By Tsukasa Azuma
Last updated Jan 08, 2021
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Dry rot can completely damage a tire if the problem is not caught early. The worse thing is that no mechanic will agree to repair it. But you can do it at home if you know how to fix dry rotted tires.
Tires are dry rotted when they turn brittle and dry because of long-term inactivity, dirt accumulation, years of exposure to scorching sunlight, and driving continuously with low air pressure. Such a condition can drastically reduce their lifespan even if the decay just sets in.
Let’s find out how to protect your tires from this corrosive condition:
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Replacing the tires requires loads of money.
You already know that repairing dry rotted tires just slowing down the process, not restoring them to the previous condition. Besides learning how to fix dry rotted tires, you can follow these tips to prevent the deterioration:
Driving with low tire pressure causes dry rot to set in early.While tires are pretty durable, they don’t last forever. A surprising number of factors can adversely affect their lifespans and lead to dry rotting, like extremes of temperature, inactivity, and even sunlight.
You may have found yours are a little worse for wear and are looking for ways to fix them. This article will look at the causes of dry rotted tires, the implications, and what you can do to fix them.
You will first need to remove the tire to reach all areas where dry rot occurs. Then you’ll need to thoroughly clean the tire with a degreaser. You can apply tire protection to make the tire’s rubber stronger and stop dry rot in its tracks.
Consider checking: How Do Tires Get Dry Rot
Here are the main causes of dry rot:
This pressure will take its toll over time. Areas in constant ground contact are subject to more stress, leading to cracks in the lower portion of the tire.You might be interested in our guide: How To Repair Tire
Assuming the damage isn’t too bad, you might be able to limit further degradation and gain a few more miles out of your tires. Here’s how to fix dry rotted tires:
Wear and tear are easily hidden on a tire. To access all areas and take a good look at their condition, remove it. This will allow you to easily see any areas that need fixing.
Check the entirety of the tire for cracks and damage. Several parts of the tire are important. Pay particular attention to the tread, the sidewalls, and the beads. Look for signs of cracking and assess how deep the damage goes.
To effectively clean the tire, you will first need to remove any oily or greasy deposits from its surface.
Use a good quality degreaser and a soft cloth or brush to give an even coating to your tire.
Once you have applied the degreaser, you will need to rinse it away. Using a hose and a soft cloth or sponge, remove all the grime and dirt.
By this stage, your tire should be looking a little better. Now you should have a nice clean surface to apply a tire protector. This nourishes the rubber and prevents cracks from spreading.
The unfortunate thing about dry rotted tires is that they can fail at any time. There is no set period of time, as their lifespan can vary depending on how badly degraded the tires are and how they are being used.
You should certainly consider replacing your tires around every 5 years. If you have noticed that your tires are not looking their best, ideally, you will want to consider your options on how to fix dry rotted tires.
Consider reading of our guide: How Much Is It To Repair A Tire
Suppose you regularly inspect your tires and have noticed the early stages of dry rot.
In that case, it may be possible to limit the damage by applying a treatment to the tires and breathing life back into the rubber.
However, dry rot is a sign that your tires may have been subject to conditions that have reduced their efficiency and lifespan, so it might be time to start looking for a replacement.
Knowing how to fix dry rotted tires may save you money and prolong the life of your tire. However, it pays not to take chances when it comes to dealing with rotted tires. After all, it is the only thing keeping you in contact with the road.
If in doubt, you could always consider replacing your tires — dry rot is a situation that will only get worse with time, so you’ll need replacement eventually.
Did you find this guide helpful? Then consider checking other recommended readings:
How To Fix Flat Spots On Tires
How Much Does It Cost To Patch A Tire
How Do You Patch A Tire
How Close To The Sidewall Can You Patch A Tire
How To Fix Hole In Tire
How Long Does A Tire Patch Last
How To Use Slime Tire
How To Use A Tire Plug Kit
How To Fix A Tire Rim Leak
How Much Sealant Per Tire
How To Seal A Tire On A Rim
How To Use Rubber Cement On Tire
How Do You Plug A Tire
How To Seal Tire Bead
How To Vulcanize A Tire
How To Fill Tires With Foam
Another season of changing shoes is approaching.
And you may remember that on one of the tires after the last winter/summer there is a jamb - a small bump. I don’t want to run to the store for the sake of one new tire. We understand. Or maybe it looks even better if repaired?
Yes, not every wheel that has met with a nail, rebar sticking out of the ground or a sharp stone on the road is considered damaged. Everything, of course, depends on the scale of the damage and its location on the tire itself. Some are easily repaired, while others are simply impossible to do - the tire can only be sent to the trash.
A bulge on a wheel, referred to by drivers as a bump or bulge, is the most common tire sidewall defect. It appears due to a collision with an obstacle or after falling into a pit, more often at high speed. The threads of the sidewall carcass are easily damaged by impact, and the tire at this point can no longer hold the load and air pressure - swelling appears. A small bump sooner or later turns into a big one, and driving with such a defect is dangerous - the wheel can shoot at any moment.
At high speed, this is fraught with loss of control, departure from the road and a rollover.
The quality of roads in Kazakhstan contributes to the appearance of bulges on tires
Some types of bulges are repairable, although this is a temporary measure. Not a single patch can restore the factory rigidity. Ideally, change the tire.
Special cord patches can extend the life of a tire with a herniation, even if the swelling has appeared on the tread. The sidewall is a different story. If the swelling appeared at a distance of more than 40 mm from the side, it can be repaired. If not, then the wheel needs to be replaced. Blisters on low profile tires are most often non-repairable.
For maximum safety when riding with a repaired bump, insert the tube. This is an inexpensive and reliable solution. On our market, you can find cameras made in China and Russia, the latter are slightly more expensive, but also of better quality.
The elimination of a side cut is a serious operation, therefore, as in the case of a bump, you will have to go to the professionals.
We need cord patches, fortunately in our time they are of different sizes and with a different number of layers. And if you do it wisely, then you can't do without special tools and vulcanization.
A cut, by the way, cannot be healed in all cases. If the gap is in the shoulder area of the tire, it is unlikely that anyone will undertake to repair it, since no guarantees can be given here. However, our Kulibins take on even the most difficult cases, cutting out parts of the sidewalls from the tires and even weaving the cord on their own.
Tire overhaul. We would not put such a wheel on ourselves
Low profile tires can be repaired, but more difficult. A tear in the sidewall is easier to seal on tires with a medium or high profile.
Sometimes a cut is confused with a pluck. This is when the outer layer of the sidewall caught on something sharp, a tear formed, but the frame itself remained intact. There is nothing wrong with that, although the drivers at the tire fitting company successfully repair the cut, for which they take it accordingly.
If a piece of rubber remains on the sidewall, then glue it with ordinary superglue (101st). If it came off, then it is better to cover it with raw rubber and vulcanize. Leaving the pluck bare is not recommended, because the tire carcass, often consisting of a metal cord, will quickly corrode.
In Europe, defective or used tires are perforated before being sent for scrap to prevent their resale and possible operation. But they don’t know that we have such holes on the sidewall patched once or twice
Cuts and hernias are not the only possible damage to the side of the tire. You can also spoil the side ring, in the process of changing shoes, for example. If it’s for garlic, then such a tire is already dangerous. Sooner or later, the tire pressure and the load in motion will start to squeeze the rubber off the rim - a wheel explosion can occur.
This ailment is repaired if the wire ring - the base - is intact.
There are no special technologies and materials to correct this particular problem, but most often craftsmen use a two-component composition for chemical (also called cold) vulcanization. After mixing, the mass is pressed into a fat-free damage. Compound manufacturers recommend waiting 72 hours before mounting a tire. Of course, our masters do not pay attention to this condition - they put the tire right away. And it’s good if the wheel is flat because of this at night in the parking lot, and not on the road.
If the side ring tears are barely noticeable, but the wheel still deflates, then you can use a special liquid - a bead seal designed to seal a tubeless tire.
These seals have been used in motorsport for some time. In particular, in the American Formula D Drift Series, drivers used compounds to keep the tire on the rim even with minimal tire pressure. Now they are banned.
Pay attention to the left rear wheel of the Nissan Silvia S13. Due to too low pressure, it was literally taken off the disk under load
Every schoolchild has faced this problem when patching the inner tube of his bike after hitting something sharp.
Repairing a car tire puncture with your own hands will also not be difficult even on the road. But for this you will need a pump (or compressor) and a universal tire repair kit with harnesses. All this is sold at any car market or gas station.
Repairing a tire on the side of the road with harnesses
The process is simple. If we are talking about the front wheels, then in most cases the wheel can not even be removed, it is enough to turn the steering wheel in the right direction, find the puncture site and carry out repairs. First, the hole is cleaned with a helical awl from the set. The tourniquet itself is smeared with glue and tucked into the eye of the awl, after which it is inserted into the tire hole. With a sharp movement, the tool is removed, and the tourniquet remains in place and clogs the hole. The tails are cut with a knife, but not at the root, it is recommended to leave about 20 mm. The tire is inflated and checked.
Sometimes a nail or self-tapping screw clogs the hole by itself, remaining in it.
If you see a hat in a tread, do not rush to pull it out. While the pressure is holding, move to vulcanize. And sometimes they drive with a screw in a tire for weeks.
Repair of a puncture at a tire shop
Punctures are also repaired with harnesses at a specialized service, although among professionals such repairs are not considered long-term. After a few months, the flagella dry out and can let air through. There are more advanced methods like cold and hot vulcanization. The latter is more reliable. In this case, the hole is sealed with an elastic patch, and the funnel from a foreign object is filled with a special compound. After that, a vulcanizer is put on the tire, it heats up the rubber and solders it.
In addition to the plaster, the puncture is also repaired with special cord fungi. Craftsmen process the puncture site: drill it and treat the surface with a tool to roughen it. Then the repair area is lubricated with glue (it is also called cement) and a fungus is introduced.
This is done from the inside of the tire. The cap of the fungus is rolled, and the excess legs are simply cut off from the outside.
Puncture repair with sealant
With the advent of tubeless wheels, and later run flat tires, many automakers began to abandon spare wheels. Instead, repair kits with compressors are supplied with the machines. A repair kit is essentially a bottle of pressurized sealant. Later, such spray cans began to appear on the shelves of ordinary car dealerships.
This method has not taken root in the CIS, because the condition of the roads makes it necessary to have at least a stowaway in the kit, but it can also be considered as a method of repair on the road.
The car must be jacked up and sealant must be pumped into the damaged wheel through the nipple. Next, you should spin the wheel, then pump it up, lower the car and drive a few hundred meters.
If the tire tightness has not been restored, repeat the procedure.
For commercial vehicles, cutting the tread with a special device (regrower) is a common thing. Moreover, such tire retreading is provided by the factory (marked REGROOVABLE on the sidewall) to increase the service life. But there are entrepreneurs who undertake to deepen the grooves in tires for passenger cars. But they are not intended for such an operation. Often used tires for sale are “refreshed” in this way. Be careful!
What is the threat?
The worst option is that the retreaded tire will shoot out on the road, as the master can damage the undertread layer when deepening the grooves. Such a tire will not be able to hold pressure at some point. There will be a boom! At best, the tire will indeed last a little longer, but is the game worth the candle? We think it's not worth it.
How is cutting made?
A regrower is used to cut the tread.
Roughly speaking, this is a large soldering iron with interchangeable tips of various shapes. It goes through rubber like a knife through butter.
If the tire is for passenger cars, then it is worth taking on a regrower only in one case - when part of the tread pattern was welded with "new" rubber during repair. This is where threading comes in handy in order to restore the grooves and symmetry of the tread.
Vehicle operation is prohibited if:
- tires have a residual tread height of less than 1.6 mm;
- tires have punctures, cuts, ruptures that expose the cord, as well as delamination of the carcass, delamination of the tread and sidewall;
- tires in size or load capacity do not match the car model;
- tires of various sizes, designs (radial, diagonal, chamber, tubeless), models, with different tread patterns, winter and summer, studded and non-studded, new and restored, are installed on one axle of the car;
- Tires retreaded according to the second repair class are installed on the front axle.
What is a second class repair?
This is the case when the carcass of the tire is restored after serious damage. A side cut (or tear) is a serious damage to the tire carcass.
Car repair ,
Each of the drivers may have such a situation when a tubeless tire deflated on the way, but the spare tire was not in the car, or this is already the second wheel for a long road. In this case, there are only two ways out - one way or another, wait for help from others (take the wheel to a tire fitting, call to bring a spare tire, call a tow truck, etc.), or you can repair a punctured tire yourself.
Before moving on to the topic itself, it is worthwhile to carefully study all aspects of the operation of tubeless tires, but their widespread use has clearly proved that they have a clear advantage over tube wheels.
The main advantage for the driver is the ease of repair, because if a wheel with a chamber is punctured, it will have to be removed and disassembled in order to remove the chamber, and only then carry out the repair itself, and then you will have to do laborious work (if it is done without special equipment) in reverse order. Tubeless tires, in most cases, can be repaired without dismantling the wheel, and without even removing it from the car.
In addition, when punctured, a tubeless tire deflates for a long time, and sometimes drivers ride with several nails or self-tapping screws in the wheel without noticing the problem for up to several months. Therefore, if necessary, you can pump up a wheel with a puncture and have time to get to the nearest tire service.
However, there are several nuances that complicate operation. For example, with a strong impact on the edge of a pit or a curb, the tire can depressurize and instantly deflate, or if the wheel is not completely deflated, it can disassemble during a turn, which will lead to an instant descent.
Also, such a wheel is very difficult to inflate with a conventional pump or a mobile compressor, if it is disassembled (flew off the disk), in this case a professional compressor with high pressure is needed.
Usually, this procedure is not too difficult, and the puncture site is easily detected by visual inspection due to the culprit of the damage, which remains in the tread.
Alternatively, a soapy solution of any soapy liquid or plain water may help. By pouring on the tire with our “puncture indicator”, you can quickly find the required place by the emerging air bubbles.
But in the case when there is no soap or water, you have to carefully inspect the tire, while listening to hissing and trying to find the puncture site with your hand. This method helped me repeatedly in deaf and deserted places.
Using a tubeless tire repair sealant is the easiest and fastest way to repair a wheel and get to a professional tire shop.
If you do not have such a can, then we advise you to buy it, sooner or later - it will save your nerves, time and mood.
And so, if there is a nail or screw left in the tire, then it should not be removed immediately, first we connect the bottle with sealant to the nipple and if the bottle is new, then we completely inflate the wheel, if there is already insufficient pressure left in it, then before repair will need to pump up the wheel to at least 1 atmosphere.
After the sealant is pumped into the wheel, it is necessary to remove the foreign object, and the sealant under air pressure will seal the puncture site from the inside, but remember that this method of repair is temporary, and it will last for about 100 km, which is enough for a visit tire fitting.
It should also be remembered that the use of sealant disturbs the balance, and you cannot drive fast on such a wheel, the safest speed will be about 60 km / h.
This method is the most correct for emergency road repairs.
Similar kits are sold in any automotive store, and even in any large supermarket. The kit usually includes a special awl to expand the puncture, a hook for the lace, the laces themselves with bituminous impregnation and, in some cases, glue.
Before carrying out repairs, in order not to spoil the integrity of the cord (the inner hard part of the wheel made of steel wire and nylon thread), it is worth reducing the pressure to 1 atmosphere. Then you should use an awl to clean and widen the hole, without which you will not be able to insert the lace. But you should not immediately remove the awl from the hole, otherwise the tire will release all the pressure and insert the lace will not work.
Then you should put the cord into the eye of the hook, distributing it equally on each side, after which the awl is taken out and the hook with the cord is put into the hole formed, here you should treat the action carefully and not overdo it. The lace should go into the tire about half or a little more (the sealing harness should be folded in half).
After that, it is necessary to pull out the hook with one sharp movement, while the tourniquet will remain in the tire. Repair can be considered completed after cutting off excess pieces of lace and pumping the wheel to the required pressure.
It is worth noting that when using high-quality sets, this repair is considered to be complete and the puncture will be securely closed until the end of the wheel's service life. The only thing that may be required is balancing.
However, if the damage to the wheel is serious, then you will have to take care of buying a new tire. Recall that it is forbidden to repair cuts on the wheel, such a wheel is no longer allowed for operation even as a spare. Therefore, it is better to choose a cheaper tire than to pay for the repair of a cut, especially since today you can choose a new wheel even through your phone or from your home computer by visiting a specialized website.
