Tires: Flat Tire Repair, flat tire repair, light truck tires

Question
Is there a preferred method for repairing a flat tire i.e., plug or hot patch?

Thanks for you advice!

Answer
Mike,

The answer to your question depends on what type of tire you have.

For passenger and light truck tires, there is only one approved method - a combination repair that consists of a patch and something to fill the injured area.  These can be separate pieces or a one piece unit, sometimes known as a mushroon patch.

For truck tires, off road, and agricultural tires, the preferred method is to rebuild the area with uncured rubber and recure it.  However, this is fairly expensive and sometimes combination repairs will do the job.

For most other tires, it is just not worth the cost to do a repair.  Buying a new tire is a better solution.

Notice that the plug is not on this list.  Plugs are the most repulsive of things to tire manufacturers.  They leak all too often, and sometimes they leak into the carcass, forcing the materials apart and causing separations.

Hope this helps.