THE THINGS YOU SEE! with (TRUTHFUL) PHIL BIANCHI
TO PLUG OR NOT TO PLUG Being a keen remote area 4W driver, often doing so cross country, it’s almost certain I’ll cop a dose of punctures from stakes. It's not my way of collecting firewood, but staked tyres go with that type of 4W driving.
There is no fixing this tyre.
M
y worst puncture experience was doing cross country exploring in goldfields mulga country - four tyres got staked. One was terminal; even a carton of plugs couldn’t get this one to hold air. Limping into a wheatbelt town, tyres bristling with plugs, I was lucky to find and have fitted two second hand tyres to go with the two that had escaped the mulga carnage. On another cross-country trip, every vehicle suffered punctures, with some punctures needing four or more strings to plug a leak. Towards the end of that trip, with stocks of tyre strings among the group rapidly depleting, I considered locking mine up, fearing a raid during the night. When doing cross country work, always endeavour to plug a leak, and use the plugged tyre as long as possible. This
A novel way of collecting firewood.
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| Western 4W Driver #123
way you are protecting your spares for use when highway driving when going home. So what’s a tyre plug? They are lengths of spongy cord and are usually made of rubber-like compounds, some having fibres to make them stronger. In simple terms they are used to provide a temporary fix by being inserted into a punctured tubeless tyre to seal it so it will hold air again. A kit is probably the best way to go, because you get everything you need to complete a plug repair. Kits usually consist of a reamer, plug insertion tool, plugs and a grease-like lubricant to reduce friction when inserting the plugs. Others include pliers, a sharp blade to cut off excess string, tyre pressure gauge and a small collection of valve removers, valves, and valve caps. How do they work? Your tyre sensor goes off or your vehicle is pulling heavily left or right. On getting out of the vehicle a hissing sound greets your ears. Before we go on, let’s assume you’ve got a tyre pump, and you’re working on the puncture in a safe area, away from traffic, the ground is stable and so on. Once you’ve found the puncture, make sure the hole is clean by removing
