Tyre maintenance advice reqd.

mr.b-campag

Had a puncture (perhaps two) on my front tyre (a conti gator hardshell) on the commute. It's got a few cuts in it now too. I've got another one of these tyres spare - would I be best to replace the front one with this, or put the new one on the back and swap that one (which I've never punctured on) onto the front wheel?

Secondly, I'm thinking of putting the old front tyre onto a spare wheel as I think it still has some life in it (certainly more than the tyre on there at the moment!). I've heard people suggest you can fill in the cuts with superglue - is it literally just a case of pumping it up to, say, 120psi and applying some glue? How do you make sure it fills the hole and doesn't leave a bump sticking out of the tyre?

Thanks for any advice

B

bigmat

Stick the tyre in best condition on the front. Rear blowouts are annoying. Front blowoits can be very dangerous.

Re superglue, certain nicks in tyres can be glued. Best done with no pressure on the tyre (I would remove the tyre from the wheel in fact) and something holding the parts to be glued together. Superglue is not flexible so not the ideal thing for this. You can get flexible superglue gel, or Shoe Goo, which are better. Once the glue is fully set you can refit and inflate the tyre and it might just hold together (although often doesn't in my experience). Don't worry about bumps, they will soon wear down.

keef66

Best tyre on the front - always. Does most of the braking and all the steering.

I've never been convinced by superglue. The normal stuff dries really hard; it must be like deliberately inserting shards of flint into your tyre. No idea about Shoe Goo. I just keep an eye on cuts in the tread. If they go through to the casing then I'll try a reinforcing patch inside the tyre. If that bulges when inflated I'll bin the tyre.

mr.b-campag

Thanks both for the advice, much appreciated.

The Rookie

If I have a slit I use puncture repair glue for obvious reasons...
1/ Sticks to rubber
2/ Flexible
3/ Has a filler effect (unlike superglue)

It won't necessarily glue the edges together as such but will make it less likely that further debris will just go straight in the hole.