WHAT are the odds of finding a stray pushrod in the middle of the desert? Pretty thin, right? And the odds of it laying in such a position to pierce a hole in your tyre? Well, you probably have a better shot at finding a Bitcoin in your backyard, but there we were pulling the offending metal shaft from my mate’s tread block. Back then (the late ’80s) we didn’t carry tyre plugs or patches, so we swapped in his spare and continued … now spareless. But times they are a changin’, and with the tools now available to repair a tyre in the field, running spareless should be a thing of the past. Here we’ll look at a few high-quality tyre-repair kits, then dive in to everything from simply plugging a nail hole to performing major rubber surgery.
1 THE GEAR
IN 1964, Alec W. Niconchuk developed the first self-vulcanising tyre-repair system. His company was called Safety Seal, and his plug method became the model for which countless others have emulated. While there are many companies boasting a better or cheaper mousetrap, I would strongly avoid the el cheapo $10 units found at discount stores, as you may spend more coin at the ER when the plastic handle breaks and you shish kebab your hand. The kits I carry
