ivory1

Last week as I was bending down to check the tire pressure (in my driveway) when I noticed a nail sticking out of a rear tire. My initial thought was, "damn," followed quickly by other words.

Knowing that by removing the nail I could potentially produce a flat tire, I grabbed a pair of pliers and slowly extracted it to determine whether I would be faced with a small, medium or large tire crisis.

The nail had pierced the tread at about a 45 degree angle and had then been bent against the tread surface by the act of driving. It showed little road wear so I guess it may have been about a day old. Fortunately, there wasn't a big rush of air from the hole when I removed the nail.

I dribbled some soapy water over the hole and confirmed it was (now) leaking air and could not be ignored. At first I thought of using the Mobility sealant or some Fix-a-flat equivalent, but that would have been too obvious. Plus, if I went this route I was just signing up for more work, i.e. geting the tire un-mounted, patched, re-mounted and balanced -- big hassle.

Instead, I took a hypodermic needle and syringe and prepared a very small dose of Superglue. (I can't comment about any of the generic brands.) I inserted the needle into the nail hole -- being careful to keep my face out of the line of fire of the plunger in the event of a syringe blow-out -- and slowly injected the glue into the nail hole while gradually withdrawing the needle. My goal was to glue the hole shut, not to squirt glue into the wheel.

I immediately stuck a piece of aluminum foil over the hole to prevent air loss while the glue was setting. Residual Superglue around the hole opening held the foil in place after a few seconds of thumb pressure.

After about one beer, I peeled off the aluminum foil and repeated the soapy water leak test -- no air leak was detectible. For the next three days, I carefully re-checked my tire pressure twice each day. It has now been one week and this repair is still holding. Who thinks this fix will last the life of the tire?

AJ

when it dries 100%, the superglue is brittle. it will get crushed easily and the seal will no longer be good. you are risking the whole plug to get blown out and depending on the size of the puncture you might get an instant flat, a blow out (if it rips the wrong way) or a slow leak.

if it was that easy, the tire patch companies would be out of business by now..

it is not worth it for a $75k car.

this trick is good to know and keep some superglue and syringe in the glove compartment to be used in case of emergency. but a permanent fix? no.

alex
02 gts
few other cars

MAVERICK

Nice trick. However, you need to subject the tire to high-stress conditions over a longer period of time to assess how reliable your glue solution is.

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Steve Morling

I think the words of caution in the other replies are well-founded - I certainly wouldn't trust this fix to survive any kind of serious stress on the tire.
Why not just get it fixed? If the hole is in the tread, it should be a fairly simple plug job.

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greg

I have a lot of experience with superglue, having built many radio controlled airplanes and gluing my thumb and forefinger together countless times. I think there's a good chance it will be fine. Superglue is most vulnerable to heat, although i don't think 200 degrees is enough to soften it. When cured it is nothing but plastic -and as such has reasonable properties - the surrounding rubber should be sufficient to prevent any physical damage to the material. It is quite a bit harder than the rubber, so the question will be whether it will simply tear away from its bond, but I doubt it.

Just make sure your tire pressure warning system is calibrated. If it fails, you have a slow leak again, wihch is very hard to detect.

A little trivia for you: superglue (aka cyanoacrylate) was developed for and used in military field surgery. It was especially useful for putting wounded livers back together because the tissue is so soft it is very hard to do with conventional sutures. It is still used in some surgical procedures today. I have even used it after slicing a finger open with an x-acto knife when I was too into the project to stop and get a bandaid. It stings like hell. But it works.

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WishM5

Thanks for sharing

Paul

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Digi

The BMW M Mobility system should have taken care of this until you could properly repair or replace the tire. I wonder if the residual glue will impede the proper repair and make it less permanent. I have decided to call BMW Assist whenever I have a flat tire. I did this on the only flat I had on my X5, and they were prompt and I didn't have to fool with it.

EBMCS03

Wait what?? Supergule wont cause an infection?

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bobafett

Greg: you never cease to amaze me. Really.

--Dan

MAH

Greg,

Let me get this straight, we have a M mobility system that comes with the car and you are suggesting that we also could have a "M curability system" that would be a tube of super glue in the glove compartment. This would be for all those nasty cuts we get while out for a Sunday drive .

Good background on super glue.

Mark

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Digi

I can see this in the new BMW M-fection first-aid kit. One part. A BMW super glue tube. Price, $69.95. Instructions in German.