I know you shouldn't but ....

Rich - Tyre places are out to sell new tyres, not to save you money. A simple nail hole where a tyre carcass hasn't been overheated, or the plies haven't been damaged, is a no-brainer for a simple repair and re-use.

We used to repair radial truck tyres at Bell Bros tyre repair business, that had stakes through the sidewall up to 100mm long.
The repair involved buffing the area surrounding the stake hole, and a vulcanised patch, with additional rubber added, if needed.
Provided that no more than a couple of cords or plies were broken, it was a guaranteed repair.
These tyres would go on to carry full loads for their whole life, and quite often, be recapped as well.

Cheers, Ron.

I'd be asking myself what the risks are of running a staked tyre like your's as a spare. The answer would be none.

What about then when it is not a spare & is now in use as another tyre is punctured? I personally think that if there is no obvious damage inside the tyre & it was plugged properly, I would happily risk it "within reason" until the other tyre was fixed.

I would regardless however replace it along with another tyre when wear on the non punctured tyres dictated a change. This is a good case for TPMS which I do not have yet.

Thanks for the replies.

The hole was VERY small. While the nail was in and it was a very small nail it was losing about 1-2 psi per day.

Once I pulled that out it was a different story.

I am not that skilled at repairing tyres. I have used plugs a couple of times but reckon there are better options as mentioned. It is a DISCO 4 and getting the tyres off those are beasts- why I went for second spare tyre and rim instead of just a tyre.

The trouble is finding some one who will do it for me. I went to two places who were keen to sell me a new tyre and would not fix it. One was very helpful though as they changed over to my spare without cost.

Need to keep looking I guess.In a pinch I would just plug it.

If i used it would be an emergency only and I would drive accordingly.

Thanks again
Richard

I don't regard the Tyre Repairers as doing anything else but trying to protect you from yourself and any unwise decision you may make.
If the tyre could be safely repaired they would do it. It is not as if you are in a remote location and only have one dealer trying to flog you an overpriced tyre.

Mate, they are doing you a favour. Ditch it a buy a new one.
Sometimes you just got to accept "the umpire's" decision.

I destroyed two 3 week old Bridgestone tyres on the Birdsville Track and had to buy two new ones at Birdsville. Cost me $350 per tyre and what was worse, the new ones were bloody Coopers!
I had run them flat for two long and destroyed the inside of them.

Personally I would toss it.

I cut a tyre's side wall on a drive through the Alpine area just last year. We left the group and came home in case I damaged another tyre. Which was very likely as we were driving some tracks with very sharp rocks.

I tossed it out. It's not worth the risk.

I can't imagine how I could live when trying to save a few dollars I injured or killed someone, especially my wife. Such a small price in comparison to pay.

Phil

It is all about liability and insurance.

Most places won't fix a tyre with side-wall damage, those that do run the risk of a liability issue should that tyre blow and cause an accident.

Mind you, there is a reson it is a potential liability issue, it is deemed unsafe. Perhaps it could be argued a small repair in the side-wall would be okay, but there is no upside for the repairer by fixing it.

If you are in the bush and have no alternative, than fix it and replace at opportunity.

Cheers, Baz - The Landy

Thanks all

Both sides of the fence are worth considering. I can understand there may be legal issues involved. I would only use it if I am stuck some where .

I must admit my preference is to go new as I was rotating the six tyres. I would still be able to do this if I got a new one as the tyre are in good nick and not that old, why I was hoping I could still use it .

I may just use it to practise plugging tyres for awhile and get a new one later.

Richard

I had a sidewall repaired by a place called Seaton Tyres here in Adelaide and they plug and volcanize the inside and out and just like new. They even guarantee the repair. They are the only mob in Adelaide that I know of that does it.

There are some well researched and backed articles on the net about this issue.
Remember most of the tyre stores don't employ clever people.
They intentionally limit what they will repair to only the very simplest repairs and they have very crude and simplistic rules about what can be repaired.

My understanding is that this CAN be legally and safely repaired ..... just that most tyre stores have neither the skill nor the knoweledge to do this.

check this
http://www.beadelltours.com.au/tyre_rules.html

cheers

Fair enough p'raps that YOU will use it only as an emergency spare, but further down the track if and when you sell the vehicle, you will be sure to remove that 'repaired' tyre from the vehicle so no unsuspecting driver can use it unaware of the repair.
On another tack, if you do fit that tyre after another puncture on the vehicle, what happens if that repair does let go or it is punctured again ?
Do you carry 2 spares ?

Lance

I had a small hole in the shoulder of an AT tyre. Same response from a tyre place. The noodle that I then glued in worked fine.

It's dead easy to do.

"I know you shouldn't but..."

...then why do it?

Cheers

Anthony

I wouldn't plug a sidewall, I'd patch it on the inside. I had one done by Adam at the Pink Roadhouse when he was still alive. It seemed to work fine as an emergency fix.

Not sure if I mentioned it but if I keep it then it will be my second spare.

Re passing onto some one else. Not likely. I will be going through a number of tyres before selling it.

From comments above it does sound it could be repaired to a point. That is what I would be looking for and why I would do it.

I know the general rule is in side wall then trash it but this really is a very small hole and seems a shame to trash it BUT I will if I have to.

Many thanks for replies

Ruchard

Hi Rich
I go along with Ron N . I was a tyre dealer in a country area . We major repaired tyres of all sorts. That is buffing out and cooking/ vulcanising in new rubber. Tyre repair supply companies such as Rema TipTop (German company) supply materials and all the technical info including the limitations,to the repairers. If a 4x4 tyre has heaps of tread life left it would be worth doing. There would be businesses all over the country that do this , maybe mostly involved agricultural areas. Try good ole Google.
Another comment, plugs are only designed to be temporary repairs, and something to consider is , you can do more damage to the tyre by putting a plug in. Maybe then making it unrepairable. I have used them myself , but with tyre industry repair knowledge, I know when and where to use them, or stick em in and don't intend using the tyre again.
I've seen farmers keep jamming plugs in holes until the leak stops, one bloke had a dozen in one hole . that's on non road going machinery of course.
Straight thru the tread is pretty good, but I have seen where people have stuck a plug thru at a nail hole on the out side and actually driven in on a new angle and done more damage.
Then there are a lot of dodgy repairs that last for ages too.
Good luck
Sounds like you are on the right track anyway
Cheer
Robbo

You don't say which TPMS you have, but they are usually programmed to sound after a set decrease (or increase) in pressure or temperature. I had a slow leak that was indicated by the TPMS on my caravan. I was between towns, so pumped it up, and as the pressure dropped, the TPMS alarmed again, alerting me that it was time to pump up the tyres again. My TPMS works on 20% below the set pressure programming. If I set it at 40 lb, it would sound if the tyre reached 32 lb. The secret is to remember to reset it back after dropping tyre pressures for sand or off road work (having reset the pressure setting for the reduced pressure)

I had a nail in my tyre 3 weeks ago that i picked up on the Oodnadatta track nail went in right where your nail went in .
My tyres are BF Goodridge MT s i plugged it and did another 4000 kms on it, it's still on the car now .
my tyres were at 27 lbs at the rear towing camper .

Colin

Rich
A small hole like that in that location should be an easy and legal repair in accordance with the Australian Standards. Rema Tip Top will have the correct size reinforced patch. The hole is then cleaned and filled with uncured rubber and the whole lot vulcanised together.

Try ringing Rema Tip Top. They don't have a sales outlet listed in the ACT on their web siteRema Tip Top so ring their Sydney depot. They have mobile reps covering the whole country or they did when I bought a few things from them a couple of years ago. They will tell you who their rep is in your area and he will be able to tell you who does major repairs because chances are he will be supplying them with all the equipment they need.


If that does not work, and you can wait until mid October, then ring Mick Hutton from Beadells. He and his wife, Connie Sue Beadell, live on a rural property about 5 ks out of Canowindra in central NSW. He is licenced to do major repairs and runs his own business doing it during the off season for their desert 4wd touring company. phone number

try another tyre shop,, they can vulcanize it to repair . I have had several done in Perth.

Many thanks
I am starting to feel more hopeful.

It is worth checking further

I will get in touch with REMA next week as am heading towards Sydney next weekend .

Richard

Read here
http://www.gotyres.com.au/mobile-puncture-repairs-tyre-repair.php
And here
Vic roads rulings
And here
http://journal.mtansw.com.au/12/april/div_nb_april12.php
And here
https://www.beaurepaires.com.au/advice/tips-and-advice/repairing-tyres

Buy a tyre plug kit, get shown how to use it, repair it yourself, & shoulder the responsibility!

Hi Rich,
Most are trying to save their backsides for your safety, which is fair enough.
You yourself knows the tyre more than anyone else. Judging from the photo it looks like the nail entered the shoulder, not the side wall, and you mentioned staking the sidewall, which is not the case.
Did the tyre delaminate?
Did the tyre run underinflated and overloaded for some time?
Did the tyre blokes take the tyre of the rim to thoroughly assess the condition of the carcass?
Have you damaged the sidewalls on a kerb or sharp object?
Have you had an ugly piece of metal bolt or stick go through it and damage the construction of the tyre?
Have you only got a small nail hole that lets air out? So maybe you have a good tyre that leaks air. As a number of reply's have mentioned tyres can be repaired, just goggle tyre repair kits, they don't make them for nothing.
Tyres blow out if under inflated, over inflated, over loaded, high speed, high temperatures, damaged sidewalls, hitting hard sharp objects or a combination of a number of these conditions.
If your tyre man tells you it can't be repaired without removing it and thoroughly
inspecting it, his probably not a qualified tyre repairer, just a salesman.
good luck

Hi again all
A story about repairing tyres.
I had a customer come in (country area) and he had some obscure tyre size with damage that shouldn't have been repaired.I had nothing to put on New or secondhand to even suffice as a spare. I used to keep all sorts of usable secondhand tyres just for these occasions.
Since he lived 100 k away, I offered to repair it just so he had a spare, but wouldn't balance it, so as to discourage it being used long term .I fixed the leak. Then the guy proceeded to try to get me to balance it , even offering to pay me extra.
That's certainly why some tyre people won't repair some stuff because there are some idiots out there.
If he had persisted to much I think I would have sliced a bl..dy big hole in it, and sent him 100 k home with no spare at all!
I thought after I should have taken his money and did a dummy balance and put a heap on opposite so it would shake his teeth out. Ha ha.
Cheers

tyre repair,a cheap trick i saw in india years ago,a piece of old tyre bolted to the outside of the wall with coach bolts the round heads were inside .plus whatever else to not damadge the tube.was being driven on the usual heavy over loaded truck.bye barry

Let's get things into perspective here. The OP says he got a VERY SMALL HOLE in a sidewall, from a NAIL.
The tyre has not been run flat, it does not have a bruised carcass, it wouldn't have broken plies, the nail would merely have speared between the plies and perforated the rubber.

The people advocating the tyre be scrapped obviously have little understanding of just how bloody tough, tyres are.
These people happily sit in big jets, where the tyres are smacked into concrete pavement at 250+ kmh - from a static position.
The tyres get dragged, smoking and screeching for hundreds of metres, while they spool up to the full 250kmh speed - at the same time as dozens of tonnes of aircraft weight, is thumped down onto them!
On top of this - those tyres are often likely to be RETREADS!!

I guess all those pussies who say the OP's tyre needs to be scrapped, should stop flying and landing and taking off, on those lousy crap retreads!

These same people happily punch their way along old tracks littered with gibbers, in their 4WD's, at speed - where their tyres are getting the crap pounded out of them by sharp rocks, hundreds of times a minute!!
They then reckon a blokes tyre with a miniscule NAIL HOLE in it - through the rubber - means the tyre needs to be immediately scrapped!!

I'd be more worried about the bloke from the city coming towards you in his $200 Magna or his $300 Commonore - who has never checked his tyre pressures in 5 years - has run every second tyre on his heap, flat - and then pumped them up again and kept going!

This same bloke has got half-cut, and smacked and bashed his Magna/Commonore/BogMobile into kerbs, steel projections, gateposts, or any one of a thousand other tyre-damaging items - all of which have fractured cords, bruised his tyre carcasses, until they bulge - and he's happily driving towards you at 100kmh on those things, that are definitely blowouts just waiting to let go!!

Tyres will take an enormous beating. They will function happily for years with major repairs - provided they are done properly.
A nail hole is not a major repair. It is a simple repair, which done properly by a professional tyre repairer, will provide the same level of safety and security and tyre performance, as a new tyre.

Believe me, I have had major, major repairs carried out on hundreds and hundreds of tyres, worn them out, and had them retreaded afterwards, as well.
The only time I have actually blown a tyre is during the days of crossply tyres.
I blew a front (crossply) tyre on a truck once, because the carcass had been seriously damaged by a rock, and I was unaware of it.

I have bought new Dunlop tyres for one ute in the late 1970's - and every one of those tyres fell apart in the carcass, due to manufacturing faults - while I was driving the ute!
They developed huge bulges in the carcass as the plies separated - until the unbalanced tyres virtually made the ute undriveable!

Despite all that - not one of those lousy, crappy Dunlops, ever blew out - even with the major manufacturing flaws!!
I merely whipped them off when it was obvious they had major problems - and I was amazed that tyres so faulty, and out of round in the carcass, could still perform their job!

The OP doesn't have to scrap his near new expensive tyre - all he needs is a professional minor repair, and there is no reason why it could not be guaranteed to perform as a new one, afterwards.

Cheers, Ron.

Rich, your potential tyre fix will probably be governed by three main problems we have in Australia today ...

1. The numbers of people with the skills to do repairs such as this, is declining rapidly. No-one wants to get their hands dirty any more, and tyre repairs are hard, dirty work. The tyre industry isn't alone with this angle.

2. With the current cost of everything done locally, it's entirely likely a proper repair of the nail hole will equal the value of the tyre.
On that basis, it may be simply declared an uneconomic repair, by a tyre business that has high overheads.

3. The lawyer-driven abject fear of being sued until you have nothing left, if your repair fails - for any reason whatsoever.
I could write pages on why this lawyer-driven part of our society is such a burden on the nations productivity and inventiveness - but I won't.
Suffice to say, it will probably feature in many repairers decision-making processes as to whether they even consider doing the repair.

To expand on the damage and the repair process, let's look at what tyre repair is designed to achieve.

1. A patch or plug repair is designed to just simply stop air leaking from the tyre. A patch or plug does nothing as regards re-bonding holed rubber. The small hole in the rubber stays there, because it's deemed not to be a problem, and it will not progress to something larger and more dangerous.

2. A vulcanised tyre repair is designed to not only stop the air leaking from the tyre - it is also designed to rebond torn rubber that has exposed rayon plies or belts, and to give full, original conformity to the tyre.
This repair is also designed to prevent the ingress of moisture, salt, chemicals and abrasives from the road surface, into the tyre piles and steel belts - where the said contaminants can cause damage and corrosion to the rayon, nylon or kevlar plies - or corrosion to the steel wires in the tread belts.

A professional tyre repairer examines tyre damage carefully. He examines how the damage has penetrated the casing - whether the damaging object has just simply gone straight through at right angles, or whether the object has gone through at a steep angle and damaged more of the casing than is immediately visible.

Numerous times, a cut or tear in a tyre will have to be buffed back to find the limits of the cut or tear.
If the cut or tear reaches to the section where the tread meets the wall, or nearly to the bead - the tyre is deemed unrepairable.

A professional tyre repairer will examine the inside and the outside of the tyre casing carefully - looking for visible wrinkling lines, that indicates the tyre has been run flat for a substantial distance, which has caused major casing damage, and made the tyre unrepairable.

He will also look for bruising of the casing, where a tyre has received a major blow from a rock or other hard item such as concrete kerbs or other projections, that has seriously damaged the casing, and broken plies or de-laminated them.
In the case of finding serious and damaging bruises (usually indicated by a slight bubble), the tyre will be deemed unrepairable.

The repairer will also examine whether there are broken plies in the wall, or fractured wires in the belts, and how many of them.
A couple of broken plies in the wall is still deemed as repairable, multiple broken plies is not. Fractured wires in steel belts, deem the tyre unrepairable.

As to the major worry of blowouts - let's examine them.
Blowouts are pretty rare in todays world. Blowouts are almost never caused by faulty repairs or dodgy patches on big holes.

Blowouts are caused by ...

1. Overloading the tyre
2. Impact damage from a solid large object (either immediate or delayed, depending on severity of the impact)
3. A massive cut that causes rapid air loss
4. An unnoticed small puncture that allows the tyre to slowly lose air over time, until it fails due to major heat build up and casing delamination.

I have had numerous blowouts, and most at high speed. I can tell you from personal experience, the single greatest chance of getting a blowout is from driving at speed on dirt roads that have recently been maintenance graded.

Maintenance grading brings trash, rocks and sharp sticks from the edges of the road formation, back into the centre and in the main tyre track ruts of the road - and buries them there.

A good maintenance grader driver will attempt to minimise this problem by carrying out multiple passes with the grader moldboard set on a steep angle to ensure the damaging trash, rocks and sticks is sieved out of the gravel and relocated to the road edges.

However, many maintenance grader drivers are careless, in a hurry to cover ground, and care little about the amount of trash they leave in the formation when doing road maintenance.

As a result, if you come across very recent dirt road maintenance, it pays to reduce speed substantially, and be very aware that there is likely to be tyre-damaging trash, rocks and sticks buried in the fresh, smooth road surface.

Cheers, Ron.

I was a conveyor belt splicer for 20 yrs and we used Tip Top Rema products on conveyor belts you can use the same glue and patches on tyres lots of tyre outlets use them. I patched a sidewall stake back in the late 80's I glued a reinforced patch inside the tyre it has a layer of ply in it for strength and for extra piece of mind and safety I got a tube fitted it worked fine. They do sell tyre repairs kits these days.