Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[baconsdozen]

I've just taken off one of the tyres on my Rover.It's the old fashioned tubed type and the tube has a tiny hole in it that lets the tyre down over a couple of weeks or so.
I searched the net for prices of tubes (in my area the seem very expensive) and was surprised to see adverts for both tyre and inner tube repair kits. I though doing either was illegal. Does anyone know if this is the case,just curious thats all.
_________________
Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[ukdave2002]

Lots of moderns come with a can of repair "gunge" rather than a spare, so I don't think it's illegal to fix your own tyre or tube.

Our local tyre shop charges a tenner to fix a puncture, they also vulcanise some repairs...the only tyre of mine they couldn't fix was a nail in a run flat ....cost me £400 to replace a nearly new tyre

Dave

[Penman]

Hi
As I understand it, that tin of gunge is to get you to a tyre shop where they will throw away the tyre and fit a new one .

I expect the gunge is sponsored by the tyre makers!
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[D4B]

The AA and RAC used to buy those tyre repair plug things from
us (motor factors) so it wasn't illegal then.... that was almost 10 yrs ago

Anyway, I think if your tyres use tubes too then there is even less
risk of incident.

[peter scott]

I'm pretty sure that patching a tube is not illegal but if you intend to replace it with a new tube then never use thin ones always go for heavy duty ones even if they are expensive.

Peter
_________________
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[baconsdozen]

Thanks for the replies.
I've ordered a supply of heavy duty off road type tubes and some fitting lube etc.
I'm going to have a play later on with the old tubes just to satisfy myself,to be honest I was never that good on bicycle tubes let alone car ones.
_________________
Thirty years selling imperial hand tools for old machinery(Now happily retired).

[PAUL BEAUMONT]

I guess it depends on your definition of expensive. Longstone stock Michelin Airstop tubes and I bought a couple a few weeks back from them at about £12.00

Paul

[peter scott]

I think would avoid Michelin tubes. Here's something I posted a couple of years ago under the heading "Unusual & Potentially Dangerous Failure"

I can't remember which supplier I bought it from now but they totally ignored my request for replacement.

I was checking my tyre pressures this morning but when I came to the nearside rear I couldn't get the tyre inflator to seal properly. On closer examination I noticed that the threaded part that secures the dust cap appeared to have too few threads on it. It turned out that I had managed to push it into the rubber surround!

To get a better view I drove the car out of the garage and attached the dust cap and when I pulled (quite gently) and the whole brass tube of the valve assembly just popped out deflating the tyre in just a few seconds!

The tube in question was new when I fitted it and hasn't covered a large mileage. It is a Michelin Airstop, Made in Italy and gives every impression of being a robust heavy duty tube. The rubber part of the valve stem doesn't appear to have suffered any damage or deterioration. It has the word "RADIAL ++" moulded around the outermost part.

In 45 years of motoring I've never come across this type of failure before but will certainly be checking for it from now on.

Peter


_________________
http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[Bitumen Boy]

I don't see any reason not to patch a tube with a slow puncture. It isn't illegal to the best of my knowledge - and how would the law find out anyway? The worst that can happen if the patch fails is you have the original slow puncture back again, and to my mind that's the time to buy a new tube