HarleyTechTalk

The ol lady brought the car in to the dealer for some a routine oil change and tire rotation.  They found a nail in the tread of the tire about a inch in from the edge.  They refused to plug or patch the tire and tried to sell her a $135.00 replacement. Over the years I have plugged about a dozen or so tires and have never had a problem with any of them. "A plug is just a temporary repair",  " You need to have it patched from the inside",  Ya da,  Ya da,  Ya da.  To made a long story short, I PLUGED IT, and its fine, and I'm sure it will be for the life of the tire.  What do you guys think?  P.S. not talking bike tires here.

Unreal.  Sounds like someone is scared of liability.  Dunno.  Maybe they didn't have the equipment needed to patch it properly.  I've never had a problem with a plugged tire.
jt

Too close to the edge, lots of flexing there. The patch and or plug probably won't hold.

My daughter got stuck like that once. The tire place tried to tell her that the cords would unravel inside tire. She bought a tire. It was too late to argue about it, but what a crock.

Alot of places are doing that. Had one recently tell that they now consider anything in the tread area within an inch of the sidewall to be sidewall and therefore unable to be patched due to safety concerns. I would imagine there has been a lawsuit somewhere over this.

Another reason not to go to a car dealer for service...

Ur fine,we do it all the time.
I WOULD NOT DO THIS, but the sales man that supplys us with plugs has them all over his tire,sidewall, inwall u name it.

    After all of the things that happened with car tires and all of the recalls a few years back, you cant hardly blame them.  Its all about liability.   You cant really blame them, people are sue happy.

I've had plugs going back to the 80's and never a problem.  They're thinking liability

I have plugged 100's of tires and never a problem.  But you should use good plugs like Blackjack or North Shore Labs.  I carry a plug kit in my bike and would not hesitate to ride it home from anywhere. I would replace it when I got home but I would not worry about it if it was mine. 

 my everyday job is with a trailer manufacturer.... i have a truck i drive and use there everyday. our trailers are moved from shop to shop on steel transports for the simple fact that the yard is full of everything pointy that can enter your tire(mostly screws). i have probably 5 plugs in every tire of my truck minimum. i just don't have the time to fix it right. i've been doing this for years-never ever,ever have i had a plug fail once.i've been an avid motorcycle rider all my life. would i trust a plug!? of course.

This subject thread comes up several times a year and the subject never gets settled, it's just like an oil thread......

Plearl........

I've run many a plug over the years and never had one fail. That being said I also like to rotate the plugged tire to the rear where there is less weight, flex, and stress. Also seems safer if the plug should decide to fail. There's a first time for everything.  Helps me sleep at night.

Try this if you want to plug a tire.  I have one in the middle of  my rear tire on my bike after a 16d screw was pulled out and I have plugged my tire on the 4Runner on the crown, right where the side wall and tread meet, they don't mess up more cords as other plug kits.  They use a true plug not a piece of cord with sticky crap all over it. I use the standard model #1075.  If your IQ is a little bit above or equal to fresh spinach I don't recomend this kit.   

http://www.stopngo.com/motorcycle.asp

L-

   I stuck a cheap sticky rope plug into one of my car tires right at the edge as a temporary patch, I didn't even use an adhesive.  Been there about 20,000 miles now. She's due for tires this winter anyhow but if the snow wasn't coming I'd keep running it.

I plugged my brother n laws rear tire up in Canada 5 years ago with the Stop N Go kit with engine air pump and cord plug. He rode on that tire for over a year before trading the bike in.

One thing I always mention when tire repair kits are brought up.  Buy a new tube of glue every year. I learned the hard way when I went to repair a tire and the original glue was hard as a rock. 

i just plugged the tire on my bike about 2thousand miles ago wich would only be about 2 wks of riding because it was a new tire only had 40 miles on it i havent lost 1lb of pressure and havent seen any kind of seperation in the tread so i would just go for it.

Quote from: Wingnut on November 17, 2009, 03:03:43 PM
The ol lady brought the car in to the dealer for some a routine oil change and tire rotation.  They found a nail in the tread of the tire about a inch in from the edge.  They refused to plug or patch the tire and tried to sell her a $135.00 replacement. Over the years I have plugged about a dozen or so tires and have never had a problem with any of them. "A plug is just a temporary repair",  " You need to have it patched from the inside",  Ya da,  Ya da,  Ya da.  To made a long story short, I PLUGED IT, and its fine, and I'm sure it will be for the life of the tire.  What do you guys think?  P.S. not talking bike tires here.

They have everything to lose and nothing to gain. Plugs are getting to be a no-no. If the hole is directly in the center of the tread, some shops will agree to do a hot patch inside of the tire. I've not heard of any shops that will plug tires.

If you are driving with a tire that's been plugged by a shop and it blows out, who ya gonna call? These days, people are suing over not enough chicken in the chicken salad and coffee that's too hot.

If I had a shop, I wouldn't plug tires either. No money in it and big time liability. JMO.

Why would a plugged tire blow out? Even if the plug came out it would be a slow leak, wouldn't it?

Quote from: trück on November 18, 2009, 05:58:09 PM
Why would a plugged tire blow out? Even if the plug came out it would be a slow leak, wouldn't it?

You've just made my point. There are no guarantees. If the nail cuts a cord, it is weaker. There may never be a blowout. The problem is that when there is a problem, the injured parties will look for compensation to the tire shop that did the repair. There's no way out. The tire company has a duty to use due care in repairing a tire. If it blows, then any injury is right at their door. Additionally, there is no doubt an insurance policy that will not permit the shop to do such a repair.

I've gotten flats on the road and plugged them myself. When I get home I replace the tire.

If you want a tire plugged, then you should simply get a good plug kit and do it yourself. I go to a couple of tire shops and neither of them will plug a tire. I've asked them about it. Besides that, they don't make any money doing plugs.

ultra makes some good points, we live in a sue happy society and the minute something goes wrong we are looking for someone else to blame.....sad but a fact of life in this day and age......that being said I will plug my own tires and cant really fault a shop for refusing.....also the stopandgo product referred to earlier is one of the best tire products on the market...IMHO......

Quote from: Horizonmech on November 18, 2009, 06:23:57 PM
ultra makes some good points, we live in a sue happy society and the minute something goes wrong we are looking for someone else to blame.....sad but a fact of life in this day and age......that being said I will plug my own tires and cant really fault a shop for refusing.....also the stopandgo product referred to earlier is one of the best tire products on the market...IMHO......

It's what I carry in the left saddle bag. Hope I never have to use it.

I plugged a trailer tire that runs 60 psi and towed it 1500 miles and then parked it.  It's seen 100 miles in the 4 years it's been back and still holds air well.

I got some experience with pluggin both car tires and motorcycle tires. I recently plugged my rear tire and the plug didn't hold air for very long. So I replaced the plug with the same kind a standard rope type. It didn't hold for very long either. So I bought a kit from stop and go. Their plugs have a mushroom on the end. Well it held air till I wore the tread off the tire. I know the conventional wisdom is that this is unexceptable especially on a motorcycle tire. But I'm a cheap screw especially when 50 percent or more tread is left on the tire. At $160 + a tire  I'm willing to take a little risk. The tire manufactures and cycle shops are not and that I can understand with todays it's not my fault I'll sue society.