Hi everyone,
It's been a bit quiet here on the community for a while. Hope you are all finding time to get your trials cars ready for the fray!
I have been working on my battered body. That's me and the car! I've done quiet a bit of mountain biking and got quiet a lot of punctures in the process. This reminded me of the pile of old car inner tubes in the garage that had been replaced following flats on trials.
Following Mike Pearson's advice I went trotting down to the local agricultural engineers and got myself some heavy duty patches and "vulcanising fluid" and repaired most of the ones that hadn't perished.
What do you other guys and girls do. Do you bother to repair your tubes or just junk them? If you repair them where do you get the stuff to do so and how do get on afterwards. Do you have any problem with repaired tubes?
Also anyone know why some of my old tubes perished? Was it age, light, temperature, humidy? anyone know.
Hoping for some help.
Michael
This is a subject close to my heart as I am always getting punctures and hate buying new tubes! I take all my punctured tubes to my local friendly Tyre dealer and as long as they are not split he repairs them. It seems successfull 99% of the time. Some of my tubes have been repaired many times and it seems you can keep patching as long as the patches do not overlap. But I would add that repairs are generally to rears and my Troll dosn't like traveling at much over 45 mph and generally less around the lanes due to a very low diff. ratio. I would not take it for a long run down the motorway at 70 mph. So repair and use with care.
ReplyDeleteStuart Harrold
Repairing tubes is 1) false economy and 2) more importantly potentially dangerous.When you get a puncture on a Classic you generally have to drive a distance with the tyre flat - this causes unseen damage to the tube (and tyre) and weakens it.I'll save all my old tubes (165x15) for anyone who wants them - let me know.
ReplyDeleteI've patched inner tubes, or had them professionally patched in the past but like Murray I think it is false economy. They usually let go on a section, something to do with the patch pulling against the casing as the tyre moves on the rim at low pressure. What would be much more interesing is if someone could direct me to an old fashioned tyre vulacaniser. I know it's no longer legal for car tyres but I have three 165x15 Colway CMs with 7mm of tread and holes in the wall! If I could get them vulcanised I'm sure they would be safe enough with new tubes fitted, any ideas out there?David
ReplyDeleteI have both had my friendly local Quickfit repair my tubes, and I've patched them myself lots of times.I have NEVER had a patch pull off, either at motorway speeds OR when deflated on a section.Murray's point about unseen damage is logical, but it'really has never been a problem for me.Ref. the perishing, have you also noticed that whilst some seem to feel quite "rubbery", ( no chinese jokes please ) others seem to feel as if they are made from plastic ?Simon
ReplyDeleteHas anyone tried using over-size tubes ?My theory being that the larger the tube the less it will stretch when inflated therefore remains thicker and more resistant to punctures ! Mind you theory is one thing, but in practice..... Keith
ReplyDeleteCorrection from previous replySorry - I mean more resistant to punctures (can you tell that I've just come back from holiday!).Keith.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is that this is probably not a great thing to do, because it seems to me that an inner tube that is oversized would suffer more from slipping around the wheel when deflated on a trial section, causing more damage to the tube, as it rubs against the wheel.I don't personally see any problem with patching inner tubes as if a patch lifted it would cause a puncture as opposed to a blow out.I have aways been happy running on repaired tubes.
ReplyDelete