depends where the puncture is. too close to the sidewall and you have to bin them. if they've already been plugged once and theu get another puncture its off to the bin.

▲

potato3732842 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

I plug shoulders in large part because it drives certain people up the wall. I'd say maybe half the time they last the life of the tire. Frequently they're finicky and unreliable. Less often than that they start a tread separation bubble. In either latter case I just trash the tire since that's easy enough.

Yeah a proper internal glue on patch would likely perform better in the shoulder but ain't nobody got time for that, that's like 90% of the work of changing the tire.

▲

defrost 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> if they've already been plugged once and theu get another puncture its off to the bin.

Again, that's your personal choice.

We've got off road and on road tyres we still use with four to five tyre plugs in them that have lasted a few years since their last puncture.

I'm in non urban Australia and have cars actively used with > 500,000 km on the clock. We were raised to maintain gear; be it cars, trucks, aircraft, excavators, bob cats, etc.

▲

MindSpunk 2 days ago | parent [-]

It's a choice in so much as I would be gambling against how likely I am to get knocked back at a safety inspection for having plugs on the side wall. I'm in urban NSW and whether I'd get by a safety inspection would be a gamble on how particular the mechanic is. One of the mechanics I go to warned me about a single slightly cloudy headlight for my next inspection, which is comical compared to some of the cars I've seen on the roads in Sydney. I'm sure he'd be a big fan of those tyres.

Understandable if you're rural though.

	▲	defrost 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		I didn't advocate sidewall plugs. What I can say is that properly fitted plugs in the tread can last a long time with little leakage and that three or four plugs in the tyre tread (widely spaced, not all jammed in a big hole) seem to last a fair few years.

▲

aetherspawn 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, this, it depends. It has to be in the middle 100mm or so of the tyre, and not between the treads, otherwise they won’t plug it.

Annoyingly, plugs are not perfect either: after a tyre has been plugged I’m putting air in it like every 2 months, so anecdotally I guess the plugs leak really slowly.