Ideally somebody who does repairs etc, but open to all

I went to put some air in a tyre today and noticed in a tread groove a cylinder of rubber that in the tyre. Now this looks like the black cylinder they pull through to do a tyre repair, and I did have the tyre repaired a good while back, but I can't say I've ever seen a repair in a grove.

So,

1) Is it normal for this cylinder to protrude above the grove to the same level as the tyre tread?

2) Is it safe to drive to Europe and back on?

3) If I'm risking anything I'll go and put two new tyres on, but affordability and time make this a real pain if it isn't needed.

Ta

Thats a puncture repair.I had the same on a car once that protruded quite high out of the tyre.

Had a good chat with my tyre fitter last time I had a puncture repaired (in the groove) and went through to watch him do it.

Originally they just used to patch the inside like a bicycly patch, however, the water could over time ingress through the hole and force the patch off.

Hence they now drill the hole out to the standard size and use a patch with a rubber cyclinder that goes through the drilled hole and prevents the water ingress.

This cylinder is then cut off flush with the outside of the tyre, although obviously in the case of a groove you cant get in to cut flush to the bottom of the groove.

It does not matter in a groove, not in a groove or in between as long as the patch is not overly bent inside the tyre. Problems only occur if they rush the job and dont let the glue dry for round 20min before attaching the patch or put in an area of the tyre ie near the wall.

I'm guessing that you should be OK.

1) Is it normal for this cylinder to protrude above the grove to the same level as the tyre tread?

Yes, if its in the groove then perfectly normal.

2) Is it safe to drive to Europe and back on?

Again yes, no problems. I did enough laps of the nurburgring with a tyre repaired like that.

3) If I'm risking anything I'll go and put two new tyres on, but affordability and time make this a real pain if it isn't needed.

Dont bother, and carry on with the ones you have.

I too saw a tyre repaired in this way. IIRC, the fitter told me it's perfectly legal up to three times in one tyre, provided they're more than however many mm apart...

Ta guys,

I've just never seen a rubber bobble popping up to the area where it's wearing away.

They are down at 3mm anyway, so it was a case of run them and then change them when I get back instead of anything else.

dont they heat up the area they fix so the rubber bung thing kinda welds/fixes to the tyre so no worries of it ever popping out? i use to have a car tyre puncture kit, worked a treat, no glue just a bung you pushed in with a special tool (that came in the packet) never failed and was cheap too.

I wouldnt worry about it mark, it sounds like its legit and above bored and should therefore give you no hassle!!

I didn't see they guy do anything other than push a little butt plug thing into the offending hole, I must admit . 'Twas brown not black, and I didn't notice any glue or heat involved. I thought it was just an interference fit like the seal of the tyre against the rim... :ne_nau:

Spent a few years mending punctures in a garage and the plug is the normal way of doing things except that the plug part inside the tyre should be vulcanised to the tyre casing using a special machine that welds the two components together.