patching small sidewall hole

quick question

i'm running a pair of two month old gatorskins (wire bead). the front has take a sidewall slash around rim height. it's thinned the sidewall over about 2.5 inches, and left a 2mm hole at one point.

that hole caused me three punctures yesterday. a helpful guy in evans victoria (probs 'on here') suggested patching it with inner tube.

is that a long term solution? any issues with using a little superglue to hold the patch over the sidewall? any alternatives, short of buying a new tire?

I patched the side wall of some conti's using the rubber squares you get in puncture repair kits - it was fine for a few weeks but defo a temporary solution.

Rough it up with sand paper and follow the same procedure as a normal inner tube, but on the outside and possibly inside of the tyre. Use vulcanising rubber glue, not super glue.

Having said that if it's caused you three punctures, it's probably time for a new tyre. Gatorskins have notoriously weak side walls.

I've patched a similar slice through my gators with a cut off strip of one of these...

Seems to be holding up

Fuck that. Use a plastic strip from a Coke bottle.

Buy a new tyre before you have a nasty fucking accident

cheers. i'll pick some stuff up from Push tomorrow and fix it, some good suggestions there.

i'm pretty f*cked off at paying through the nose for puncture resistant tires, having run on bog standard bontrager folding race tires for 3 years without a single sidewall tear, and then picking one up so quickly, not even in winter. what's the point in puncture resistance on the contact surface if it slices on the wall?!

Buy a new tyre before you have a nasty fucking accident

+1

Buy a new tyre before you have a nasty fucking accident

amen

two punctures yesterday happened on shady roads, one on vauxhall bridge in heavy traffic, one on the run from side of traf square to the actual square itself.

just don't really want to splash on new tires right now if i can patch them for a couple of months.

i wore through a tyre a few years ago during the postal strike and patched a hole with a receipt folded over a few times, it worked for 3 days then i bought a new tyre.

park do make a tyre boot that would work for longer.

I once patched a hole in my mother's shoe with a Stella Artois beer mat.

Used a folded-up train ticket for 2 months once...

serious thought - maybe an extra strong john bag would work... (I presume) flexible but tough

Park do tyre boots for this very problem.

But the tyre is toast. Bin it.

As above, ghetto solutions to get you home include bits of plastic bottles and credit / debit cards.

toothpaste tube cut open is what I've always used, it feels like exact same plastic that you get in those Park slashed tyre kits.

Not sure how they'd far on road tyres with 120psi in them, but MTB + touring tyres with 30-60psi they've been fine for 100s of miles.

My gatorskins got side wall tears really fast - boot made up from a worn out tire blagged from LBS.

Boots inserted and a bit of aradlide to stop it moving around and its worked fine for a few months.

cheers, good tips.

i've switched the tire for an old conti ultra sport that's got a few months left in it for now but there's some good stuff on this thread now if anyone is searching for tips on this in the future.

I used the corner of an inner tube patch on the inside of a GP4000 one time after running over a smashed bottle which left a 3mm hole. That tyre has been fine for 1500 miles since. Sidewalls are more iffy though. You don't want a proper blow out.