How To Repair A Tire With A Plug

Flats tend to happen at the worst time in the worst places. If you are on the route or outside of normal business organisation hours and your vehicle has a apartment and the spare is missing or no good, you might feel stranded, but there is an option – a tire plug kit. This is something that anybody can do, yous just need the right parts.

Liquid tire repair might get you down the road, just it volition brand your tire repair impossible and it could damage the TPMS (Tire Force per unit area Monitor System) unit inside the rim itself. The best solution is a tire plug. Made from cork and a gooey adhesive that keeps it place and seals the tire, a tire plug repair is an excellent way to become your automobile back on the road until you can get to a tire store for an internal patch.

Installing a plug in your tire works for pierced tread expanse only. You cannot gear up sidewall damage or pinch breaks (from potholes, gravel roads or curbing). The most common road hazards you will find are nails and screws. Fixing these issues are perfect for the good old fashioned tire plug. Here's how to use a tire plug kit.

These are the tools you need to install an emergency tire patch. You should keep these in your vehicle, along with a 12-volt compressor. — These are the tools you demand to install an emergency tire patch. You should keep these in your vehicle, along with a 12-volt compressor.

Supplies

You will need the post-obit to brand a tire plug repair:

Tire plug kit

Pliers, preferably needle-nosed or diagonal side-cutters

Compressed air to refill the tire

There are all kinds of tire plug kits, but you want the most consummate kit, which comes with the plugs, the install tool, and the reamer tool. Some kits but come with the plugs and installer, merely the reamer tool is a necessary component to a good repair. Some kits come with liquid cement, you tin use information technology or not, the cement helps make a permanent repair.

How to employ a tire plug kit

Step One

Locate the puncture. If you lot don't meet or hear the puncture, spray some soapy water on the tire and look for bubbles.

This is a small staple that was dropping tire pressure by 20 psi in about 12 hours. It needs to go. — This is a pocket-sized staple that was dropping tire pressure by 20 psi in almost 12 hours. Information technology needs to become.

Step Two

Remove the offending item. This is commonly easy, but sometimes the nail or spiral is worn down, making it hard to get a bite on it. This is where the side-cutters come in actually handy. You lot will want to position the tire where you go the most leverage.

Side cutters work best for removing these items, as they can grip small round objects better than regular pliers. — Side cutters work best for removing these items, every bit they can grip pocket-sized circular objects amend than regular pliers.

Step Three

Insert the reamer. This will take some endeavor, as you have to push it through the steel belts. Use a twisting move and push it into the tire. Once the reamer is through, saw it in and out of the tire a few times to really make a nice hole for the plug. Aye, it is counter-intuitive, but information technology is necessary.

The reamer requires some effort. You will hear the belts scrubbing the reamer as your break through. — The reamer requires some effort. Yous will hear the belts scrubbing the reamer as your break through.

Push the reamer all the way and then saw it in and out a few times to make a clean hole. — Push the reamer all the fashion and so saw information technology in and out a few times to make a make clean hole.

Pace Four

Prep the plug and installer. Pull a plug off the strip and push it through the eyelet of the installer tool. The pliers will make this easier. Button a little through, grab it with the pliers and pull the plug halfway through the eyelet.

Pull a cork strip from the kit and grab the installer tool, which looks like a large needle with a slit in the eye. — Pull a cork strip from the kit and grab the installer tool, which looks like a big needle with a slit in the eye.

Threading the sticky cork plug is not easy, but if you can get it squished into the hole, you should be able to pull it on through. The side cutters might help. — Threading the sticky cork plug is non piece of cake, simply if y'all can get it squished into the pigsty, yous should exist able to pull information technology on through. The side cutters might assist.

Pace Five

Insert the plug into the tire. If the kit has liquid cement, apply some to the plug before inserting it into the tire. Simply push the installer into the hole in the tire until the plug is almost 3/iv of the way in. Twist the installer tool 90-degrees and pull it out. The plug will stay in the tire and the tool will come out overnice and like shooting fish in a barrel. You may trim abroad the excess plug, or go out information technology to habiliment abroad as you drive.

Push the plug into the hole. Don't twist the plug as you push it in, just go straight down and stop when there is about a 1/2-inch exposed. — Push the plug into the pigsty. Don't twist the plug equally you push button it in, only go directly down and stop when at that place is well-nigh a one/2-inch exposed.

This is what you should see when the plug is installed. — This is what yous should see when the plug is installed.

Once the plug is in you can now twist the handle 90-degrees and pull the tool out. — Once the plug is in you can now twist the handle ninety-degrees and pull the tool out.

Stride Six

Fill the tire to the proper PSI. If you have a portable air compressor, this volition make things like shooting fish in a barrel, but if you lot do not, you need to go air very soon.

All done. You can trim the plug or leave. You will need air, so don't go driving until you have the tire aired up. — All done. You can trim the plug or leave. You will need air, then don't go driving until y'all have the tire aired up.

Every motorcar you own should have an emergency tire plug repair kit in the tool box, along with a portable air compressor. These emergency repairs are quite good, just for a long term repair, you should take the vehicle to a tire store for a proper repair equally before long as possible.

Check out all the steering & suspension partsavailable on NAPA Online or trust i of our 17,000 NAPA AutoCare locations for routine maintenance and repairs. For more than information on how to use a tire plug kit, chat with a knowledgeable proficient at your local NAPA Automobile PARTS store.

Jefferson Bryant View All

A life-long gearhead, Jefferson Bryant spends more time in the store than anywhere else. His career began in the motorcar audio industry equally a shop manager, somewhen working his style into a position at Rockford Fosgate as a production designer. In 2003, he began writing tech articles for magazines, and has been working equally an automotive journalist ever since. His work has been featured in Car Craft, Hot Rod, Rod & Custom, Truckin', Mopar Muscle, and many more. Jefferson has besides written 4 books and produced countless videos. Jefferson operates Red Dirt Rodz, his personal garage studio, where all of his mag articles and tech videos are produced.