Truck tire sidewall patch???

[N80]

I got a tiny locust thorn stuck in one of my brand new all-terrain tires on my pickup. It was causing a very very slow leak. My wife took the truck to Discount Tire where I bought them. I did not buy the road hazard warranty. They would not even look at it and told her that they could not do anything with tires with sidewall damage. (I wonder what they would have done if I did have the road hazard warranty?). Anyway, without asking me my wife took the truck to our local small town tire place, you all know the one....in an old gas station, old tires piled up all around it, 75 years of oil and grease everywhere. They put a plug patch in the side wall. It no longer leaks.

I had always heard not to put a plug patch in a sidewall.

These are load range E tires and I tow anywhere from 5000-7000 pounds fairly regularly although I rarely inflate them to the maximum of 80 pounds.

What do you guys think about this? If it is a true safety issue I guess no harm is done since they only charged her $14 and I'll have to replace the tire anyway. Question is, would you guys drive and tow with a sidewall plug patch? If not, I've got to get a new $200 tire.

 

[fishheadbob]

I would make sure there was air in my spare, then give it a try.
I had 2 sidewall punctures on factory run flat tires with no road hazard. High dollar replacements were purchased for about $750 for 4, I bought the road hazard guarantee on the replacements. I managed to puncture one of those - yeah I know. Where have I been driving - and after only a minor tussle the Goodyear store replaced it without screwing around with pro-rating or anything.

 

[CobyRupert]

I had always heard not to put a plug patch in a sidewall. -Yep

Question is, would you guys drive and tow with a sidewall plug patch? If not, I've got to get a new $200 tire.

-Nope.

If it blows, there's no steel bands there to limit /contain the blow out.

I think the sidewall of a tire does the majority of the flexing. (Not sure, but is this where heat build up is greatest or on the tread?) Either way, I wouldn't trust a plug that gets flexed 500 times a mile.
Personally, I'd trust a patch more , if I had to. I'd think spending the $200 is worth not being stuck on the side of the road ....or highway. ...but if you're comfortable with it blowing and have a spare, give it a try.

 

[TractorNH]

The general rule is to not patch a tire outside of the tread because the tread area is stronger due to the belts and the sidewall is not as reinforced. I had a place tell me they wouldn't do it when I had a nail in a tire right at the edge of the tread. I bought the kit and did it myself and it was fine. The place that did fix it has set themselves up for a big liability if you're towing and you have a blowout and cause an accident. There's just no way to say the tire rating hasn't been compromised.

With your tire I wouldn't have done a plug, I would take it to a REAL tire place, like one that does truck and heavy equipment tires and see if you can convince them to fix it for you the right way which is to take the tire off the rim and put a glued on patch on the inside. The process of doing a tire plug essentially made the hole bigger to be able to plug it. Since it was a slow leak it shouldn't have been an issue to have them do an internal patch since you could argue the thorn didn't fully puncture the tire.

I'm not sure I'd trust the tire for heavy towing now with the plug in it and I'd be worried about it blowing out. If they're brand new I'd just go ahead and get a replacement as much as that sucks to have to do it. You don't want a blowout while towing a heavy trailer.

 

[TractorNH]

-Nope.
I think the sidewall of a tire does the majority of the flexing. (Not sure, but is this where heat build up is greatest or on the tread?)

Heat is caused by the flexing of the sidewall. This is why you need a properly inflated tire. If it's underinflated then the tire flexes more and generates more heat as you're going down the road. Get too much heat and the rubber gets weak and causes a major blowout.

 

[CobyRupert]

Heat is caused by the flexing of the sidewall. This is why you need a properly inflated tire. If it's underinflated then the tire flexes more and generates more heat as you're going down the road. Get too much heat and the rubber gets weak and causes a major blowout.

Ah, thank you, this is what I thought. Even a properly inflated tire has sidewall flex (heat) every rotation. You can see where the rubber gets weak on old tires, where cracking usually starts on the sidewall where the tire flexes.

 

[woody]

I would take that tire and have a good patch put on the inside and use it as a spare.

 

[fidowanttobe]

Patching inside sidewalls is tricky too. Seems there is so much flex that the patch tears or lets go. Plugs have come a long way and I have (KOW), had good luck with them. But, depends on your travels and tows. I know, I hate those expensive "spares" too.

 

[KennyG]

When I damaged a sidewall on a front tractor tire, the local shop said they would put a patch on it, only because it was an off road tire. They also qualified it by saying that they would do it if I wanted to waste my money because it would fail because of sidewall flex. I bought a new tire.

 

[N80]

I've plugged many a punctured tread myself. Even a track/race tire. But never a sidewall. I think I'll bite the bullet and get a new tire. Having a sudden blowout while going 70mph with 7000# behind me just sounds too dangerous. If it were a car that just got basic use I might try it. Or if this was my farm truck I wouldn't care either....it rarely sees pavement.

I agree that an interior patch doesn't sound much better than a plug in terms of reliability because of sidewall flex. What concerns me about the plug is that there is now a larger defect in the sidewall. The plug is not leaking so that is not my worry. It is the sudden rupture of the side wall that scares me. $200 down the drain.

Thanks for the replies guys.