Nail in Tire

[Monty82]

Can you patch a tire without taking it off the rim. Or is there anything else I can do to it. Air isn't leaking out it has been in the tire for 18 hours and still same pressure.

[~Barn~]

Go buy a motorcycle specific plug kit. It'll include an abrassive awl, a couple 2 or 3 plugs, and the adhesive/compound/black-magic goo that makes it all work.

If I remember right, you basically yank out the screw/nail, and insert the awl into the tire and scrub the rubber nice and good. Basically rough it up, so that there is good contact.

Then grab your plug, apply the magic goop, and pop that sucker in the tire and inflate. The rubber of the tire is supposed to physically bond with the rubber of the plug when done right, but either way... Follow the directions and you should be tip-top.

Oh yeah... Probably goes w/out saying, but don't plug a sidewall.

[eklew]

Leave it in, it's bound to snow again so then maybe you can pull it out a little and have a somewhat studded tire!!! j/k From what I know, you can plug a tire w/o taking it off the rim. Plugging a tire is sometimes not the safest thing to do but I've heard different stories from different people.

[Jenny]

Or take it somewhere to get plugged. To do it right, it needs to be patched from the inside. I went to Vickery with a nail in my tire and the plug lasted like 5K miles.

[TFOGGuys]

If the puncture is in the center 60% of the tread, it can be safely patched from the inside. Plugs are a crapshoot at best, because if they don't seal the inner liner of the tire they can lead to ply separation and rapid failure, particularly at higher speeds(more excitement than most of us need!). We can generally do them while you wait for $39.99 including removal and reinstallation (including rebalance), and if the tire is not repairable (separated or internal damage from running underinflated), we have very competitive prices on new tires.

[Archangel]

If it's not leaking air it may not have fully punctured the tire. I'd carefully pull it out and call it good.

Most dealers won't plug tires, and patches do work better.

I've plugged several tires without any problems on my street bikes.

[Nick_Ninja]

TFOG patched an Avon tire of mine. I ended up putting 4K on the thing after that ------ a lot of the miles were at speed .

[dchd1130]

Most dealers wont plug a tire for good reason. Plugs dont seal that great and can come out. Getting a flat while riding a sport bike (or any bike for that matter) can potentially make for a scary situation.

[~Barn~]

I can't argue with any of the TFOG staff, but I still think you can be reasonably comfortable with a proper plug job. Just make sure you don't 1/2-ass the install, and don't plug it in a spot that's "iffy".

I survived a day of PPIR with 1 up front and 2 in the rear.

(it was a bad week leading up to the track day)