Stop & Go Tire Plugger

[Airman]

I bought the Stop & Go Tire Plugger kit some time ago and wanted to do a practice run here at home rather than at night by the side of the road in the rain.

As (bad) luck would have it, I picked up a 3" nail in the rear tire and as it already had 15k on it, I changed it out. It is, however, perfect to practice tire repair on. here are some pictures.





Here's where you start.


The reamer from the inside. It's a lot harder to push through the belts than I thought it would be. A T-handle would be better.




Installing the plug in the barrel.


The tool is assembled to the nozzle and pushed through the tread. The more you ream the easier this step would be. I had a struggle with it.


Insert the allen wrench and turn it all the way in. This installs the plug in the tire.


I gave it a feeble little tug and here's how it looked. There was a 1/8th inch gap under the head of the plug. It would probably leak.


Here you can see how much further the plug is pulled out. It is now correctly seated inside the tire.


You can see the head of the plug can't really set completely flat because of the ribs inside the tire. I believe a little tire cement would help seal the plug.


Here's the flush cut off. Do NOT pull on the stem when you cut it or it will pull back into the tire and probably fail.


There we go.

[jb44]

Nice job, Airman.

I carry the same kit with me, but have never had to use it on my bike.

Have used it on a friend's Goldwing, and on my old van.

Thanks for the photo from the inside... haven't seen that view before.

jb

[Airman]

Nice job, Airman.

I carry the same kit with me, but have never had to use it on my bike.

Have used it on a friend's Goldwing, and on my old van.

Thanks for the photo from the inside... haven't seen that view before.

jb

The one photo I forgot to take was the one that shows the result if you don't pull the stem out far enough. It leaves a major gap under the head of the plug.

One of Dougs advertisers threw up this ad. Looks like an improvment on the Stop & Go. I wonder if we could use those vulcanizing plugs and glue with our tools ?

http://patchboy.com/Merchant2/merchant. ... ry_Code=ki

[Sunbeemer]

I used the Stop 'n Go tire plugger you demonstrated with mixed results. One plug I installed lasted 450 miles at highway speeds, but I couldn't get two others to seal. Maybe I needed to ream the holes out more. I think steel belted tires eventually saw away the soft rubber plugs. As the instructions say, they are good for making temporary repairs.
< 50mph for <100 miles. I now carry self-vulcanizing monkey-poop too.

[Airman]

I used the Stop 'n Go tire plugger you demonstrated with mixed results. One plug I installed lasted 450 miles at highway speeds, but I couldn't get two others to seal. Maybe I needed to ream the holes out more. I think steel belted tires eventually saw away the soft rubber plugs. As the instructions say, they are good for making temporary repairs.
< 50mph for <100 miles. I now carry self-vulcanizing monkey-poop too.

What do you think of the vulcanizing plugs and glue at Patchboy ? Think they'd work with the Stop & Go plugger ?

[Flashdog]

I've been interested in that Stop & Go kit but, I've had so much luck with the sticky rope ones to spend the extra money.
I carry a kit I made up myself with a Wal-mart Slime brand reamer and insertion tool. I carry the good quality rope type plugs, a tube of rubber cement and a CO2 inflator from Aerostich. I've had to use it on my bike, others, and my wife's car. Easy, foolproof, and long lasting. My experiences with them carry more weight for me than some tire dealers warning.

[David R]

I have the one Airman uses and the "rope" plugs. I am a mechanic and use the rope ones all the time (I buy them from Napa by the boxful). I don't use the self vulcanizing plugs Like Airman on radial tires. The steel will cut them in time.

A hint... Drill a 1/4" hole before installing the red radial plugs. It makes installation MUCH easier.

YMMV
David

[Sunbeemer]

I've had 4 mushroom plugs installed by a local independent motorcycle shop from the inside of the tire. They had to remove the tire from the rim to glue the plug's heads inside and pulled the 1/2" diameter plug stem through the reamed out holes. These never leaked, and one lasted over 7500 miles as I got nailed in the first week after putting on a new rear tire. That's the only tire repair I could recommend for the long haul, although many shops no longer offer this repair for insurance liability reasons.