what would you do???

Don't confuse the conversation with facts... The internet hates that.

 

The only failures I ever had with plugs were immediate. I would use them on a steer, but I would stop and check air pressure every hour the first day, and every pre trip for a week afterwards.

 

If you are stuck at a TS that wont--have em patch it--and swap it wwith the BEST trailer tire you have--the go to next TS(or tire shop)and pay em to swap tires..............

 

Def wouldn't put it back on the steers but it would make great trailer or drive tire!

 

I was riding my motorcycle one day. I ran over a long nail. It went thru the center of the tread on my brand new rear tire and then it stuck out thru the sidewall. I got a tire repair kit and a bicycle pump. I plugged both holes. Pumped it up and rode home. Then I went to a shop and had a tube installed (it was a tubeless tire). I was a teenager then. That tire cost me $65 . I wore it out with no problem.

 

I would NOT use a plug.
Plugs can and do fail.
Not allways but they have a higher failrate.
A patch on the inside is allways better as it is vulcanised over a much larger area the the hole in the tire.

But i never put repaired steers back on the steeraxle.
They make very good trailertires.
And you lose hardly any money that way.................so why take the risk???

And for those that say ......."oh,if the repair fails all that will happen is that the tire will lose air slowly"
Well,they are correct but they forget 1 thing.
If the tire starts to lose air and you still have a few hours off driving before your next stop.............you have all the ingredients for a blowout.
I have seen in my trucking career 3 steerblowouts over the years.
They are not pretty.
2 off those 3 resulted in deaths.

As to those who say a new tire can blowout,again they are correct but it isn't the whole story.
I bet money that if you examen that tire you will find it is either a very cheap and bad chinese tire or it will have damage that lead to a pressure loss which made it blowout.

There is another reason why you don't put a repaired tire back as a steer.
Even if you only had the smallest hole in it,if you drove it on very low pressure,it can have damage to the sidewall.
A flat tire that you don't drive on ................you don't do any damage.
If you drive a few feet on that same tire you can do damage to the sidewall.

So you decide if you want to risk it.
(keep in mind those ambulance chasing lawyers that are around)