Plugging a RE-11, Safe at Higher Speeds?
 

My WRX has RE-11's on it. My wife got a screw in it, today and took it too Americas tire were they plugged it. I won't be home for a few days, but she said they plugged it, shaved the plug, then put a patch over it. I have not heard of this before, I seen either/or not both.

Is this a new technique? or am I just way out of touch with the tire fixing scene?

These tires see, AutoX, perhaps some HPDE's soon, and some pretty unreasonable mountain driving (light squealing on corners, 100+ on the straights). With the somewhat extreme use these tires see, will a plug negatively affect the tires safety at speed?

I wouldn't risk it, but a a plug plus patch on the inside wold probably be fine.

On my old Eagle F1s, I had four rope plugs in the right rear tire before I finally replaced them. Why did I replace them? Well, because I cut the sidewall on the right-rear.

Something was cursed about that corner of the car. I never had any problems at all with the other three tires...

I've never heard of plug-n-patch either, kind of thought the whole point of plugging was to avoid having to dismount the tire. Can't hurt, I guess.

I've gone 150mph on a plugged NT-01 and run a few track days on that tire.

I've gone my absolute record speed 174 indicated on a Honda 954 with a plugged rear.

I went 175mph on Josh's mountain bike with a plugged rear tire.

I'll be keeping it under 150. So I think I'll be fine. Thanks guys.

I recall reading something in the NASA handbook about using a plugged for HPDE. I had a small leak in one of my RE-11s and just left it but I am sure a plug would of been fine. If you ever do a HPDE I would be shocked if the tech guy saw the plug anyway

I had some qualms about the idea of tracking a plugged tire, until I actually had to plug a tire myself. I used the typical parts store rope style plug kit on a nail hole in one of my RS2s. Getting the reamer tool in there was an absolute whore and the plug was just as difficult. There is no way that plug is going anywhere. Drive it like you stole it.

ftfy

Also, I've never had an issue with a plug, at least, not yet... Though a plug+patch is advised if you have a shop do it.

I went 275mph while plugging your girlfriends anus.

I've plugged a sportbike tire before...

...I made sure to put a new tire on before my next track day...

Held on the street, but wasn't worth the risk to track on super-thin carcass motorcycle tires.

Must have been like throwing a golf ball through an aircraft hanger...

...And no, that wasn't a knock on his girlfriend...

;)

FYI, these are the only plugs I run. Walmart uses this style.

Huh- I've never seen that style of plug before.

As I don't have a spare tire, I carry one of these with me:

Attachment 240892

It's a system that lets you shoot a plug into the tire from the outside, which is very handy as an expedient temporary solution. They also make a smaller version with a hand-applicator instead of the gun, which conveniently fits beneath your average motorcycle saddle.

Ironically, I have only ever had to use it on other people's cars, however it works quite nicely. The plugs don't use any sort of adhesive and are covered with an oily coating which I suspect might cause the tire to resist a subsequent rope plug, however they're very quick and easy to install roadside and get you back to where you can have the tire dismounted and repaired from within.


Still, if you have the luxury of doing it in your garage, I still find the good ole' rope plug to be a perfectly adequate solution.

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.urlesque....an-connery.jpg

Guy at Les Schwab said plugs are bad. Cause you to drill out the hole even bigger to get the plug to fit. Which is apparently why they only patch, for what that's worth.

By that same reasoning, no one should ever make an expedient repair on a radiator hose if they put a pinhole through it.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

If you break off a bolt or ruin the threads in a bolt hole, you should probably just glue in the new bolt, wouldn't want to make the hole bigger to fix it..
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MADCrt2kL.jpg

And god forbid we break something that is metal, welders have been doing it wrong for years. Just push the two pieces back together and weld the perimeter of the parts, because the repair will be stronger if we don't cut more metal out...
http://www.twi.co.uk/twiimages/jk92f3.gif

A cynical man would observe that a tire store has a vested interest in endorsing the solution that requires the services of the mounting & balancing equipment that they just happen to have, rather than something you can DIY in your driveway.

That said, I have generally heard that if you have the choice of doing either, a patch on the inside is generally considered stronger.

I wouldn't take either of them on the track though. Tires aren't expensive enough to risk that.

--Ian