Are Plugged Tires Safe To Drive On? [IMPORTANT]

Tire plugs are a common solution for tire leaks, but they have a lot of potential pitfalls.

If your car is driving on plugged tires, you may be taking an unnecessary risk.

Tire Plugs are Temporary Fixes.

Tire plugs are only meant to be temporary fixes and should not be used at all in some situations. If you have a plugged tire, it is best to replace it as quickly as possible or get a better repair. 

While plugged tires may be safe for short drives and light usage, they are not recommended for long term driving or heavy loads. 

It stands to reason that the longer you drive on plugged tires, the more likely you are for the tire to fail.  

Usually, when plugs fail, you will notice a leak within a few hours or days. However, that’s not always the case.  

Sometimes the plug can cause severe and rapid decompression causing it to get flat very quickly.  

On rare occasions, it can cause a blowout where the tire rips away from the original hole and causes the car to become difficult to steer.

Tires with a hole that is more than 1/4 inch should not be plugged. 

There is some discussion as to whether a hole this size should be patched as well. 

All tires have a load and a speed rating. If you decide to plug your tires, you should never go to the maximum limits on them as it is dangerous.

However well a tire has been plugged, it will never return to how it was when it first left the factory, and its performance will diminish because of the repair and be less safe.

It is worth bearing in mind that any blowout that causes injury to others due to you plugging a tire will be difficult to defend if the repair is against the tire maker’s recommendations.

Can Tire Plugs Go Bad?

Tire plugs are made from perishable goods. They are leather strips encased in rubber. Did you know that tires older than six years should never be driven, irrespective of whether they have tread or not? It’s the same with tire plugs. 

If the plugs are more than six years old, either in the tire or unused in your garage, they should not be used after this time without checking the information on the packaging. Tire plugs are cheap enough to buy without taking any additional risks.

Once fitted to your tire, tire plugs will become less durable as time goes on, just as your tires do.

Plugging Larger Holes Is Dangerous

Most tire plug kits will recommend only using one plug for a hole. It may be tempting to use more if one plug doesn’t stop the leak but don’t be tempted. Always be more cautious when working with tire leaks and consider the worst case scenario.  

For every person, you read on forums saying they used two or three plugs and everything was fine, others will suffer a severe leak or blowout because they used more than one.  

As explained here, it is not usually advisable to patch a tire twice, even in different locations on your tire. Is it Safe to Plug a Tire Twice? [ANSWERED]

If a tire shop is unwilling to use more than one plug, you should not do it either. 

The best solution is a patch and a plug. A patch is applied on the inside of the tire; therefore, the tire needs to be removed from the wheel or the rim to be repaired. 

Most people who do tire repairs at home will not go through the hassle of doing this or don’t have the tools available even if they wanted to. This may not be safe and could leave you and your passengers vulnerable.

Often there is more damage on the inside of the tire than the outside, and without removing it from the rim, you will never know how safe or not the tire is.

Tire Shops May Not Want To Patch An Already Plugged Tire

If a plugged tire leaks and you take it to a tire shop to be repaired, they may not want to repair it after you have done a DIY repair. 

Your only option then would be to buy a new tire.

Any tire shop will certainly look at the tire manufacturer’s guidelines for plugging and patching the tire before deciding whether the tire is dangerous and can’t be plugged.

This is something that most people at home don’t do, but as a business doing something against the guidelines of a tire manufacturer could mean a lawsuit if things went wrong, so they always err on the side of caution.

Conclusion

We strongly recommend that you avoid using tire plugs if at all possible. 

Even if the plug works, you cannot know how long it will last and if there will be any safety issues. 

It is always best to get your tire repaired at a tire shop. They are the experts and know what can and can’t be repaired. In addition, they have liability insurance, so if they do something wrong, you have a way of claiming against their insurance.  

Repairs you do by yourself may be the cheaper option initially, but it can have safety implications if you do a bad job not only for you and your passengers but other road users too.