No car owner is safe from puncture or cut of the tire. Nail, glass fragments, sharp curbs or rail can damage the tire at any time. Of course, if there is a spare tire or tire nearby, then the problem is solved quickly. But, if the driver is on the highway, what should he do?
Tire repair methods
There are three types of tire damage : punctures, cuts and swelling. If the first two can be repaired, then swelling (“hernia” or “roll”) cannot be repaired. Further operation may result in an explosion of the wheel.
Do-it-yourself tubeless tire repairs can be done in three ways, depending on the size of the puncture or cut.
The most used means are sealant and a set of bundles. They are designed for repairing punctures and cuts with a diameter of up to 5 mm. More serious “wounds” are treated with special patches.
Of course, all these tricks are not a panacea. They serve only so that the driver can get to the nearest tire service or tire store.
Sealant Repair
The easiest way to repair tubeless tires is to use sealant. No matter where the puncture is located - on the sidewall or on the treadmill. The use of sealant to repair tubeless tires looks like this:
- We get the cause of the puncture from the rubber (if it remained in it).
- Scroll the wheel so that the puncture point is at the top.
- Unscrew the cap from the nipple.
- Bleed the remaining air.
- Using a special tube, we connect the can with sealant, press the can valve.
- We are waiting for the tire to take the necessary shape. Now you can disconnect the sealant and drive.
- After a couple of kilometers, we measure the pressure in the tire and bring it to working.
How to choose a sealant for your tires
To choose the right sealant, several criteria must be considered. After all, sealants can be designed both for car tires, and for motorcycle or bicycle.
The container in which this composition is sold is also different: cartridges are designed not only for pouring adhesive, but also for pumping the chamber. While plastic bottles only pump sealant.
There are compounds that are applicable only for the repair of tubeless tires with their own hands, but there are also universal sealants that can be used to seal the wheel with the 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 even at 0 ° C.
Tire repair with harnesses
Another popular, but more energy-intensive way to repair a puncture of a tubeless tire is to use harnesses. They are sold complete with an awl, file and special glue.
This approach is no less effective than repairing with sealant, but it will require more time and, possibly, dismantling the wheel.
Do-it-yourself kits for repairing tubeless tires of various brands have the same equipment. In rare cases, they add a knife for cutting harnesses. Since this kit can be used repeatedly, some owners have such a nuisance: for the first time they opened the kit, used glue, and after a while it dried. Fortunately, manufacturers have addressed this issue. Glue for repair of tubeless tires with tows is sold both as a set and as a separate unit.
How to repair with harnesses
A tireless tire repair kit is not suitable for use with a chamber tire. Therefore, before starting the procedure, just in case, you should make sure that the tire is still tubeless.
Next, proceed as follows:
- We remove a foreign object from the tire.
- We mark the puncture site (you can use chalk).
- We clean the rubber from dirt.
- We lower the pressure in the wheel to 1/2 atm., So as not to damage the cord.
- Using a file, we clean the puncture. It is necessary to get a hole in which the repair harness will fit.
- We take a tourniquet, coat it with glue and thread it into the awl hole (like a thread into a needle).
- Now we carefully stick the awl into the puncture site by about 2/3. Then we also slowly take it out. The loop of the harness should remain inside, and its ends outside.
- Inflate the wheel and check for air poisoning. If the leak remains, then add another tourniquet.
When it was possible to achieve complete tightness, you can trim the protruding ponytails of the harnesses and go to the nearest tire service.
Side cut
Perhaps the most dangerous and in many cases not repairable is a side cut. For passenger car tires, there is an acceptable cut limit at which it is possible to patch the wheel. Longitudinal cut - not more than 35 mm, transverse - not more than 25 mm. For large sizes, repair of a side cut of a tubeless tire becomes irrelevant, since the number of damaged cord threads is too large for the wheel to remain stable on the road.
Repair of a cut that is too close to the edge of the tire or on the edge itself is also irrelevant. The patch will not stand the turns of the wheel and fall off.
Repairs
A special patch is used to repair cuts. Before proceeding with gluing and patching, the tire must be thoroughly cleaned of dirt and measure the cut. Then remove the tire from the disc:
- Using a drill, we clean the place for the patch.
- Apply a thin layer of rubber to the cut and solder it. All solder should be evenly distributed over the surface not only around the cut, but also over the cleaned area.
- After the rubber grabs, it is again ground so that it follows the shape of the wheel.
- You can flash soldered rubber with kapron threads. This will slightly strengthen the tire.
- The surface to be repaired is degreased.
- We apply a layer of activator glue and wait for it to become dull (dry).
- Then we apply another thin layer and already apply a special patch (cord patch).
- Carefully press the patch, smoothing it in the direction from the center to the edges.
Repair of the side cut of the tubeless tire is over. Of course, such a wheel can only be used as a spare.
A little bit about cord
The tire is a full member of the suspension, which carries the weight of the car, resists road bumps, emergency braking and cornering. Her duty is to maintain machine stability and contact with the roadway.
Only thanks to the cord (textile or metal) is the tire able to withstand loads. And as a result of the cut, as a rule, the cord also breaks. It is impossible to restore it. There is no such device that would implant new threads into the camera.
Where the cord is broken, the tire becomes unstable, loses rigidity. Even if tire professionals patch the wheel, no one will guarantee that the wheel will not explode under increased load. In addition, all elements of the suspension begin to suffer.
Even if 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. He systematically fails. Then the rest of the suspension slowly begins to require replacement.
Repair puncture tubeless tires and its further operation are quite acceptable, unlike tires with a cut.
Finally
Having a do-it-yourself sealant or kit for repairing a tubeless tire in the trunk is as much a necessity as a spare tire. At least once in a lifetime, but you have to face a punctured tire where tire fitting is not available.