorcycle tires. He recently patched the rear which was nearly new on his BMW K1300GT. It had a finishing brad causing a slow leak. I offered that even without patches or plugs, there still exists the possibility of rapid deflation, and that the patch or plug may not significantly alter the risk of this incidence.

Anyone here ever have a rapid deflation or blowout on a motorcycle? I haven't and don't know anyone who has. I have had a friend who had the tread come off his Sportster rear in about 1973. The flapping tread hit him in the lower back. I've had slow deflation due to a nail in the rear that I noticed when I accelerated and turned from a stop. I've arrived to ride my bike and found a tire flat a few times. Never a blow out and never a rapid deflation, which I suspect is uncommon.

There are two main factors to consider when a tire is punctured, carcass integrity and air seal. Many punctures with nails slip right through the belts without damaging them. Screws after many tire rotations and road impacts can do more damage. Rasps used before plugging likely do more damage than the puncturing object. I don't know how critical localized belt damage is to the integrity of a tire. Tire manufacturers will likely advise that any is too much. I don't know if there is evidence failures emanating from puncture points. I'd be surprised if tire manufacturers having enough data about this to make a conclusion either. After considering that rasping may cause more belt damage than the puncturing object, I might be fine with an internal patch rather than a plug or a plug/patch combo.

The other main factor is sealing, both keeping air in and water out which could cause carcass rotting or belt corrosion. The air seal seems to be the simplest part of the problem, and small punctures may not be large enough to allow water entry.
 
Originally Posted By: ledslinger
Anyone here ever have a rapid deflation or blowout on a motorcycle?


Yes I've experienced a rapid deflation 2 times on my street legal 1976
WR250 Husqvarna... the first happened as the tube separated from the
valve stem and the second time happened as I pulled a wheelie and the
rear tire buzzed sawed through a [censored] cactus... the tube was
harpooned by hundred of little spikes...

1976 WR250 Husqvarna...
265302578_3897dfbbb0_o.jpg

HuskyWheelie.jpg

265309902_98ed35e879_o.jpg
 
The people I know who've used Ride-On sealant and dynamic balancing goo like the result.
http://www.ride-on.com/motorcycle-formula-mot.html

This stuff is said to be OK for future repair or tire changes. It doesn't make a major mess inside the tire that the guy doing the change has to clean out.

"While you ride, a protective layer of Ride-On TPS - a tire balancer and sealant containing fibers six times stronger than steel evenly coats the inner surface of your tires. This coating balances your tires and makes them into self sealing tires for LIFE!"

"Ride-On will not interfere with the application of conventional tire plug and patch repairs, and can easily be washed out of tires with water."
 
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