Anyone have experience with tire repair kit?

About a month ago I found a length of wire embedded in the shoulder of a tire (right after the TPMS lit up) that was causing a very slow leak and plugged it with an old Dynaplug (Dynaplug® Tubeless Tire Puncture Repair Tools and Accessories) kit I had around the house from years ago. What I like about the Dynaplug kit is there's no need to ream out the hole, so no additional "damage" to the tire besides the original puncture.

So far it's held up over 1500 miles and hasn't lost any pressure. Previous plugs I've used have also lasted thousands of miles. In fact, I've never had any tire repair fail, whether it's a DIY or done by a tire shop. However, this is the first time I've had a hole at the very edge of the tread.

It seems for all the paranoia about shoulder and sidewall repair, there are many success stories on the internet, and no actual stories of a catastrophic failure (I know, they all died before they could post

 

There are good reasons why the tire should be replaced after a sidewalk puncture or gash: There are no steel reinforcing belts in the sidewall, and it flexes considerably on turns. Prius tires are pretty cheap and it's not a 4x4 which requires that you replace all four tires at once. If I have a sidewall puncture, the tire's getting replaced.

 

I would not buy or hire any car that does not have a spare wheel. In uk they will not repair a tire that has been filled with repair gunge. The only time I tried a roadside gauge repair it failed as the sidewall was split by the time I got off the ro

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

How do systems like traction control and such react to slightly different sized tires? I've never had a puncture requiring replacement when the other three aren't also worn quite a bit anyways so I just take the opportunity to replace all four.

 

Since traction control is a safety system and I'm not an expert, please don't take my advice. What I think is that traction control uses the ABS system, and it is independent on each wheel, so slightly different tire diameter shouldn't matter.

I know the Prius manual doesn't say you have to replace tires in pairs or all at once, but I'm like you; I pro-actively replaced all of my tires well before the tread hit the wear bars. I figure it's $500 every 50,000-ish miles, and squeezing an extra 10,000 miles doesn't really do me any good and I felt safer replacing sooner.

 

Yeah I think they all use wheel speed sensors and it compares the different wheel speeds to see if you're spinning a tire or a tire is locking up. So on ice if you stomp the brake and all four tires lock, that's why your ABS doesn't come on. But if you've got a new tire that is slightly larger it will turn slightly slower relative to the other tires. I wonder if this would confuse the system. Was just a thought, surely engineers are smarter than me and accounted for it. I'll stick with matching tires.

 

Two words: "Compact Spare". It's significantly smaller in diameter than the full size tire, and the ABS and traction control handle it fine. Rate of change of wheel speed probably matters more than wheel speed relative to other wheels. Also, since most cars have stability control they are also monitoring body motion. If the wheels are stopping faster than the body, it's a good guess that you're skidding on ice.

 

I believe they're the same outside diameter, within 1/4" at least.

 

According to Spare tire size .. ? | PriusChat and other places, the compact spare is a 135/80R16, plugging into Tire Size Calculator:

Compact spare 135/80R16 = 24.5" diameter
Full size tire: 195/65R15 = 25" diameter

So, half an inch difference. If it were the same diameter, it would be the first car I've seen with a compact spare that's the same diameter as the other tires.

Stray observation: By appealing to facts and logic, I'm showing myself to be unfit to run for president

 

.. and to quote Basil Brush - "Boom, Boom!"

 

Sometime back I stacked my 2010 Prius spare atop one of our 195/65R15 snow tires (mounted on steel rim), on a concrete slab, and slid a steel right angle beside them, to get them aligned. They were VERY close. Maybe the tire diameter calculator is missing something with temp spares, that shows up in direct observation??

 

Wheels rotate at different speeds when you turn a corner, so slight difference is normal. Anti-skid and anti-slip engage when there's s much bigger difference in rotation (fast rotation triggers anti-slip) or when there's barely any rotation (anti-skid).

 

@tpenny67 Never one to avoid belabouring a point, I went out and remeasured, 195/65R15 (X-Ice) vs temp spare. The temp was actually about 1/8" greater OD:



Initial alignment done at left side:



Then the check at right side:



The X-Ice have been lightly used for 5 winters, so down a bit, around 8/32" tread depth remaining. I'd suspect if they were brand new they'd be slightly ahead, again by about 1/8" at most.

 

Seriously I don't know why Toyota just didn't go with that system. I actually bought a set of these things and then realized I cannot use the compressor that comes with the factory set up without blowing the goop into the tire. Honestly, just a compressor and the plugs and T handle thing would seem to be the better solution.

 

They probably can't legally offer the plug repair, it's in a grey zone right now. Or at the least their lawyers are cautioning against it. The easy way out of the quandary, well except for the Plug-In with much bigger battery: just include spare with all levels. This is the case in Canada, with somewhat limited (three) levels, and the one exception being the "tech" level with option "extra tech", the latter goes to the plug repair. Why I'm not sure, weight?

With the Plug-In's seemed to me the easiest way to skirt the no-spare issue would be to use a drop-down from the underside location, like trucks do.

 

Wow! Toyota uk parts prices do seem to me way over the top! I've saved hundreds over the years buying gen2 parts from non Toyota sources that were far cheaper and better quality than the Toyota parts i've had in the past.

1. You can get a whole tyre pressure monitoring system with 4 senders and a display for £60, and
2. You can get a can of Holt's Tyreweld for about £7!

What's in the tyre gunk? Is it a different compound from Tyreweld?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I bought a SLIME fix-a-flat can and compressor kit for around $20, and a tire plug kit for $10. Used the plug kit recently, and it was pretty easy, although took a bit of strength to get the plug in place.

A cheap 12v compressor with a built-in pressure guage is a must-have for anyone who's watching their MPG. I love being able to top off my tires in my driveway and not need to find a working air compressor at a gas station, fumble with a separate guage. etc. It makes pumping bicycle tires simple, too.

 

GT4Prius
Are you really replacing the tire after every punch?

 

and you can check them cold on your driveway instead of warmed up at the gas station.

 

I like both methods. I actually just use a decent floor standing bicycle pump, it works, bit of a work out, lol.

We have a nearby Chevron with free air. I've notice a few stations where the pump is anemic, but this one's ok. I'll just check pressures when cold, at home, decide on a target pressure. Then head straight to the station, which'll raise pressures by 2 psi at the most. Whatever amount they've climbed, I raise my target psi by the same amount.

And maybe overshoot a bit, recheck the next morning, cold, bleed a bit as needed.