NoOne

I had a leaking rear tire and thought I had it fixed. I believed it was the valve stem so I replaced it and it seemed to hold air.

Now of course our Grattan track day is tomorrow and the tire is not holding air.

Did another inspection and found a small nail in the outer treadblock of my Kumho MXs.

Noway to get a new tires by tomorrow.

It'll go from 32psi to about 18psi overnight. If I drive on it I'll lose maybe 1-2 psi in a 150 mile drive once it cools.

I don't want to plug it and not sure if I can get someone to do an internal patch today.

Fix a flat?

The tires are pretty much toast and will be replaced shortly but I wanted to get this last day out of it or is it too much of a risk and I should just skip?

Thanks

jrz1

I won't recommend this but will throw it out there. Had similar problem and plugged it myself before an event. Watched it carefully and it held no problem through the whole event. It likewise was a very slow leak so even if the plug did not hold, I was unlikely to have a catastrophic failure. Others may say I'm off base or stupid and they may be right but it worked in a pinch.

mikahb

Quite a conundrum... If it's losing 12 lbs overnight, that's not a tiny leak. The nail being in the outer tread block means you'll be leaning on it when you're pushing. Are you driving the car to/from the event or towing? If you're towing, I'd probably chance it since it's highly unlikely you'll have some sort of "catastrophic" failure. If you're driving it, then ANY kind of problem could leave you stranded which just sucks.

If it were me, I'd go get a patch kit at your friendly local auto parts store today, patch it up (avoid the fix-a-flat, IMHO) and see how well it holds air. If you get it fixed today, you can relax and not worry tomorrow.

Good luck!

wtknght1

Believe it or not, a plug works amazing well. I've had to race on a plugged tire before and it did just fine....didn't lose any air the whole day. Get a plug kit from Wal-mart, plug it, and I doubt you'll have any issues. I would recommend using the rubber cement that you may have to buy separately. It works.

NoOne

Ok I checked it again this morning, lost 5psi over night....I thought the problem with plugging was you lose the rating because your most likely punturing the belt.

I hit about 138 at my top speed at this event and thats only in one place, the next fasest corner is 103 and my fastest turning corner is probably about 85, others average about 40-60.

I don't mind having a problem driving to and from. My wife is driving the food wagon with all the stuff for the event in it so thats not a problem. Worst case I need to go back with a spare tire.

If you guys don't think plugging is a problem I'll resort to that assuming I cannot find a place to patch it today.

I'd prefer patching and if the consensus is that its not the end of the world then I'll take a chance on it.

I'm not the most aggressive driver in the world. I'd rather come home in one piece than push for that extra few seconds.

Thanks

c4cruiser

Take the offending wheel off and go to a Discount Tire or Les Schwab tire store (or other similar tire store). Have them properly repair the leak. This involvee both a plug and an internal patch that will be applied with the tire off of the wheel.

They will insert a plug which is realy more like a piece of rubber and coated with a glue/sealant. Once that is done, they will grind down the plug on the inside of the tire casing and apply a vulcanizing patch.

These two steps together will preserve the speed rating of the tire and you should not have any problems.

Gary2KC5

I got a puncture at an event once and had to put an emergency plug in it. It work fine, held air great, and when i took it to the tire shop to be properly repaired they said it was better off to leave the plugged repair in since it was holding air vs. taking it out and patching it.

Seemed to work fine for that situation.

NoOne

Went to 2 tire places, neither would touch it.

One couldn't get the tire off the rim(295/35) and the other was worried about the lack of tread.

They lack treat, their track tires

They need replacing but I had one good day left on them so wasn't about to toss them early.

In the heat they are holding air and actually going up in pressure, growing like normal.

I'm taking my plug kit with me tomorrow and will drive it as is. I'll keep an eye on the pressure in the car and if it becomes a problem I'll plug it and call it a day to drive home.

Thanks for the info, I figured most would say not to drive on it at all.

wallyman424

i have a set of junk track yokohamas...

one tire has a "leak." It only happens when the tire is cold. So when i'm on track its a non-issue...

its been that way for a while now...

i'm not saying this is ok to do, this is just my experience.

bobmoore2

I would pull the nail out and see how well it holds pressure. If the nail flies out at track speeds or moves a little at track cornering loads, then you could lose pressure much faster than expected and that could be a very bad thing.

If it holds pressure reasonably well with the nail removed and you can't get it patched in time, then I would say it is OK for one more track day.

Now don't go suing me, if something goes wrong!

AU N EGL

and the valve stem is tight? that is always the first place I look when a tire looses air.

UstaB-GS549

I have been plugging race tires for 20 years. I don't see how a patch is going to improve the speed rating over a plug.

I once had a 12mm bolt go into the center of the tread in the pit lane at GingerMan. I could hear it clicking away as I drove in to the pits. I unscrewed the bolt with a 19mm socket, plugged tire and drove home that night. That tire later hit 140 many times at Road America without a hitch.

FWIW. Just another opinion.

NoOne

First thing I did was replace the valve stem.

I'll take the kit with me and see how it goes. The tread block is so large I suppose I could pull the nail out, it might close up.

This is a finishing nail, the tiny long ones you'd use to put trim up. Its almost so embedded in the tire the rubber had started to close around it.

My point behind patching versus plugging was not to damage any more of the belting.

WNeal

having not experienced this myself and only a year into HPDE's , I am surprised at the responses.
I would not have thought that you could plug and race but seems you can.
I have learned much from the more experienced folks on here.

CF6873

the reason some shops won't plug a tire is they do not know if the tire was driven with very low pressure. If a very low tire is driven for a while the side wall will lose integrity and may be unsafe. When a tire is removed for a patch/plug you can inspect the inside of the sidewall and see if it is starting to degrade. If you know that is was not driven with low pressure go ahead and plug it.

Bill Dearborn

Some shops will fix a tire if you go in and tell them what you are using it for. To avoid liability they tell you to leave the tire for a half hour when you get back it is sitting right where you left it ready to go for free without a sales slip and you throw the tire changer a $20 if you know who it is. If you have a problem they have no clue about anything and no idea who fixed your tire.

Bill

NoOne

It held...no problems...left the nail in, put in 33psi, went upto 39 after 4 laps as it should....held all day at the right pressures.

Coming back home the rear right grew to 36 while the bad tire went to 33 and stayed at 33.

Made it through the day and I really like this MX's. One of the few tires that gets better with a lot of heat.

Thanks again for the tips.