Hole in tyre rubber...help

Scrumple

Hole in tyre rubber...help

I have a hole iin my rear tyre rubber similar to a grain of rice size (not quite as big). It is obviously a cut that is being pulled open by the tyre pressure.

I can see a reddy colour strip under the cut, as if the split is right through to the inner banding of the tyre.

It still works... question is, can you fill the hole somehow? They are my first tyres, and I have no idea about these things. Do you just ignore these things? Repair? Or do I need to replace?

(Race tyre, 700 x 23)

softlad

replace

Diogenes

It is not unusual to get nicks in a tyre, does not mean it has had its day. With 700*23 tyres folk tend to run them with fairly high pressures and this will encourage the split to open. If I replaced every tyre with a nick in it then my lbs would have a friend for life.

You can sometimes get away with putting a tube repair patch on the inside of the tyre to stop the tube poking through the nick.

If the nick starts to open up then best replace but I have run tyres with small holes in them for months and months. Providing you stop the tube poking through you will usually get plenty of notice that the tyre has had its day but you pay your money and take your chances, if the tyre goes bang while you are hurtling downhill at 30+ mph you may find control a little interesting!


D

Monty Dog

If the cut is all the way through, then it's probably terminal - you could try a tubeless tyre repair patch as a last resort. If not, you could try Superglue to close the cut, but not that successful IME

Flasheart

About 3 weeks before I bought my road bike, I got a 12mm slit on one of my scwalbe kojak slicks on my Ridgeback Supernova Hybrid. Not wanting to spend any more money on a bike I had little use for soon I tried some Gorilla Glue( it expands and is waterproof) http://www.gluegorilla.co.uk/gorilla-glue-1-c.asp.
On the weekend I actually used the hybrid and I checked the tire first (just in case) and it was still fine.

Headhuunter

If the slit goes all the way through, someone suggested to me that I stick a curved piece of plastic on the inside of the tyre to line it and prevent the tube from poking out. Perhaps a piece of a plastic plant or yoghurt pot. That can extend the tyre's life a bit....

stevebendall

deflate the tyre, use your fingers to compress the tyre so the cut opens up, dab with superglue, close up the cut to dry (oh, make sure the tyre and cut is clean and dry first)

Will work great on small cuts, without seeing how big this is its worth a try, can't lose anything

Headhuunter

stevebendall wrote:

deflate the tyre, use your fingers to compress the tyre so the cut opens up, dab with superglue, close up the cut to dry (oh, make sure the tyre and cut is clean and dry first)

Will work great on small cuts, without seeing how big this is its worth a try, can't lose anything

Does Super Glue hold the cut closed even with the pressure up to 120psi?

Mister W

I have a small piece of crisp packet and superglue patching a hole about that size in my rear tyre. It's got me through a year of riding so far and hasn't caused any problems.

ColinJ

Headhuunter wrote:

stevebendall wrote:

deflate the tyre, use your fingers to compress the tyre so the cut opens up, dab with superglue, close up the cut to dry (oh, make sure the tyre and cut is clean and dry first)

Will work great on small cuts, without seeing how big this is its worth a try, can't lose anything

Does Super Glue hold the cut closed even with the pressure up to 120psi?

I did a superglue repair on a small cut in my new front tyre shortly before flying out to Spain for a training camp (I didn't want to scrap the tyre because I'd only done a few miles on it.)

I enjoyed my first few days at the camp then we had a big day in the mountains. On the final descent of the day I hit speeds of over 50 mph and at times there were some big drop-offs into ravines at the side of the road. Next morning as we were assembling at the front of the hotel, the camp mechanic called me over and pointed at my front tyre and said "Are you really going to ride on that?"

The cut had pulled open and expanded and the inner tube was bulging right through. I scrapped the tyre after that! :shock:

PS I still got to ride that day - Robert Millar was at the camp with a load of bikes and race wheels to test for one of the UK cycling mags so I borrowed a wheel from him for the day.

Headhuunter

ColinJ wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

stevebendall wrote:

deflate the tyre, use your fingers to compress the tyre so the cut opens up, dab with superglue, close up the cut to dry (oh, make sure the tyre and cut is clean and dry first)

Will work great on small cuts, without seeing how big this is its worth a try, can't lose anything

Does Super Glue hold the cut closed even with the pressure up to 120psi?

I did a superglue repair on a small cut in my new front tyre shortly before flying out to Spain for a training camp (I didn't want to scrap the tyre because I'd only done a few miles on it.)

I enjoyed my first few days at the camp then we had a big day in the mountains. On the final descent of the day I hit speeds of over 50 mph and at times there were some big drop-offs into ravines at the side of the road. Next morning as we were assembling at the front of the hotel, the camp mechanic called me over and pointed at my front tyre and said "Are you really going to ride on that?"

The cut had pulled open and expanded and the inner tube was bulging right through. I scrapped the tyre after that! :shock:

PS I still got to ride that day - Robert Millar was at the camp with a load of bikes and race wheels to test for one of the UK cycling mags so I borrowed a wheel from him for the day.

I had a problem with a tube bulging through the tyre. I kept getting punctures and I mean serious explosion type punctures, as I was cycling past the tube would literally go bang like a gun and pedestrians would dive for cover thinking that some maniac with a weapon was loose. After writing off a couple of tubes I realised that the tube was pushing right through. Luckily the tubes exploded quite close to home so I didn't have to walk far with the bike!

fooshnicken

Monty Dog wrote:

If the cut is all the way through, then it's probably terminal - you could try a tubeless tyre repair patch as a last resort. If not, you could try Superglue to close the cut, but not that successful IME

I've tried this and not had much success. The glue sets nicely but the smallest amount of moisture on the road surfaces causes it come back out.

I would replace them if you can, or lower the pressure down by perhaps 10psi until you can replace it.

stevebendall

Headhuunter wrote:

stevebendall wrote:

deflate the tyre, use your fingers to compress the tyre so the cut opens up, dab with superglue, close up the cut to dry (oh, make sure the tyre and cut is clean and dry first)

Will work great on small cuts, without seeing how big this is its worth a try, can't lose anything

Does Super Glue hold the cut closed even with the pressure up to 120psi?

It depends on the damage. I use this technique on Vittoria Corsa CX's that I always use, but they have a separate cotton carcass with a rubber tread strip stuck on top of it, with a kevlar belt sandwiched between the 2. I would clarify by adding if the carcass has any damage then no, I'd scrap it, but if its only the rubber tread then it has always worked for me

Others such as Michelins and Conti's that use a different construction may not take so well to this method