Dan H.

To open, I am a worry wort

I like to be prepared and the one thing I'm having trouble thinking through is what happens with a flat?

I have an 02 Z06 with Nitto NT-05's. These are not run flats and I don't have any spares. I drive my car to the track and its often 3 hours or more for these trips.

I feel like I'm done for the weekend before it starts? I have to think its a bad idea to run a tire with a plug. And I probably have to have it towed wherever it has to go. I have AAA plus. But the idea that the weekend could be shot seems like a real bummer.

Guess this is why there are so many trucks and trailers at these.

Is there something that I'm missing? Or is the event shot with a flat in my situation.

SouthernSon

Plugging is probably a bad idea but some, at the track, would break down the tire, repair from the inside and check the pressures carefully while using at the track.

autoxer6

I drove to tracks on hoosiers for years, had no problems, but worried about breaking the car.

So I spent $30k on a truck and $6k on a trailer. Got a flat on the trailer first year I had it.

Which is better? I dont know.

geerookie

If you're that worried about it carry a spare tire or two with you to the track.
Problem solved.

I wouldn't drive on a plugged or patched tire, you have no idea of what kind and how much damage may have been done to the cords/belts and you stress the tire at the track in ways rarely seen on the street.

RDnomorecobra

part of sliding down this slope is investing in a small autox trailer to pull behind the vette. A crime to some, but worked for me for a few years.

c4cruiser

Shouldn't really be a "crime" (although the waxers think it's a terrible thing to tow a trailer ) but it is a good alternative to being towed if you don't have a spare or finding a way to get the tire fixed in time.

I started out with one of the Harbor Freight 3'x4' trailers. It easily carried 4 tires and a tool box where I could carry some basic tools and a small jack. Trailer hitches are available for C4's C5's and probably C6's. A HF Trailer and wheels/tires and tools probably doesn't weigh much more than 350-400 lbs and a tongue weight of maybe 50-60 lbs.

At the track, it may take 15 minutes to change from street tires to race tires, but it's worth it.

Wiring the trailer lights is simple and if the trailer lights are LED's, you won't even need to deal with changing the turn signal flasher .

smellya

call AAA and tow it to the track. Then get some tires at the track. They have my size.

ZedO6

Amazon sells the Slime Smart Spare kit for less than $30.00 Includes a 12V compressor and sealant. The compressor alone should allow you to fill up a low tire enough to keep it from getting damaged on the drive to the track. If it's a more significant leak, the sealant is water soluble and supposed to allow a normal tire repair. Under no circumstances plug a tire you ever plan to run on a racetrack. A proper inside patch can be a correct repair depending on many factors.

Like others have said, the best option short of a trailer is to drag along another unmounted tire so you have options once you get to the track.

V4kerker

Dan H I had one tire with 3 patches and I tracked it when it only had one patch. No problems.
I thought AAA was suppose to take the worry out of road trip break downs?

What your missing Dan H is thinking about having a blast at the track for the weekend. Don't worry about flats until you get one then deal with it. As they say Crap does happen.

UstaB-GS549

I have plugged tires at the track a few times. Plugs never leaked and where in tire until they were corded or discarded. At worst you might have slow leak and have to put air in once a week. You can buy the kit anywhere for under $10.

I don't buy into the argument that only an inside patch is correct. Neither a plug or inside patch is going to repair plys if they are broken. The notion that somehow a plug is going to come out at high speed is also nonsense. It is goobered up with rubber cement and you have to push pretty hard to get it in. The GS in my sig had the 12 mm bolt in the rear tire in the center of the tread at GingerMan. I plugged it just to get home. It held air so I forgot about it. That tire saw 130+ speeds at Road America on several track days afterwards.

FWIW, all of my punctures were due to metal debris in the paddock or pit lane. ie: part of chain motorcycle master link, sheet metal screws and even a 12 mm bolt.

I have no room for a trailer, so I end up with a pair of R compounds mounted on the rear for up to a 3 hour drive each way. I can get two front tires on the passenger seat.

Everyone has a different comfort level, just another opinion.

ZedO6

The problem with a plugged tire is that if the plug comes out, the rapid air loss can be catastrophic in the right on track situations.

When you consider the extreme heat, and friction coefficient a tire experiences on the track, a tire plug is like a band-aid in every sense of he word, while an inside patch is vulcanized to bond with the rubber and highly unlikely to fail on its own.

UstaB-GS549

Has there ever been a documented situation where a plug came out?

ZedO6

That's a good way to spend your Sat afternoon...let us know what you find

Seriously, tire repair industry standards REQUIRE that the tire is dismounted, inspected and if the tire puncture is suitable for a repair, a patch/plug type "mushroom" patch from the INSIDE is the only acceptable way to repair the tire. I doubt there is an ulterior motive here...nobody gets rich charging $25 to patch a tire....

Bill Dearborn

Good tire shops can do this kind of repair. The biggest problem you have is getting the tire to the shop. The best way to solve that is the C5Z method which is to squirt some sealant in the tire and pump it up. Then you can drive to the shop, get the tire patched properly and be on your way.

When I was going to the Glen I would use Parmenter's Automotive that is located along Route 14 between Montour Falls and Watkins Glen. They do a lot of work supporting people who have tire problems at the track.

Bill

Dan H.

Thank you for the insight guys. Believe me, I do look forward to the fun factor of these events. I like to have given some thought to some of the basic "what ifs"

I have my third and final event of the year in August at Lime Rock in mid August. I'm really looking forward to it. Baby Hopkins arrives in September so I'll be closing up shop after this one until 2015.

JRLedFoot

Do you remove the trailer hitch from the car before you race or just leave it on?

RDnomorecobra

You leave the hitch receiver on the car. It is bolted to the frame. You just remove the ball and draw bar.

fatbillybob

Agreed! No evidence this is bad. This is like the perceived issue of padded rollbars in streetcars.

Painrace

Go to NAPA and purchase a Napa Balkamp Vulcanizing plug kit # 710-1028. The plugs have a head on them. There is a gun in the kit that injects the plug into the tire. Air pressure against the head holds the plug in. If you had true race tires and got them into the 210-220 degrees heat range the plug would vulcanize into the tire rubber. You need to cut the extra part of the plug that sticks out of the tire off as close to the tire as possible. I have never had one fail. You will need a compressor to refill the tire.

Good luck.

Jim

ZedO6

Michelin suggests, in pretty strong terms this is not okay. Besides the fact that plugging from the outside has worked "so far" for you, please educate me on why this is okay when Michelin and every other tire manufacturer says it's not...

Patch, Yes. Plug, No.
The proper way to have a tire repaired is to patch the tire from the inside and fill the puncture hole. Do not have your tire plugged. Ever. Plug repairs do not involve taking the tire off the wheel for a proper inspection. A plug is simply inserted into the punctured area, making it unreliable. Insist on a full inspection and have your dealer demount and internally as well as externally inspect the tire, patch and fill the repair on the inside of the tire.

http://www.michelinman.com/tires-101...re-repair.page