SHOO-GOO COOPER ST TYRE FIX
TEST
Most of our trips usually involve testing new products or different
camping solutions, and so it was no different on our recent 6000km loop
from
Melbourne via
Birdsville thru the North Simpson via
Hay river, Alice
and back to
Melbourne via the Murray sunset.
From the 4 available sets of wheels for the 4800 GU Patrol I choose to take my
relative skinny but tall 255/85/16 Cooper ST which have about 75% life left.
These offered the greatest longitudinal contact patch.
While in generally good condition these tyres had 3 lugs torn off them
on Mt Blue Rag over Xmas as a result of not engaging the rear locker soon
enough. This probably would not of happened if the Patrol still had its LSD.
The missing lugs left large deep holes in the tread pattern extending just below
the carcass surface but not so deep as to expose any belts. The largest missing
piece was about 12cm sq in area.
Rather than throw the otherwise good tyres out I choose to repair them with
layers of Shoo-Goo.
Shoo-Goo has become one of those, must take ,wonder products like Gaffa tape and cable ties to us over the years. It is an adhesive sealant that essentially leaves
a layer of rubber behind after it has cured and this layer has strong bonding
properties. It is available in small tubes from bigger shoe stores and is
relatively expensive at around $18 for 300g. If your into motocross as we are
where bike boots can now cost $800 a last for only a few races you soon come to
appreciate an effective shoe repair product.
Research on the internet will show very few hits regarding repairing tyres,
perhaps because of the liability issues involved. However there are some
regarding the use of products like shoo-goo for repairing less-critical
tyres such as those used on fork lifts and golf buggies where speed is
low. I cannot recommend Shoo-goo but can tell you of our experience.
First I only choose to use Shoo-Goo to replace a torn off lug and would
not have used it if the carcass had been penetrated or any metal
belts were exposed, as these usually end up rusting lifting the tread
nearby.
I have also used Shoo-goo to reduce spreading of the odd cut.
The tread height was about 10mm around the missing lugs and I let the tyre
warm in the sunshine and applied Shoo-Goo to a depth of around 3mm and let it cure for a couple of hours. It can ooze around a bit and it helps to have the area
to be patched horizontal. I applied 3 layers to a height of about 8mm over
a 24 hr period to each of the 3 torn off lugs (2 lugs on 1 tyre and 1 on another)
My thinking here was that the goo would not be as good as the original material
and I didn't think it would stand up to constant contact with the road surface.
The layering allows for better curing.
Results - on our trip the
Birdsville track again proved to be the most damaging
on tyres due to both the stony surface and the opportunity to go too fast.
One of the vehicles in our group of 6 got the pressure/speed/load
equation wrong and shredded two Geolander AT tyres on this track and another
car got a flat.
After the entire 6000km trip 6 of the 8 layers of Shoo-Goo I had applied remained
and it was clear the new rubber surface had survived
well and in
places the
original lugs had worn down to the level of the Shoo-Goo, and both had then
been worn further.
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Chipping Note - The Cooper ST tyres I had were the only tyres in our group
to exhibit fresh chipping as a result of the
Birdsville track section.
Tyres Included
GU Patrol BFG AT (New)
60 SERIES Geolander AT (60%) (2 shredded)
NAVARA Wrangler ATR (New)
Pajero Grandtrek AT2 (70%)
Range Rover BFG AT (New)
GU Patrol Cooper ST ( 75% lugs patched)
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Notes - At
Birdsville the shredded 10R15 tyres were replaced with Dessert Duelers
as per there recommendation at the relative good price of $204 each.
The Pajero had a nail removed and was repaired at the
Birdsville tyre dealer and the tyre failed the next day at Poepels corner and we repaired it with a plug which held for the rest of the trip.
Robin Miller