Plugging A Tire

Yes, n0se is a germanlet nazi.

Plugging A Tire is STUB, scrub... n0s3y|afk has abandoned the internet. YOU need to add content in her place.

You are late to work one morning and you head out to your garage only to find a flat tire. What the hell? It was fine last night! Must have run over a goddamned screw. What do you do now? If you are a NEET, you don't go to work anyways, so you crawl back into bed with a half gallon of cookies'n'cream. However, if you have to be someplace, and you aren't afraid of getting dirty, this little page might help you out.

What you will need

A tire Reamer

A tire Needle

A plug kit usually has all of the following stuff (and more) all gathered in a neat little plastic tool case. But if your work garage is a shithole where you can't find anything, the following list is really all you need:

1. A tire reamer. This tool has a hand grip and a long metal spike. Towards the end of the spike, the tool will look like a rasp.

1. A tire plug needle. This tool looks a lot like the tire reamer, but it has a tip that looks like the eye of a needle.
2. A tire plug. Most of the time, these are called "tire worms" or "tar strips." They come in a little cellophane package with 8 or 10 worms.

Process

1. Find the hole in your tire. Most leaks are found by sound first so pay attention for any hissing noises. Once found, it is good practice to mark the hole on the sidewall of the tire so that you don't have to continually look at it.
2. Remove whatever it is that has caused the hole in your tire. Usually, you will find nails, screws, staples, or other pointy metal items.
3. Once you have removed the offending item, put the pointed tip of the tire reamer into the hole. Push hard until you have most of the rasp portion of the reamer inside of the tire. Pull the reamer back and forth in an "in out" fashion to score the inside of the hole in your tire. This will help the tire worm stick better.
4. After reaming out the hole, thread a tire worm through the "eye" in the tire plug needle. Thread it half-way through the eye so that roughly the same amount of tire worm is hanging out on both sides.
5. Push the tip of the tire needle into the hold in your tire. This will insert the tire worm into the hole and begin sealing the tire. Push approximately half an inch of the worm into the tire.
6. In one swift motion, pull the tire needle directly out of the tire. If done correctly, the worm will stay in the hole and the tire needle will have nothing left in its "eye."
7. Spit on the area where the hole was. You may have to smear your spit to get the best coverage. Look and listen. If there are bubbles appearing in your spit, there is still a leak. If you can hear a faint hiss, there is still a leak.
8. If you cannot hear or see a leak, the tire is probably sealed well enough to drive on. Now fill your tire with the correct psi (found in the little text on the sidewall) and replace the valve stem cap.

Other things

Not saying you can or can't...

Tire plug kits are supposed to be only for holes found in the tread of the tire. You aren't supposed to fix holes in the sidewall with a plug, but I have done it. Not saying you should do it, but I am saying that I have quite a few times with lasting positive results.

Optional items

Tire plug kits come with a ton of stuff that can help, or just get in the way, depending on your circumstances. Gloves, valve stem removers, tire glue, tire pressure gauges, and even lug sockets and wrenches. As stated above, most of these things are not needed to actually plug a tire, but can make the process easier.

Optional optional items

Don't laugh, a cordless can work miracles.

These items are not included in any tire plug kit, but I have used them before to aid in the plugging of a tire. It is not recommended that you use these things unless you are really dumb, drunk, or actually know what you are doing:

1. A hammer. The heavier the better.
2. A cordless drill. Laugh if you want, but sometimes the hole you are attempting to fix will be too small or stubborn for the tire reamer or the tire needle to fit. Drilling the hole out just a bit with a very small drill bit can make life easier.
3. A lighter. If you are using the tire glue that comes in a tire plug kit, sometimes it gets all over the place. The glue is highly flammable, so it will burn quite nicely, getting rid of the sticky gunk that is all over your tire. Be careful to keep an eye on what you are doing so that you don't burn your garage down. Some rednecks think that burning the glue after you have applied it to the worm will give you a better seal, so that might be a bonus.

Anonymous 16:20, 17 May 2024 (EDT)

>Implying i was bored.