Should i patch a motorcycle tire

However, a motorcycle tire patch is only meant to be a temporary solution until the tire itself can be properly replaced.

We decided to look further into the question and, at the very least, provide you with the safest and most responsible way to handle a situation where you need to patch the tire on your motorcycle.

The obvious answer is yes. The real question is, should you patch a motorcycle tire? The answer is not so easy. If they patch it, they are liable is the patch fails and an accident occurs.

If you absolutely have to patch the tire as a temporary situation, it should be decided on a case by case basis. There are a few different situations where a patch is far more dangerous than calling roadside assistance. This is the biggest issue at hand. In some situations, no matter where the community stands on patching, it is not at all safe to patch a tire. The first consideration is where the hole is located on the tire. If the hole is on the sidewall, you cannot patch it. The rubber there is much thinner than the rest of the tire, and while moving, the sidewall is flexible to allow turning.

The unstable nature of the sidewall may actually destroy the plug itself and lead to a full-scale blowout. If a patch on the rear tire becomes unstable or begins to fail, you have a good chance of being able to slowly stop your bike and pull over to safety. Taking the exact same action with a front tire patch is extremely dangerous.

While attempting to stop your bike, a front blow out makes steering nearly impossible, possibly throwing you off the bike or even over the handlebars causing a potentially fatal accident. The safety and stability of a tire patched by a beginner are unpredictable at best.

Sometimes the belt is compromised, making it impossible to patch adequately. Sometimes the damage that lay beneath is just too much to patch, no matter how experienced you are. The only thing that can be done in this instance is to safely pull to the side of the road out of the way of traffic and call for help. As much as you may not want to pay a recovery service, We assure you that the price is far lower than that of an injury or possibly death. It absolutely does!

Unless if it is the sidewall, it is completely possible to plug or patch a tire. Patches are used for inner tubes of the tires. However, if the puncturing is on the sidewall or the puncture hole is large, say more than 7mm diameter, you just cannot repair it.

No amount of patching or plugging is going to work. It is very common to plug the motorcycle tires whenever a nail is picked up. Not even losing a single PSI for long miles travelled after. Even if the tire is losing the pressure, it will take some time to deflate.

The rider can heed the warning and act on it by halting the motorcycle. Also, it is best practice to carry a plug kit with you while going for a long ride. Once you are back from the ride or find a repair shop in your ride, you can opt for replacing the tire. If the inner tube of a tire can be patched and the tubeless tire can be plugged easily, then why do repair shops refuse to plug or patch them? Most repair shops refuse to plug or patch specifically a motorcycle tire. This is because unlike in cars, motorcycles have higher risk of damage in case the patch fails.

In a car tire, if the patch fails and the pressure leaks off, the car driver will be able to judge the problem easily and halt the car. If the patch or the plug fails down disastrously, things might not end well for the motorcycle rider. If the rider was going at a high speed or at a turn when the tire blows out, the situation might result in some serious injuries to the rider or worse, death.

If the patch or plug fails and turns out to be the reason for damage, the repair shops will be in serious trouble. They might be sued for the damage caused just because they agreed to patch up a motorcycle tire. Apart from the liability concerns, repair shops also have the incentive to refuse patching since selling a new tire brings them more money.

Motorcycle repair shops realize much better profits when they sell you a new tire rather than a simple patching or plugging of the tire. Which one of the two do you think the motorcycle repair shop will prefer? Obviously, the new tire. Now, we know the retail shops prefer replacing with a new tire whereas the motorcycle riders prefer plugging or patching. But what do the tire manufacturers say about motorcycle tires getting plugged or patched?

Motorcycle tire manufacturers do not recommend plugging or patching your tires. However, they also admit that it depends on a lot of different variables.

For example, where the nail is located, how large the nail is, how old the tire is, the size of the tire, the design etc. Suppose, the nail is stuck on the sidewall of your motorcycle tire. In that case, it is usually a direct recommendation of replacing your tire with a new one.

If it is a small hole on your brand-new tire, you will be tempted to go ahead with plugging. Even the tire manufacturers do not have a straight answer here. They still recommend to exercise caution here though. Saving a few hundred bucks is not worth it in exchange for some serious potential accidents is their line of thought.

The tire also needs to have a reasonable amount of tread left to retain the plug. An easy way to check tread depth is to stick a penny in the groove.

The size of the hole you can fill is determined by how many rope plugs you have on hand, am I right?! For permanent repairs, even the most lenient tire manufacturers draw the line at seven millimeters. Luckily, those types of injuries are pretty rare. For reference, seven mm is just a little smaller than the diameter of a standard BIC pen or your classic 2 pencil.

Damage to the liner could result in a slow leak, could allow air to creep between the plies and cause tread separation, or could let moisture get in around the steel belts and corrode them, none of which is good.

I carry two types of plug kits with me when I ride: Gas-station variety rope plugs for big ugly punctures left , and a DynaPlug kit for smaller holes right.

Some manufacturers simply cap the maximum speed of a repaired tire at 75 mph. Navigation Menu. Wish List. Please reference our International Shipping Policy for details. International Shipping Policy. Self-Service Returns. Doesn't fit? Don't love it? Return any unused item within 90 days for a full refund.