No car owner is insured against a puncture or a cut in a tire. A nail, broken glass, a sharp curb or rail can damage a tire at any time. Of course, if there is a spare tire or a tire shop nearby, then the problem is solved quickly. But if the driver is on the track, what should he do?
Tire repair methods
There are three types of tire damage: punctures, cuts and bulges. If the first two can be repaired, then the swelling ("hernia" or "bun") is not subject to any repair. Further operation may result in an explosion of the wheel.
Do-it-yourself tubeless tire repair can be done in three ways, depending on the size of the puncture or cut.
The most used means in this case are sealant and a set of harnesses. They are designed to repair punctures and cuts up to 5 mm in diameter. More serious "wounds" are treated with special patches.
Of course everyonethese methods are not a panacea. They serve only to enable the driver to get to the nearest tire shop or tire shop.
Repair with sealant
The easiest way to repair a tubeless tire is to apply sealant. No matter where the puncture is - on the sidewall or on the treadmill. Applying sealant to repair a tubeless tire looks like this:
- We get the cause of the puncture from the rubber (if it remains in it).
- Roll the wheel so that the puncture is at the top.
- Unscrew the cap from the nipple.
- Bleed off the remaining air.
- Using a special tube, connect the can with sealant, press the valve of the can.
- We are waiting for the tire to take the required shape. Now you can disconnect the sealant and go.
- After a couple of kilometers we measure the pressure in the tire and bring it to the working one.
How to choose the sealant for your tires
In order to choose the right sealant, several criteria must be considered. After all, sealants can be designed for both car tires and motorcycle or bicycle tires.
The packaging in which this composition is sold is also different: cans are designed not only for pouring adhesive, but also for pumping the camera. Whereas plastic bottles only pump sealant.
There are compounds that are applicable only when repairing a tubeless tire with your own hands, but there are also universal onessealants that can also be sealed with a wheel with a camera.
In this case, you should pay attention to the diameter of the wheel indicated on the package. It is also necessary to familiarize yourself with the temperature regime of storage and use of various sealants. For the most part, they lose their properties already at 0 ° C.
Tire repair with harnesses
Another popular, but more energy-intensive way to repair a tubeless tire puncture is to use harnesses. They come with an awl, file and special glue.
This approach is as effective as a sealant repair, but will require more time and possibly the removal of the wheel.
Do-it-yourself tubeless tire repair kits of various brands have the same package. In rare cases, a knife for cutting bundles is added to them. Since this set can be used repeatedly, some owners have such a nuisance: they opened the set for the first time, used glue, and after a while it dried up. Fortunately, manufacturers have foreseen this problem. Glue for repairing tubeless tires with bundles is sold as a set or as a separate unit.
How to repair with harnesses
The tubeless tire repair kit is not suitable for tubeless tires. Therefore, before starting the procedure, just in case, you should make sure that the tire is still tubeless.
Next, proceed as follows:
- Retrieve the foreigntire item.
- Mark the puncture site (you can use chalk).
- Clean the rubber from dirt.
- We lower the pressure in the wheel to 1/2 atm., so as not to damage the cord.
- Use a file to clean the puncture. You need to get a hole that will fit the repair harness.
- Take a tourniquet, coat it with glue and thread it through the hole of the awl (like a thread through a needle).
- Now gently stick the awl into the puncture site by about 2/3. Then we also slowly take it out. The loop of the tourniquet should remain inside, and its ends should be outside.
- Inflate the wheel and check if the air is poisoning. If the leak remains, then add another tourniquet.
When it was possible to achieve complete tightness, you can cut off the protruding tails of the bundles and go to the nearest tire service.
Side cut
Perhaps the most dangerous and in many cases beyond repair is a side cut. For passenger car tires, there is a cut limit at which it is possible to patch the wheel. Longitudinal cut - no more than 35 mm, transverse - no more than 25 mm. For larger sizes, repairing the side cut of a tubeless tire becomes irrelevant, as the number of damaged cords is too large for the wheel to maintain stability on the road.
Also irrelevant is the repair of a cut that is too close to the edge of the tire or on the edge itself. The patch will not withstand the rotation of the wheel and fall off.
Repair
A special plaster is used to repair cuts. Before proceeding with gluing and patching, the tire must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt and the cut measured. Then remove the tire from the disc:
- Using a drill, we clean the place for the patch.
- Put a thin layer of rubber on the cut and solder it. All solder should be evenly distributed over the surface, not only around the cut, but also on the cleaned area.
- After the rubber sticks, it is polished again so that it follows the shape of the wheel.
- You can sew soldered rubber with nylon threads. This will strengthen the tire a bit.
- Degrease the surface to be repaired.
- Apply a layer of activator glue and wait for it to become matte (dry).
- Then we apply another thin layer and already apply a special plaster (cord patch).
- Press the patch carefully, smoothing it from the center to the edges.
Tubeless tire side cut repair completed. Of course, this wheel can only be used as a spare.
A little about cord
A tire is a full member of the suspension that carries the weight of the car, resists bumps in the road, emergency braking and cornering. Her job is to keep the car stable and in contact with the road.
Only thanks to the cord (textile or metal) the tire is able to withstand the load. And as a result of a cut, as a rule, the cord also breaks. It is impossible to restore it. There is no such apparatus that would implant incamera new thread.
Where the cord is torn, the tire becomes unstable, loses rigidity. Even if the wheel is patched by tire professionals, no one can guarantee that the wheel will not explode under increased load. In addition, all suspension elements begin to suffer.
Although the wheel is balanced, the lack of rigidity at one point breaks the synchronism in the operation of the hubs and levers, the steering rack. As a rule, the first signal comes from a wheel bearing with a patched wheel. It crashes systematically. Then the rest of the suspension slowly begins to require replacement.
Treatment of a tubeless tire puncture and its further operation is quite acceptable, unlike a tire with a cut.
In conclusion
Having a sealant in the trunk or a do-it-yourself tubeless tire repair kit is as much a necessity as a spare tire. At least once in a lifetime, but you will have to deal with a punctured tire where tire service is not available.
