I've got a nail right in the center of the tread of one of my track-only tires (AVS Intermediate). The tire is down to the wear indicators (still plenty of life for track days); therefore the tire place I took it to would not fix it. Do I have any options here besides getting a new tire? Can I plug it or patch it myself or are some more race-oriented tire places willing to patch a tire that's down to 2/32ths tread?
Thanks

 

Go to Pep-boys/Autozone etc. and buy the 4th thing on this site.
http://www.motortraders.com/tire-repair-products.htm

Will
-who has pluged tires w/o taking them off of the car...

 

Would you all here trust a patched or plugged tire out on the track???


I wouldnt.

 

Plug: No

Patch from jiffy lube type place: No

Plug/Patch from O-man: Yes

 

Oh great, thanks. Will those keep the steel radial from rusting? I've read the tire is still safe and long as the fix keeps air in and water out.

And this place said they'll also fix it (I've had them shave old tires before too):
Radial Tire CO
9101 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910
(301) 585-2740

 

Dave - living in Silver Springs you should be going nowhere besides Radial Tire Company. Paul and Sam have been HUGE in this area for years. They probably service 70% of the racers here and they TAKE CARE OF THEM. They will not do you wrong . . .


Cobra - who wouldn't drive on track with a plugged/patched tire but has driven for long periods of time with pieces of razor knife stuck in the side of his tires



[Modified by Cobra, 2:54 PM 2/4/2002]

 

No way!

 

Drew, I'll agree with you on those guys. I'll never go anywhere but Radial Tire if I have a choice. NTB/Sears will no longer get money from me unless it's for some Craftsman tools. (Unless they somehow eventually learn what a torque wrench is for, and that it's "lefty loosey, righty tighty" for nuts and bolts.)

 

Hrmmm I guess Oscar uses "special" plugs.

Will

 

Probably not, I just trust him to do it correctly.

And given a choice, I wouldn't run a plugged or patched tire on track.

 

About running a plugged tire at a HPDE:
Just how unsafe is it? It's not like the tire is going to "blow" and instantly loose pressure, is it? If it were to fail at all, I figure it'd be a gradual pressure loss that could be discovered between track sessions? Oh well it's my own risk.
I'm going to buy all new wheels and tires soon, but can't afford them before these two upcoming HPDEs at VIR.

 

It could very well blow quickly, like in a high-speed corner (like 9 and 10 at Summit or South Bend at VIR). If that happens kiss your *** goodbye. It may not blow all at once but once the plug comes out it won't take an entire session for it to leak out and pop the tire off the rim. Remember - on track the temperatures of the tires are much higher which will make the glue soft. Also - the tires are constantly flexing on track. This can and usually will widen the hole.

 

and your instructors

 

As well as those around him on track.

 

Sam plugs r compounds all the time. Have yet to hear of one exploding, but if you're one of those folks w/ bad luck, you may want to rethink it.

Patch or plug is fine, as long as it's properly done by someone familiar w/ tracking cars. Both Curry's and Radial Tire can handle it just fine in the NoVA area.

Warren

 

Oh yeah, I forgot the world doesn't rotate around me.
Argh this sucks I am never going to get out of debt.

 

Nice attitude there kiddo!

 

From a person with 6+ years in the tire business. I wouldn't run a plugged tire at a track event. Depending on the length of the nail(believe me, I've seen some doosies) it may scuff the sidewall. At minimun I would get it patched. The patching system uses a vulcanizing fluid to bond it to the tire. The best thing I know of is a plug\patch. Tire manufactures recommend them if you would like to keep the speed rating of your tires! They are a little pricey..about $25 compared to a regular patch at $12.

 

I ran a patched tire (S03) and a buddy ran a plugged tire (AVS sports) to no ill effect in a HPDE event at thunderhill. In fact, he found his the night before.

I rotated the tire to the back just in case. Put two wheels off (that side) and cooked the brake fluid (again!) but the tire held up. My buddy, well, he went "off-roading" on the second run. His tire was ok too.

Rolling the dice? I dunno.

-allen

 

The reason tire manufacturers don't approve plugs is because they don't do a great job keeping water out of the steel belts, and because without dismounting the tire, you can't tell for sure that the innerliner of the tire wasn't damaged somewhere else from the same nail. A proper patch, applied from the inside of the tire will be fine for track use. The water problem isn't something likely to show up on race tires, since they wear out so quickly. It's more of a problem on a tire that was patched and then driven for years and years. The water causes the steel to rust, weakening it, and possibly causing a failure.

-Chris

 

the problems with christina seem to never end. elgorey noticed that i was losing tire pressure at vir a few weekends back. after being lazy and finally pulling the tire off, i found a nail lodged in the tread.

so basically i've gotten the notion that i need to plug and patch my tire if i want to continue using it for hpde's. however, i would like to know from people who have actually done this to get reassurance that its okay. .RJ said he has done it, but i'm sure many of you think he's a retard like i think he is. (haha, cheap shots 0wn!)

now for the obligatory h-t pic:

 

strong disclaimer... do this at your own risk.

but FWIW i've ran 3-4 tires that had small nails that punched through, and i pulled the nails out and repaired it with those $5-9 kit from pepboys. works fine. no leak. plenty of track miles. there was also once where a nail that hit the tire perfectly 90 deg angle in and there was no leak. i got lazy and just left it on. under normal circumstances it's hard to image the tire falling apart from a simple nail damage. however if you struck a curb or something, then a repaired tire is obviously at a greater risk...

if it's a street/track duty tire, then consider running 'em on street only. it is rare for a dedicated track tires to get nailed... YMMV.

 

I remember reading a "to do" list on the NASA site. It was meant for people going to an hpde for the first time. It said that any kind of patched/plugged tire is not allowed on track. . .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Maengelito &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> .RJ said he has done it, but i'm sure many of you think he's a retard like i think he is. (haha, cheap shots 0wn!) </TD></TR></TABLE>

haha, nice one ***.

Yeah i ran a falken patched for 3 events last year. Never lost air, never knew it was there. Ran it front and rear.

RJ - who's convinced that the tire shop were the ones who put the nail in there anyways since he was in for an alignment check

 

I worked at Discount Tire for a few months and plug/patched many a tire (they use the combined unit), so I have some first-hand experience on them, and more importantly, on how people **** up the installation. I would suggest against anyone using this on track, especially if the nail was medium-large. As Drew M mentioned the track temps are going to be very hot, and the thermal expansion of the plug is going to occur at a different rate than that of the tire. Not only that, but it could melt (I don't think the manufacturers consider track conditions during construction) = blowout.

It's not something that will happen, but something that could happen...just like a rollover...