• Can't post after logging to the forum for the first time... Try Again - If you can't post in the forum, sign out of both the membership site and the forum and log in again. Make sure your COG membership is active and your browser allow cookies. If you still can't post, contact the COG IT guy at IT@Concours.org.
  • IF YOU GET 404 ERROR: This may be due to using a link in a post from prior to the web migration. Content was brought over from the old forum as is, but the links may be in error. If the link contains "cog-online.org" it is an old link and will not work.

Nail in Rear Tire

f24896139467

Member
Member
I found a nail in the rear tire of my C14. The tire has about 300 miles. The nail is just off from the centerline. The tire lost about 6 psi in the last 24 hours sitting in my carport. Can the tire be plugged and will the plug be safe for the expected life of the tire? Would it be safer if I had it plugged long enough to get a new tire? The nearest Kawasaki dealership is about 40 miles away. But there's a Honda/Suzuki dealership and a Yamaha dealership just a few miles away: I'm assuming the Honda/Suzuki and/or Yamaha dealership could repair or replace the tire with the correct make and size. Am I right? Last question: I was referred to a tire and auto place in town. Could I trust the plug repair to someone who's repaired car tires but not motorcycle tires?

Thanks in advance!
 
You will get many answers ,I plug patched one from the inside that had less then one thousand miles, but it is sitting in storage after I bought a new tire, not sure if Iā€™ll ever use it, I doubt you will get a motorcycle dealer to patch or plug a tire for you,maybe a independent tire shop '
 
I use those gooey rubber worm plugs all the time for car, trailer and motorcycle tires. I would not be concerned to use a tire with a plug until the tread was used up. That is just me though. Like the previous poster said, you will get many answers.
 
I use those gooey rubber worm plugs all the time for car, trailer and motorcycle tires. I would not be concerned to use a tire with a plug until the tread was used up.
This. Get to any auto parts store and buy it. $5 - 9, likely. It's easy and you can do it yourself; directions are on the package. If the gummy worm plug starts to leak it'll be slow, and your tire pressure monitoring system will give you plenty of warning.
 
I know the feeling. At around 2,250 miles I picked up a discarded nail while cruising through Sam Houston Nat'l Forest one Saturday morning. Went to the local dealership the following Tuesday and they clued me in --> at least in the State of TX, there won't be a single dealership that'll touch a plug or patch for a punctured tire on a bike that'll do 150mph+. Period. End of discussion. Why? Liability avoidance.

Original Tire 01.jpg

So one of the mechanics gave me the name of an old Suzuki drag racer in MO City who has a shop and suggested I reach out to him, so I did. He also turned me away for the same reason. He doesn't want to be sued and lose the small business he spent his adult life building from scratch.

Original Tire 02.jpg

What he DID say is that if I bring him a new tire he'll swap out the punctured skin with my fresh boot for $60 ($55 if I don't leave the old one with him - apparently there's a disposal fee he gets charged for old tires). So, I hunted online until I found the only spot that had a 021 Battlaxe for my rear (Chaparral dot com).

When it arrived I called him to schedule a slot on his calendar. We agreed on a date/time and I ran him over my new skin.

Nomadic Tire Transport.jpg

I'm happy to report that it worked out great. Fast, easy and low stress. :^ )

That being said, I remember when I was a much younger man and picked up nails with former bikes. We pushed the sticky plugs and went on with our business without much thought. Back then I went through a rear tire every summer though so I didn't have to wait long before it was time to swap out the plugged rubber.

Anyway, you'll have to figure this out before it starts leaking faster. I hated having to spend the $173 for the tire and $55 for the labor to swap a tire that still has 75% +/- life left in it. But wifey said "zero risk, mister" so I caved in and took care of it. And I'm glad I did because I don't have that small voice in the back of my head constantly wondering how long the plug will hold up...

Good luck amigo! Keep us posted. AB
 
I use those gooey rubber worm plugs all the time for car, trailer and motorcycle tires. I would not be concerned to use a tire with a plug until the tread was used up. That is just me though. Like the previous poster said, you will get many answers.
Same here but I feel better doing it to a rear tire .
 
Update: I put in a plug this afternoon. No leak using the old (and tried and true?) soapy water test. I'll sit on it overnight and check pressure tomorrow, and if the pressure hasn't fallen I'll take it out for a spin. I'm about 80% (maybe more) persuaded that I'll have to get a new tire. My wife would echo texas.devops90's wife: zero risk. Thanks for the replies!
 
I went through a 1.5 year stretch were I had punctures on 4 different tires on my C14. Plugged them all. Rode all of them after plugging till between 1000 to 500 miles of done so as not to push my luck. Not a problem with any of them as I continued to ride my normal ride (I examined the tire/plug before and after each stretch on the bike). All fixes were done on the side of the road, while on a ride, using a plug kit I carry in my bags (this one - just included as an example not an endorsement).

All were rear tires, personally I would replace a front tire as soon as I could after a plug job.

One of the times was on a brand new PR4GT with 100 miles on it, 50 miles into a 3000 mile trip, fully loaded. Did the trip no problem and finally removed the plugged tire at 6500 miles.

If a puncture is near or in the sidewall, or it is a slice - I would not plug/patch it (except maybe to limp to a new tire)

Don't do anything you are not confident and comfortable with.
 
Update: I put in a plug this afternoon. No leak using the old (and tried and true?) soapy water test. I'll sit on it overnight and check pressure tomorrow, and if the pressure hasn't fallen I'll take it out for a spin.
Yeah I've put 5 or 6 in between mine and son's bike; all rears. On his, son put about 6K miles on tire after and it held well. Mine I took it up to 120 and all was good; did end up replacing tire early after about 3K.
 
You will get lots of different replies. If you don't want to read a long post, don't read further.

I bought a 2007 Suzuki Burgman 400. Money was tight in the family, and my wife was against me riding. I convinced her that it would save us money. So less than 2000 miles into owning the bike, I picked up a nail in the rear tire. I asked the same question you did. I got a few people who said they would plug the tire...and a whole lot of vehement comments about how unsafe it was to even ride the bike to the dealership with a plug in the tire!

My conclusion years later, was some of those riders who thought the world would end by riding with a plug or patch in the tire, didn't ride much. For instance, one person was really proud of themselves for reaching 10,000 miles on his Burgman...after owning it for ten years. Yes, that's only 1000 miles a year!

So making a long story, longer...I tried plugging the tire and wasn't really feeling comfortable with the process. I put some Slime in the tire also and I think it had worked by the time I got the bike into the dealership for a replacement tire.

Then a couple months later...I found a wee bitty tiny cotter pin in the rear tire. Uh-oh. I was hoping it hadn't gone all the way through, but it had. Remember the wife who didn't want me riding? Well, she had already made many comments about how much this bike was costing, when it was supposed to be saving money. There was no way I was going upstairs to tell her that I was going to replace that tire!

And then I saw the rest of the Slime bottle on the shelf. Would it work? It was worth a try. These were desperate times, and called for desperate measures! I put the Slime in...and it worked.

I got four punctures in that tire's lifetime of 15,000 miles. One was a good sized nail. I pulled the nail out and the air started gushing out. So I rotated the tire to put the puncture at the six o'clock position. I figured I'd let gravity help the Slime work. Some clear green liquid came out...and the hole sealed. I left it like that overnight, and it held air perfectly till I changed the tire at the end of its life.

Dealerships will usually tell you they won't repair a tire. It really doesn't make sense for them, for several reasons. There's the liability on the off-chance anything will happen. It doesn't matter if the chances of the tire blowing up are about the same as winning the lotto...their lawyers tell them to say "no". But also...follow the money. If they tell you it is "unsafe" what are you going to do? Oh!...you'll buy a new tire from them! And they'll make more money than if they repaired your tire. There is absolutely no incentive for them to agree to repair your tire.

Most riders I know of think nothing of plugging a tire, or using a product like Slime or Ride-On. My wife's Toyota Prius didn't come with a spare tire. They gave her a bottle of something that looks like Ride-On. I've used it on one of her tires about a year ago and it is doing just fine.

I'd watch the tire for any loss of air for a few weeks. The tire heat will vulcanize the repair over time. And then limit your speed to somewhere less than 150 mph, just to be safe.

Chris
 
Last edited:
As seems to be my luck, yesterday I jumped on the bike after work and shortly after hitting the road got the red light and rear tire low (30psi) message. I swung into a gas station and put some air in and rode it the 25 miles home while carefully watching the tire pressure. After I got home I pulled out my trusty plug kit and 12v compressor and plugged the hole. Like my last tire that went over 5,000 miles with a plug in it, I intend to ride this one too. I always seem to get the nail, or staple, within 500 miles of replacing the tire... And yes, I did trim the plug before I rode it.
 

Attachments

  • Connie rear pugged June 21.jpg
    Connie rear pugged June 21.jpg
    100 KB · Views: 152
  • Connie rear staple pulled June 21.jpg
    Connie rear staple pulled June 21.jpg
    226.7 KB · Views: 161
  • Connie rear staple June 21.jpg
    Connie rear staple June 21.jpg
    129.2 KB · Views: 163
I don't think we want to put Slime in our tires with the sensors. Like many others, fresh tire and pick up a nail. My first experience with a tube less tire was right after I put on a set of at that time the new Michelin PR2. I went on a group ride with some Legion Riders and was headed home. I suddenly found he TPS alarmed at 36 psi. I wasn't far from a tire shop so I turned around and got air accessing the situation. I had picked up the mother of all screws. Got air and lost 6 psi on the 25 mile rode home.

First experience with a sticky plug. Installed it and cut off the tail sticking out of the tire. I rode this tire for a few thousand miles and decided to check the plug. I made up some soapy water. Not that I was losing noticeable air but had to regularly air the tires. (while running the Michelin brand I aired tires pretty regally with that brand. Not so with the Road Smart 3's BTW. So I was going to check the plug. t\The problem was I could not find it. I sat and rotated that rear tire a bunch of times carefully looking at it. Never saw that plug again. I changed the rear tire when it was used up and into the wear bars. Then I put on a PR3. That darn tire was a nail magnet. After the third nail I replaced the tire with a Conti which didn't pick up any nails. But it developed little slits in the tread that bothered me.
Personally, you have to do what you feel comfortable with. If it's a small hole, Ted uses super glue. That might work in a pinch.
 
"Ted uses super glue. That might work in a pinch."

The GREAT Super Glue Saga;
Once upon a time, on a twisty road, far, far, away,,,,, I picked up a nail.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
The tire didn't go flat, but I knew I had picked something up because I could hear the nail hitting the ground and fender as I rolled.
The nail had gone in at an extreme angle. (Sorta across and thru the tread, not straight in)

(so I "had" to remove it) {Ughhhh,,}
After the nail removal, (you guessed it) the tire started leaking a bit. {"Phooey"}
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
But that leak was more annoying than anything. {It wuz sloooooowwwwww..}
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
I didn't have any plugs, and I was in the middle of nowhere. (with a "slow leak") {Grrrrrr..}
Bottom line; I needed to do a repair. {eventually}
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
I stopped at a small Convenience store and (of course) they didn't have plugs,
,,, but they "did have" Super Glue Gel. {A-haaaa!!)
I bought the super glue, stuck the tip of the tube into the hole as far as possible and squeezed out some glue. {Squirtttt}
Shazaam!! "The leak stopped!"
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride.

Note: A few weeks later, I pulled the tire off, to put a patch on the inside.
{I always do this if I plug a tire}
But this time I could not locate the hole. {"Someone" had glued it shut}
In fact, it "never" leaked again.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
The End {Dant, da, daa, daaaaaa!!}

Ride safe, Ted
 
Last edited:
I was always skeptical of those gummy rope plugs till I started changing (a lot) tires for other riders. I'd pull a old tire off the wheel, getting it ready for the new tire and would notice one of those plugs sticking out on the inside. When I mentioned it to the rider, they would say it's been in there for a long time, maybe 2 years or more. This has happened about 10 times. Not to stereo type, but most of them were Harley wheels.

Those rope plugs work pretty good and hold up over the miles. Probably the best way to plug a tire when your on the road. The only thing I would caution about them is to make sure you have fresh ones when you fix a flat with them....they do dry and loose some of the pliability that helps them seal up punctures after a year. Also, when you insert them into the puncture it's best to put them in at the same angle the object was in that punctured the tire, make a mental note of the way the nail comes out.
 
This. Get to any auto parts store and buy it. $5 - 9, likely. It's easy and you can do it yourself; directions are on the package. If the gummy worm plug starts to leak it'll be slow, and your tire pressure monitoring system will give you plenty of warning.
how could you not trust that face?
 
To offer a little clarification: one can obtain a tire plug gun that is used to insert a rubber rivet, aka "Plug". These are installed without glue. In my experience, I've seen many of these sawed apart by the cross-shear action of the internal tire ply structure. I suggest they be used only as a temporary fix to get you home.
OTOH, I've seen many sticky-rope repairs that are as solid and secure as the original tire material. When installed with glue, I wouldn't hesitate to use a tire repaired this way, for normal use.
 
It must be my job to clear hardware from the roads of SE Nebraska! This makes 2 punctures in just over 1,000 miles on my PR4GT rear tire. I may buy an internal patch kit and pull these 2 plugs out before my tire starts looking like it has fur... And, tempted as I am to free up storage space, I'm going to keep hauling my plug kit and compressor wherever I go.
 

Attachments

  • screw from tire.jpg
    screw from tire.jpg
    65.4 KB · Views: 146
I had a pair of PR3's did also did a fine job of picking up hardware off the road. The straw the broke the camels back was a thin piece of wire. I have no idea how I managed to pick that up. To plug would have caused more damage than it was worth. I replaced the PR3 rear while on the road and haven't had a problem since. That was about 4 years ago. Now that I admitted this, I'll pick up something for sure. :(

The first screw I picked up with a rear PR2, I plugged and ran it till it was done. One day I decided to check the plug for leaks. I had soapy water ready but I'll be darn if I could find that plug. It wore with the tire rubber. I spent some time rotating and looking at the area on the tire where it was located but I sure couldn't find it.
 
Do you ride in the center of the road? Just asking because I did that for the first year of riding...and picked up road debris like you are doing. The tire tracks are clear because the car tires clean all that off for us.
 
Do you ride in the center of the road? Just asking because I did that for the first year of riding...and picked up road debris like you are doing. The tire tracks are clear because the car tires clean all that off for us.
Not normally. I cross over between wheel tracks based on where the biggest potential threat is. If it's bambi or somebody in a car I think might pull out I'm toward the center, and if I'm meeting traffic and the ditches are clear I'll ride in the right wheel track. Good info though, I hadn't considered how long a screw like this might sit between the tire tracks on the highway undisturbed...
 
Good conversation. I've learned the hard way to stay out of the gore area (striped area between lanes). Not only is it illegal to cross it, all the garbage seems to get kicked into it. (No, didn't get a ticket, but have gotten a flat or two..)
 
I brought my brand new 2015 home. Two days later, I got a nail in the back tire. Took it my local shop (100 miles away) and they put in a plug. The owner said "replace" the tire. The mechanic suggested he put one in for his father and he rode the tire to end of its natural days. I asked if he thought t was safe and he just replied, "I put one in for my dad. The choice is yours."
 
"Ted uses super glue. That might work in a pinch."

The GREAT Super Glue Saga;
Once upon a time, on a twisty road, far, far, away,,,,, I picked up a nail.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
The tire didn't go flat, but I knew I had picked something up because I could hear the nail hitting the ground and fender as I rolled.
The nail had gone in at an extreme angle. (Sorta across and thru the tread, not straight in)

(so I "had" to remove it) {Ughhhh,,}
After the nail removal, (you guessed it) the tire started leaking a bit. {"Phooey"}
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
But that leak was more annoying than anything. {It wuz sloooooowwwwww..}
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
I didn't have any plugs, and I was in the middle of nowhere. (with a "slow leak") {Grrrrrr..}
Bottom line; I needed to do a repair. {eventually}
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
I stopped at a small Convenience store and (of course) they didn't have plugs,
,,, but they "did have" Super Glue Gel. {A-haaaa!!)
I bought the super glue, stuck the tip of the tube into the hole as far as possible and squeezed out some glue. {Squirtttt}
Shazaam!! "The leak stopped!"
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride.

Note: A few weeks later, I pulled the tire off, to put a patch on the inside.
{I always do this if I plug a tire}
But this time I could not locate the hole. {"Someone" had glued it shut}
In fact, it "never" leaked again.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "and" we continued our ride..
The End {Dant, da, daa, daaaaaa!!}

Ride safe, Ted

Pretty smart feller I must say. Well at except for the RED bike thing that is.

And I can tell folks from first hand knowledge that a plug can come loose and the tire goes down fast when it does. I bought my Connie with a rear Michelin that was plugged, that had plenty of life in it. I didn't see the plug when I got her, but discovered it when it let go and left me stranded beside the road in my 2nd week of ownership. Nope, no road kit or pump, so I had to get a tow. That sucked, but thank God for the TPS system because it warned me in time enough to slow an make a quick stop before it was on the rim. I mean 100 yards from low pressure warning to flopping on the rim flat!
 
Last edited:
Someone probably did not use enough rubber cement. I was with a group of guys and one picked up some hardware. The sticky rope kit he bought did not come with the tube of rubber cement. The rope plug kept coming out with the tire going flat. Once the problem was figured out, one fella opened a new tube of rubber cement and applied on the sticky rope plug before it was forced in to the tire. Problem solved. I replace the rope plug kit any time the rubber cement tube is opened once I get home. It would be my luck the next time I needed to plug a tire would be at a much later date. Without kit replacement with an unopened cement tube, it would be my luck the rubber cement would have dried out.
 
By the looks of it, that plug had been in that tire for a while. And since I didn't put it in I can say if it was cemented or not, but what I can say is, it definitely not the rope style I am accustomed to seeing, This thing looked like a black plug that was part of the tire, and I never saw it in the tire until it started leaking. But there was no doubt it was aftermarket when it did let go. There is no such thing as a manufacturer plug IN THE TIRE SURFACE, or anywhere else for that matter. Weird to say the least.
 
I have read about a guy who rode a fairly new plugged tire all the way across the country w/o a problem. I don't know if I would try that unless I didn't have a choice.

But I might if the tire was repaired with a "quill-type" inside patch. Some online articles / video about using this style patch patch says to use rubber cement, but others say to use self-vulcanizing cement. I would use the latter since it basically welds the patch to the inside of the tire.

Inside Patch.jpg
 
Someone probably did not use enough rubber cement. I was with a group of guys and one picked up some hardware. The sticky rope kit he bought did not come with the tube of rubber cement. The rope plug kept coming out with the tire going flat. Once the problem was figured out, one fella opened a new tube of rubber cement and applied on the sticky rope plug before it was forced in to the tire. Problem solved. I replace the rope plug kit any time the rubber cement tube is opened once I get home. It would be my luck the next time I needed to plug a tire would be at a much later date. Without kit replacement with an unopened cement tube, it would be my luck the rubber cement would have dried out.

And dry out it will , even unopened the cheap glue that comes with the kit is only good for a year or so . I try to grab a new tube for the kit a couple times a year and keep it all in a good freezer bag .
 
And dry out it will , even unopened the cheap glue that comes with the kit is only good for a year or so . I try to grab a new tube for the kit a couple times a year and keep it all in a good freezer bag .
Probably a wise idea. But I never think of it till I need it.
 
Once in awhile I get a customer that is getting new tires installed prior to a long multi-state or cross country trip. Before I remove the old tire I'll have the customer pound a nail into it so they get a good lesson on plugging a tire with the rope plug. It's a pretty good test, not quite as good as actually having the tire on the bike but the procedure and tools needed are the same. If you don't have experience fixing a flat on your bike this is a perfect chance to hone your flat repair skills before you change the tire.
 
I was going to do that my last tire change. Next time I thought about was after I had the second tire mountedšŸ˜•
 
Caught a nail in the rear of my C10 in Ft. Stockton, TX 2k miles from home. Plugged it and rode it 3500 miles , 200, or so pounds over weight, until I finally found a new one in Laramie, WY. Never leaked a psi. I had my 14 y.o. on the back so I was concerned. And I limited my speed to less than 85 while the plug was in.
 
Top