I guess an example gives a good visceral feel for the technique. You find a
nail directly in the middle of your 200 MPH Goodyear. You take it into
Wendover and hand it to a high school kid with greasy hands in the tire
shop. He grabs a rubber plug in his slippery hands, smears some dried glue
on the plug, and stuffs it back into the tire. (a few of the frayed cords
are also pushed back in along with the plug). The kid puts 30 psi in the
tire for a leak check under water. It passes.
Drive 12 miles back to Lake Bonneville and put it on your car to qualify for
a Red Hat. Don't forget to inflate to 70 PSI (the Goodyear recommended
pressure). Calmly drive 214 mph for your hat. If the 70 psi didn't blow out
the plug, the imbalance (you forgot to re-balance after the plug) and
centrifugal force might. You have no idea of the damage caused by the nail.
Did it cut cords, separate plies, start a fatigue separation due to
tred-squirm in the contact patch? Continued in No.2 -Elon
Sun, 2 Sep 2007 From: "Benn" karhu@california.com
I've had at least several tires plugged, including a few i did myself
decades ago. All of 'em wore out without the plug leaking...I think, like
lots of stuff, it's more important that you understand how the technique
should be done and when it can be used than a blanket prohibition. OTOH,
mebbe I've just been lucky. Benn
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