Tire Repair-Plugged or Patch

[rockwood06]

Tires on any vehicle including trailers, which way is the best way over all?
The shop that I deal with all the time for all my vehicles remove the tire from the rim and patch the tire from the inside remount the tire and rebalance. They never plug a tire.

[cma659]

I've plug many tires and never had any problem, being in constructions you run into the problem from time to time. I carry a plug kit with me all the time, got pissed one time a new set of tires and got a nail it plug it and it lasted the life of the tire. Don't know if it would hold up to anything but for nail and screws they do work.

[bikendan]

i was a tire repairman and salesman in my younger days.

on tubeless tires, a plug was always a cheap, easy and quick
solution. a patch was the better but more expensive way to go. a plug could always work loose but the air in the tire keeps the patch in place.

as far as i still know, the patch is still the better way to go, unless there's some newfangled plug around.

[skidoonut]

we have patches at work that have a plug attached to the center of the patch. they are applied from the inside and pull the plug through the puncture. this way the hole is plugged and a patch on the inside seals the area well. this is all we use and have never seen a failure in 15 years. repaired thousands.

[LadyWindrider]

After many years as a mechanic in EULL service station environment, I have plugged a lot of tires, and most, over 99%, have been fine. With that said here's a quote form the NHTSA tire brochure :

"The proper repair of a punctured tire requires a
plug for the hole and a patch for the area inside
the tire that surrounds the puncture hole.
Punctures through the tread can be repaired if
they are not too large, but punctures to the
sidewall should not be repaired. Tires must be
removed from the rim to be properly inspected
before being plugged and patched."

The best practice was taught to me by my dad, plug a tire and use it only long enough to get it replaced. For him, less than 2 days. For me, has taken longer at times due to financial concerns.