Flat Tire 101

[hazmat]

Thanks for all the instructions on how to plug a tire.

It took me 15 minutes to get the metal (I think it was a piece of solid copper wire) out of the tread.

After removing the wire, I wrestled with the plug "file" for a while, it just didn't want to go all the way in. I thought it was because the puncture was at a weird angle. I finally got the file thru. Then I inserted the plug, the first time it didn't work, but the second time it seemed to.

I aired up the tire & the plug was leaking, so I pushed thru again with the file & Inserted the third plug. This one seemed to hold air.

Wouldn't you know the next morning the tire was flat! I swallowed my pride and took it to the local gas station, hoping they would put a patch on the inside. The guy airs it up and claims that my plug is holding air! I am perplexed. So I tell him that it leaked down to 0 psi overnight. So he puts it in the water tank.

I had a leak on the sidewall! I "fixed" the tire where it wasn't even broken. Thats why it was so hard to run the file thru the puncture. I had to take the tire to the dealer as the gas station didn't have the right size tube. Dealer took care of it while I waited.

Lesson learned: Confirm the leak before you fix it!!!! At least I am confident that I could plug a tire now If I had to. Lets just hope it isn't the right front as that one would now require a patch on the tube.

 

[Steelfan]

Way to go, Hazmat. I'm guessing once you do it once or twice, you can be an old pro. Luckily I haven't had to try it yet. BTY nice actions pictures of your TC at work in Photos. I still think you washed the tractor before you took the picture. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Kent

 

[cstocks]

You had a piece of copper wire sticking into the tire but it did not go all the way through? So you made sure the hole was a complete hole, huh?/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif Bummer! Like you say, at least it was a learning experience.

 

[bgott]

That's what they make spit for! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

It takes a lot of spit to cover the side of a tire looking for a leak/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif...

I guess bgott was referring to checking that piece of copper wire as the source of the leak.

My high frequency hearing is not the greatest, so I will not hear the hiss that others with perfect hearing can detect. What I sometimes do is either feel for the air, or run my face over the side of the tire and feel for a leak that way. Won't work for a pin hole but will work for something a little bigger.

THEN I apply the spit for confirmation!

Spit...the universal leak detector! Yea! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bill in Pgh, PA

 

[normde2001]

Unless a person is really full of spit, they can only tell where it ain't leaking, not where it is. For that, I have to fill up my bathtub. Soapy water in a spray bottle works well too.

 

[MDNick]

I picked up a 3" long self tapping screw in the rear tire of my goldwing last year. It went flat in a parking lot at work. I wanted it in a building where I could work on it. I put 2 plugs in the tread, then discovered the screw went clean through the sidewall to/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif. I then put 3 plugs in the sidewall, and went down the road at about 10 miles an hour right into a building (still at work). Took the tire off and took it to the honda shop for repair. The guys there were very disturbed to see plugs coming out of the tire period, and out of the sidewall in particular. You should never plug a MC tire, and I plugged it's sidewall. But at 10 MPH, I figured I could deal with it if it went sour. That was an expensive screw/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif.

Nick

 

[normde2001]

What the hey, Nick, It beats walking. I pushed a lot of dead motorcycles in the late 50's and early 60's and it ain't fun. With a hole in the sidewall, the tire was shot anyway, so you do whatever you gotta do.

 

[hazmat]

Norm,

What does the wife say when you put a tire in HER bathtub?/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[normde2001]

Therein lies the secret. I'm single, It's MY bathtub, and I can put anything I want in it.