Tire plugging

We got a roofing nail in one of the back tires on the Phaeton several years ago. After a horrible experience with the outfit our road service called, we drove into Boulevard Tire in Deland, Florida. Boondocked in their back lot and at 7:30 in the morning, they put someone on that tire. The road service had put on a used tire that had had a blown sidewall repaired. . . yeah, we know. The guys at Boulevard plugged and patched the tire that had the nail and we ran it on the back for another 40,000 miles. Changed it only due to age.

Dale

Best practice is to remove tire from wheel and patch from the inside. Few tire shops will mess with plugs these days due to the possibility of failure. Like many things, a plug works until it doesn't.

Last Summer (2017) ran over a metal boxing staple when we pulled into a steel mill parking lot. (I'm pretty sure that's where I picked it up). Anyway, couple days later, noticed the passenger side, rear tire on the camper was flat.

My next door neighbor, who is a life long farmer, as his father, and his father, he said "no problem". He'd get the tire plugging kit from their shop and plug it for me. Next day he did. Didn't have to take the tire off the trailer or anything. It's been holding just fine ever since.

He told me they plug those $5000 each gigantic tractor and combine tires all the time with plugs. Never had one fail. New holes, but never a failure. The kit he used was brand new, glue was new, plugs were new. I think that makes a difference.

First trip out, I was extremely watchful of the tire. But after a few thousand miles further, I began to relax about it. If it happened again on another tire, I'd do it the same way.

My neighbor also plugged my son's car tire too (he lives with us), when we were on a trip a few days after he did the trailer. My son has had no issues with the plug on his car.

I think tire shops are under a bit more scrutiny than the Average Joe on the street. They do all they can to eliminate liability. So saying they don't don't plug tires, is basically saying, they don't want to take any liability if it doesn't work.

Besides, if the customer buys a new tire for $100, the business is making more profit than charging $7.50 for plugging one!

After a roofing job at the house, I had a few plugs in the tires on both cars. Ran them for years. No problems.

The tire pressure sensors on the other hand...

i was a tire buster and tire salesman, many years ago and would NEVER plug a tire, unless it was an emergency.
even back then.

Patching on the inside is the best solution.