HIGHLY RECOMMENDED SMALL T-HANDLE TIRE PLUG KIT HAS EVERYTHING NEEDED TO PLUG A LEAK IN A PUNCTURED TIRE
Great inexpensive kit if you're NOT a Little Old Lady trying to repair a 1/4" puncture near the sidewall of a HUGE SUV tire for the first time! The addition of a small tube of rubber cement to this kit makes insertion of the plug(s) easier as you don't have to push so hard to get the plugs in. I ordered this in addition to the professional kit I had for more than 5 years. The plugs in the older kit had exceeded their useful life and were slightly dried out and brittle but that didn't stop me from trying to use them and "practicing" before this kit arrived. The old professional kit came with too many plugs to use up in a person's lifetime, especially when there's a limited (5 year) shelf life. The OLD plastic case dried along with the plugs, leaving it with broken hinges and a few straight edge razor blades as the difference between spending $40 and spending less than $10 for comparable quality tools from the same company. Newer plugs and rubber cement included in the $10 kit make the repair job easier. I was NOT able to successfully cut the excess from the old or new plugs after installation using the SHARP razor blades from the Pro kit, making them unnecessary for me. The excess flattened after a few miles. Using plugged tires to travel more than 100 miles is not recommended; keep speed under 50 mph, and don't patch sidewalls or holes bigger than 1/4". No professional would repair my EXPENSIVE BIG tire. TUBES for TUBELESS TIRES are no longer available. After plugging my tire multiple times between the old expired $40 professional kit, and using this <$10 inexpensive kit, I made a final double- plug repair using the new plugs and the supplied rubber cement. With this repair I was able to use my SUV for over a year only adding air to the patched tire monthly. Both kits are made by the same company. At the end I injected a can of "Flat Tire Repair", but was unable to continue because THE VALVE HAD SPRUNG A LEAK. Time to replace the tire. Obviously the plugs work, even when one EXCEEDS the recommended usage. The old expired plugs worked but not as well as the new ones from this kit. For my final and successful repair I used two new plugs at a time with the supplied rubber cement from this kit to plug a hole that was AT LEAST 1/4" in diameter located between the sidewall and the tread and drove longer than a year for many miles, rarely exceeding 50 mph. I exceeded the manufacturers recommendations and these plugs still worked well. The hole was over the maximum size for repair at 1/4" diameter; I was told the hole was in the sidewall by dealers who wouldn't or couldn't repair the tire for me. (It was at the junction of the sidewall and the tread). It was difficult to push old dry plugs through the cleaned hole at first but the rubber cement that came with this new kit and the fresh plugs made that hardest part of the repair easier. I recommend this small plug kit even for Little Old Ladies attempting their first plug repair. If you get a flat far from home, call road service or change your tire. For reasonable leaks when close to or at home, use this plug kit to extend the serviceability of your damaged tire to keep your car in service for an indefinite period of time. It's best to keep to a reasonable speed if you have plugged an "R" or "Z" rated high performance tire. Be careful fixing holes over 1/4" and be extra cautious if the hole approaches or hits the sidewall. Read more
