Have you tried sidewall tire repair kit?

[James Hunt]

A buddy was telling me that another offroader was talking about a sidewall tire repair kit. I've always thought sidewalls can't not be repaired. Have any of you tried one of these and can comment on outcome? Did it work?

 

[smritte]

I'll start with DOT regulations. You don't fix sidewalls. I wont go into the reasons for the law but will say, if done correctly and its not a gash, the repair can be made safely. My repairs have been limited to punctures (cactus mostly) and one small tear.

I would never have known about this if you didn't post a question. I looked it up and it seems there's a product Glue tread (manufacture) (Glue Tread Amazon) that is marketed towards sidewall repairs. The manufactures site seems to be geared toward ATV's but they claim vehicle tires and tractor tires. No where on the site does it give a max size gash. That is a bit scary. The manufactures site did not have any videos, patching anything other than ATV tires that I saw.


It appears you "super glue" the gash then "superglue" the patch over the top. (I say superglue based on the color and dry time of their adhesive).
You glue the gash, sand the area and glue a patch on top. They don't want a coating of glue for the patch but want "dots" of glue to hold it. This tells me the patch is not designed to hold air but to reinforce the damaged area. Some of the reviews say to taper the edges of the patch so you dont have an edge to scrape off the patch. The manufacture does not show this but, I think its a good idea.

One of the videos showed a patched ATV tire that leaked after abusing the tire. They added more glue to the patch. That tells me the "superglued" slash under the patch didn't seal for whatever reason or unglued partially and the patch was now sealing it. This video was on the manufactures site.

I would not try to patch a large tear and drive it on the street. A large gash will have torn the mesh in the tire sidewall causing a weak spot. I could see the area puckering out, sort of like a bubble. I also cant find anything that says "No bigger than".

Where I live, the area is volcanic, its easy to cut a sidewall without trying. I will be adding this to my tool box. I put a 2" gash in my sidewall last fall. I still have the tire at work. I'm going to try one of these and see how it works. I do believe the gash is too big to patch but I think its the perfect size to test

 

[James Hunt]

Interesting, just as thought though. But couldn't hurt to ask! Thank you for chiming in!