Over the years I've had a few nails/screws/etc. puncture my tires. They were road hazard insured so I got them fixed. At one place, the guy left the tire on the rim and inserted a plug. No charge. At another, they chose to remove the tire and then told me that, even though the repair was free, I had to pay for balancing.

I've seen tire repair kits available. They include a handle with a point and some tread-stuff.

Anyhow, how does one repair a tire using the kit?
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans

I have repaired the tires on my Volvo twice using the gooey thread and needle method. Both punctures were made by nails in the tread part of the tire. I think sidewall repairs won't work with this method. I did coat the thread with rubber tire cement. Anyway, both repairs have held for over a year.
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1991 white 240 auto

Thanks for the upbeat responses. As you can tell from my previous post I'd rather do the repair myself. I think others may want to also.

I just picked up a repair kit on sale. No instructions though.

Btw, if anybody lives near a "Princess Auto" check them out. They have some nice stuff. I think they're only in Canada.
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans

Its a simple process of using a stranded rubbery stringy stuff threaded thru a slot in the pointed awl tool and finding the hole and threading the awl into the hole leaving 1/4 of the strand outside the hole and then pulling the awl back out with another 1/4 of the strand on it. Cut the strand where it passes thru the awl and the soft rubber "should" bond with and seal the leak.

But...I have had them fail or work their way out of the tire. When I was a wee lad and worked at a service station (a "Sinclair" which show just how far back this was) we always dipped the string in tire cement (super gooey stuff) before filling the hole. And this was on BIAS PLY tires only not Radials.

My local tire shop, Poor Fredies Mud Hole of Jamaica,NY, will not do this method. They will only remove and patch from the inside AND they mark the rim and tire so they can remount with a much smaller chance of needing a rebalance.

The string/awl method would probably work fine in a roadside fix as long as you can locate the leak and have a compressor to refill the tire.

Thanks for the info. Sounds simple enough.

"And this was on BIAS PLY tires only not Radials."
The kit I saw was for radial tires.

"AND they mark the rim and tire so they can remount with a much smaller chance of needing a rebalance"
Yeah, I got the feeling I was being scammed. But if they're holding your tire hostage, you pay up.

A later time, I took a tire in and told them to honour the waranty and fix the tire. I'd get the tire balanced elsewhere, cheaper. The service manager told me that unless I got the tire balanced by them, he'd void all future warantees on the tire. I went above his head. (He needed to be reminded that the law says I can take my business to any auto repair shop I want).
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1980 245 Canadian B21A with SU carb and M46 trans

Good advice Stoney.

A thought about the Sinclair station you worked at.....would that be Finzio's Sinclair, Passaic, NJ ??? Straight from "The Last Open Road" ???

Good reading !!

Al

Close, really close...

Ross Sinclair Super Service
Ed Ross owner and seller of stolen parts, used starter rip offs and the like

Scooter Ross- Ed's nephew and proprietor of the dog track bookie joint in the back room

John-Wrench #1 and not worth the merde

Sam-just like Buddy's bro from Westbridge - taught me how to fix cars and run numbers and dog track bets

Karen-Ed's niece, cheerleader and my weekly drivein date who taught me everything else...