How to Fix a Puncture with a Tire Plug

Where DIYs with photos live. Please start new topics in DIY section. Completed DIYs are moved here for clutter control and quicker reference.
User avatar
honsonwong
Posts: 201
Joined: Mon May 06, 2013 6:01 am
Location: B.C. Canada

KuroNekko wrote:Step 21: Tighten the lug nuts in a star pattern. I believe the torque spec is close to 100 ft-lbs of torque. Unless you carry a torque wrench with you, you'd just have to estimate it. It's pretty tight, but nothing to go gorilla-strength on.
Thanks for sharing, however, is 100 ft-lbs too high? I usually made it a bit more than 80 and seldom exceed 90 ft-lbs.
murcod
Posts: 2279
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Australia

The Kizashi has a really high torque setting for the nuts.
David
User avatar
Woodie
Posts: 1167
Joined: Sun Apr 28, 2013 10:09 am
Location: Laurel, MD

The recommended torque is 103.3 lbs/ft, a truly insane amount. My Dodge Caravan Cargo Van is only 90 and it's rated for twice the weight.

I wonder if you can even loosen that much torque with the half a wrench supplied.
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
Should be a convenience store, not a government agency
User avatar
honsonwong
Posts: 201
Joined: Mon May 06, 2013 6:01 am
Location: B.C. Canada

Woodie wrote:The recommended torque is 103.3 lbs/ft, a truly insane amount. My Dodge Caravan Cargo Van is only 90 and it's rated for twice the weight.
Thanks for your information, I will set it in my next rotation.
murcod
Posts: 2279
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2012 12:03 pm
Location: Australia

(140Nm for metric people.)
David
User avatar
KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

Woodie wrote:
KuroNekko wrote:TPMS are both good and bad, I guess. I think they are more good given you don't always notice a flat tire, especially if it's on the other side from your driver door as in this case.
While the concept is good, the added cost and aggravation involved far outweighs the advantage.
I'd rather have a full size spare any day in a car like the Kizashi, even if it compromised trunk space.
And you can. I just bought a replacement wheel and put my curb rash wheel in the trunk as a spare. It's the factory 235/45-18, biggest tire they come with. You have to remove two huge chunks of styrofoam, one under the spare, and the big black one on top of the spare which holds the jack and the tools. The full sized wheel/tire fits in there perfectly, I just put a towel in the dish of the wheel and laid all the tools inside that.
Good to know. I was assuming that a full size tire would not fit given my experience with other Japanese cars in which the spare tire well was only big enough for the spare donut tire.
Given what Murcod said about the Aussie market getting full size spares, it makes sense that the Kizashi's spare tire well would be large enough to fit a full size for all markets.
I simply wish the USDM Kizashi came with a full size steelie.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
bootymac
Posts: 1602
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2013 1:04 am

So Tire Rack advises that string plugs should be replaced with a patch and plug combo:
Any repair attempted without removing the tire from the wheel is improper. Without inspecting the inside of the tire for hidden damage comes the risk of returning a weakened tire to service. Punctures in the tread area that looked repairable have revealed upon further investigation that the object that punctured the tire had been long enough to cut the tire's sidewall from the inside. Without dismounting the tire, the hidden damage would have been missed.

Simply plugging a tire from the outside without removing the tire from the wheel is improper. (If a tire is punctured while off-roading far away from civilization and a spare tire isn't available, a plug may serve as a temporary low speed solution that must be replaced with a proper repair as soon as possible upon returning to the road.)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=77
Thoughts?
User avatar
KuroNekko
Posts: 5170
Joined: Wed Aug 15, 2012 5:08 pm
Location: California, USA

bootymac wrote:So Tire Rack advises that string plugs should be replaced with a patch and plug combo:
Any repair attempted without removing the tire from the wheel is improper. Without inspecting the inside of the tire for hidden damage comes the risk of returning a weakened tire to service. Punctures in the tread area that looked repairable have revealed upon further investigation that the object that punctured the tire had been long enough to cut the tire's sidewall from the inside. Without dismounting the tire, the hidden damage would have been missed.

Simply plugging a tire from the outside without removing the tire from the wheel is improper. (If a tire is punctured while off-roading far away from civilization and a spare tire isn't available, a plug may serve as a temporary low speed solution that must be replaced with a proper repair as soon as possible upon returning to the road.)

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... ?techid=77
Thoughts?
The pros all have this opinion because they are pros and are going to advise the best measure for the tire as it's best for safety and performance. This is why I wrote my disclaimer at the beginning of the write-up. I'm not countering this notion that string plugs aren't the best way to deal with a puncture. They're simply not. It's more of an emergency solution that seems to have rather permanent results, though not nearly as good as a pro fix from the inside.

The concern the pros have with string plugs is understandable too. In my very case, that screw caused the flat tire meaning it pierced the tire all the way through. However, when I had to widen the hole with the rasp tool, I had to forcibly punch through the plys that the screw barely did. The screw simply did enough for the air to leak out.
I have no doubt that the string plug repair process compromised the integrity of the tire because of the nature of the repair. I forcibly punched through all layers of the inner tire so the plug can go all the way through. One can imagine how this would damage some of the inner layers of the tire as it's not pure rubber.

That being said, I don't really care as these are my OE Dunlops with near 30,000 miles. I don't plan to keep them much longer. String plugs may compromise the integrity of the tire, but they simply work in many cases with permanent results. Unless you go to a tire specialist, most mechanics seem to just plug the hole with a string plug anyway. In fact, I learned this technique by watching a mechanic do it at a local shop years ago. You can expect "pros" to do this kind of repair unless they are tire specialists with the time, equipment, and skills necessary to properly fix a tire.

If I had new tires that I cared about and wanted to last a long time, I'd had the puncture repaired professionally as Tire Rack advises. I simply used a string plug because I wanted a DIY quick fix for these OE Dunlop tires that I don't plan to have too much longer.
I put it as a write-up as it's an effective emergency fix for punctures from nails and screws. That being said, it's not the best fix and that's why I included that disclaimer.
2011 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS 6MT (Black)
Post Reply