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Grrr puncture, can you patch a side-wall?


lozza6's picture

By lozza6 - Posted on 28 July 2009

Bloody puncture on the way in today... and stupidly i only had 1.5" tubes for my commuter in my backpack.... a problem when I'm riding in my 2.5" tyre giant to work....

Couldn't get any pressure in to seal the bead onto the rims and had to ride gingerly in the rest of the way on a half inflated unsealed wobbly rear tyre... I tell you it really plushes out the bumps though, lol

and to add insult to injury I have a sidewall gash about 1cm...

I have a patch kit so I'll patch the 2.5" tube and use that coming home... can someone confirm if i can use the patch kit to patch the tyre's split sidewall? I have the Zefal kit with some of these big mofo patches...... Or am i better off using a gu packet or something similar?

Cheers,
Loz

Buck's picture

I tried to patch the little gash I got at Dirtworks with a tube patch. For some reason I couldn't get it to stick properly. After getting sick of that I put in more Stans and that sealed it up. However it's nowhere near as big as your gash. Give it a go I guess?

mrsoldfart's picture

many times, mostly without success.

Make sure you get rid of all the traces of stans from where you want to seal before you apply the patch.

lozza6's picture

tube still leaking.. grrr...

let me try to patch again...

lozza6's picture

miniature hole on the inside of the tube directly opposite the original hole!

thats gotta be a long thorn to go right through!!!!!

patching that now....

Andy Bloot's picture

How do we delete posts?

Andy Bloot's picture

I ripped a hole in a not very old Larsen
I used a piece of inner tube and some rubber glue on the inside to patch it
I put a clamp over the top of the repair until it set
Tubeless tyres (hole too big for the Stans) and seems to have worked OK

Rob's picture

I assume you mean comments? What is wrong with your comments here? Puzzled

Most people edit theirs and enter 'Mod - please delete this, posted by mistake'. And then some bozo comes along and cleans it up Eye-wink

Damien's picture

Your posts will be deleted automatically you just have to know what sort of post to put up to get deleted.

Damien's picture

I have fixed a 1 inch slash on the trail before with Gaffa tape it lasted about 20 kms before it blew out just enough to get me back to he car.

Rob's picture

Seen these, right?

Slash:
When Sidewalls Pop

V1.0, Gaffer tape:
Sidewall Repair #1

V2.0, Old tube:
Sidewall Repair #2

lozza6's picture

2 patches on the tube, 1 on the ture.. seems ok.. slight bulge and some orange protruding but all in all very good.

Will have to toss this tyre when I get home I think...

Cheers for the advice guys.

Loz

Whisperer's picture

Yep,
been there too....
So I've had to fix many tyre slashes over time, road and mtb.
In the 'old days' and when on tour I carry a singles repair kit, it's a heavy needle with some tough thread for fixing tubular tyres on scummers. I used to sew up the slash and put a patch on the inside. Worked a treat and got me through my Uni days when I had to make everything last...

These days with tubeless tyres I use a two layer approach, first cleaning the inside really well with some fine sandpaper, carefully running in the direction of the threads (so they don't get damaged and fray), then apply a decent amount of glue. When it's no longer tacky I put on the smallest tube patch that will seal the slash. Once thats on, I put on a second layer of glue and cover it with a piece of tyre sidewall - something thin and flexible that's reinforced and will prevent the tyre bulging in that spot. This piece will be about 2-3cm, and I use the 'Bloot' method of clamping it until it's dry.

The key factor is where the slash is, if its on the crown where there is a lot of flex, it may not hold permanently. Depends on the gluing. I've had reasonable success in the sidewalls of a few tyres, going back to tubeless again, but I'm always wary of going for a really long or important ride.

fwiw: My favorite temporary sleeve is a piece of PET bottle, or the plastic sheet that new tyres come with. I cut a few pieces up with rounded corners, and leave them in my backpack with some gaffa tape wrapped around them (so I can stick them in position inside the tyre while I inflate the tube).
W.

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