Those string plugs don't wick anything, have no idea how you reached that conclusion. They work great, and they are not JUNK as stated earlier. Cheap and affective is what they are.
Go ask any tire shop what the BEST products are for tire repair. 99% of them will tell you Patch Rubber from Myers Tire Supply. A lot of them are willing to pay for the best products, a lot of them are not. Where do you source your information that they do NOT wick road grime up into a tire's inner structure? I've spent 10 years in the industry, and I'm telling you, they do. If you use them as a TEMPORARY fix and have the tire repaired asap, they're fine. But using a string plug (or even a mono-fil) as a solution for 6-9k miles like has been noted in this thread is simply a hazard to your own well being.
Monkey Grip and Vulcan brands are junk. Not string plugs in general. These are BY FAR the lowest quality tire repair products you can find on the market. The patches are thinner, the glue is diluted with alcohol, and their cleaner fluids have silicones that do anything BUT promote patch adhesion. They are cheap and hold air. When i was with Patch Rubber, our "penny patches" were nearly twice the thickness of monkey grip's "Premium" patch. When a tire has an injury (hole) the strength of that area is now gone. Yeah, it's only 30psi inside a tire. But keep in mind that it refers to pounds of force per square inch. Take the interior surface area of the tire, say 50" in circ. and 8" wide. 50 x 8 x 30psi= 12,000 pounds of pressure inside that wheel. Guys, theyr'e not just black, round, with a hole in the middle. Literally a bomb on a rim. In a car it's important, on a bike, it's critical. Do you really want to put your life in the hands of the $0.07 patch, or the $.10 string plug? Just food for thought.
I've had years of using the cord type. Installed correctly they haven't been a problem. Having a tight hole & a T-handle inserter helps. It should require a lot of force to insert. If it goes in easy, it won't take. I don't doubt your experience either, Cody. I haven't tried yours.
Given all the options, I prefer string. Red is prefered over black. Given a large puncture, the string can be folded or several strings can be inserted with a lot of glue for a tight plug. Letting such a plug set up for 20min before inflation and riding is recommended.YMMV
I like the Slime string plugs. They are brown and seem to be a little thicker and stickier than others I've used I've run them for thousands of miles and when then finally have failed it's always just been a very slow leak, 1 - 2 psi a day or so Last year on my way to work I stopped and tried to help a guy on some kinda fancy Beemer tour rig with a flat. He'd used up all his plugs and was not able to get it to seal. I let him use mine and still could not get it to hold air. I watched him a little closer and after inserting the plug he'd air it up (gas station air) to full pressure (40 psi or so) and immediately it would leak, but only down to around 25-30 psi then it would stop. I told him, shit just ride it with lower pressure. But he was like "Oh no, I can't do that this thing would be beeping all kinda crazy if I tried doing that" I later heard he waited til day light and had to get a tow tuck to come get him
Gee, could it be that most DIYer's can't do the patch themselves is why any dealer would recommend them? Seriously, you may have done this for years, but your experience does not seem to match with many of ours. You can say it all you want, but it wont change MY mind, or apparently many others. Jim PS Show us the literature that PROVES that string plugs "which up roade grime into the interior structure" and I might believe you.
The claim that sticky strings could wick anything makes no sense. Wicking requires capillary action and capillary action requires a capillary i.e. a small passage where surface tension can pull a liquid against the force of gravity. If there was a capillary the air would come out. Before it leaked out the surface tension would have to fight against 30 psi pressure, which is also illogical. The only way the sticky string could get junk into a tire is if the outer end was not cut off and the weight of the vehicle forced some of the exposed and dirty string into the tire. This means it was not installed correctly.
Digging for my sources. It's somewhere in the literature that I used for a job I quit 2 years ago. Good thing i'm a pack rat.
Please, post your source if you find the info. My source that the strings don't wick is having taken off several tires with the strings in place and not noticing ANY contamination in/on the string, or inside the tire or on the rim. But, I intend to use the strings and run the tires as long as I can, regardless, based upon my past experience with having done so. Supported by most of the other posts on this thread.
Your source has taken off several tires with strings??? Have you ever seen a tire that has blown out? Ever seen a white chalky substance in the belt package? That's what we call cancer. It's the deterioration of the steel in the tire. This is the strength of the tire. Your string plug is letting water/oil/grime/etc. in the belt package. It may not be leaking air. There is a difference in sealing the leak, and sealing the injury. https://www.rma.org/newsroom/release.cfm?ID=233 Take a look at these http://www.patchrubber.com/tire_repair/tire_puncture_repair/index.html
Sorry man, that is pretty weak stuff, presented by companies with a vested interest in their perspective, and for a profit on the second one. I see no definitive proof that there is any "wikking", or that the use of string plugs is dangerous in comparrison to other methods. Jim
Worst case, if the leak is sealed only at the inner surface of the tire, then there is no pressure in the "hole" so capillary action could possibly occur into the area of the tire between the tread and inner surface where the belts reside. However, even in this situation, the fibers/cords of the string type plug would have to provide a capillary structure for moisture/contaminants to wick into. This seems highly improbable to me if the string type plugs have been completely coated/injected/etc. with a non water soluble coating/filler. So yes, I agree that the wicking argument doesn't seem very plausible. Like many of you I've seen my share of tire repairs over the years. The first 8 years of my working life were spent as an automotive technician working for Goodyear Tire and Rubber. I've patched/plugged numerous tires with no problems. I've removed worn out car tires that had string and patch type repairs that were still functioning. I'll run string type repairs, as long as they are not in the sidewall/edge of the tire, on my cars until the tires wear out. I won't run ANY type of repaired tire on my motorcycle any further than neccesary to get the tire changed out. P.S. I have seen plenty of tires that failed due to being run with too low pressure but can't think of a single failure from being repaired with string type plugs.
True, the second link is from the company I used to work for. It is a series of training videos availible as a reference to the salesforce and customers. However the first link is to the Rubber Manufacturers Association. A non-profit board of big wigs in the tire business. My Uncle is actually on their advisory board. Chose to beleive whatever you will, but please realize that string repairs are a temporary fix. Intended to merely get you back to civilization and a location where the tire can be properly repaired.
"A non-profit board of big wigs in the tire business" That is an oxymoron! They may not make a profit on the board, but every one of them has a vested interest in proving that inexpensive fixes wont work. It sells more tires if a simple repair can be declaired dangerous, and fear can be spread to the ignorant. Jim PS Yes, I will believe what makes sense to me.
I am gonna have to disagree with folks here that say that stopngo plugs don't work. I ride the r1200r with Conti Road Attacks (Steel belted, for the folks that say it cuts the plugs in half). In a matter of three weeks, I got THREE screws in my back tire and ONE screw in the front, towards the side wall! Then, a bit later I got a FOURTH screw in my back tire. All repaired with stopngo mushroom plugs. All FIRMLY pulled on with pliers to seat them well. I then proceeded to ride more than 1000 miles on these FIVE plugs with no major air loss: I would loose maybe 5 psi every couple of weeks on the back tire, but I was riding as hard as I ever did purposely testing these repairs. Pot holes, ridged steel plates, you name it. I readily took the bike over 100mph on the LIE with no problems, thru sub-zero temperatures and warmer days. No problems. I just switched out my tires last week because I got a slash in the back that I couldn't fix and the front tire already had 11,000 miles on it, so I switched out both. Lessons: -StopnGo does work. There might be the occasional failure out there in the wide world, barring the operator fucking up the installation, but my guess is that it is rare. -DO NOT go on the side lanes near contruction zones in NYC, no matter how late you are running for your meeting; it's like they purposely lay down shapnel to shred tires!
I never said that they don't work. Or even that I've never used them. All I'm saying; is that string plugs are designed to be a temporary repair and should be used as such in the interest of your own safety. You wear a $600 'stitch, a $600 helmet, a high-vis vest, heated gear, $500 boots, sleep in a $300 tent on a $125 pad, with $1200 worth of custom luggage, all riding on $300 worth of tires. Totally dependant and trusted to a .25 cent peice of rope with some red shit on it. :huh
As opposed to a $1 patch woth $0.10 and installed with $25 worth of labor? If it works it works, and that arguement about how much you spend on other stuff is just silly. I pay what I pay for my bike, I would pay $5 each for string plugs, or $10, if I that is what they would cost. What does that have to do with what I paid for my bike, jacket or helmet? By your logic I should pay $30 a gallon for gas because paying more must mean it is better, right? Jim PS I run unleded regular gas, always! PPS I change my own tires too, and never saw any indication of delamination on a plugged tire.
