Solved I have a leaking tire plug.

[joshhemming]

I picked up a nail 6 months ago in one of my almost-new tires. The nail was in the bottom of one of the tread's grooves.

I bought a Slime tire plugger kit at AutoZone, followed the instructions, used the rubber cement on the plug before inserting it, and the tire held pressure fine until this month. Now it's losing about 5 pounds a day, and the soapy water test definitely shows a little air escaping from the plug.

I obviously need to re-plug it. But how do I get the old plug out? Compared to the rest of the tire, which has fibers woven into it for added strength, the plug feels soft and gooey. I was thinking about using a drill with 1/8" bit to go through the old plug, then push a new plug with fresh rubber cement into the hole. Would this work, or is there a better method?

 

[BrooklynBay]

A standard plug repair kit with a tee handle point on one tool will push the damaged plug into the tire. The second tool has a tee handle, and an open loop at the end. Insert a plug into the loop, push the tool with the plug into the hole in the tire, then remove the tool. Use a box cutter or a razor blade to cut off the excess plug ends. Remember that the plug is actually doubled up in the hole, and not straight. The plug has 2 parts in the hole of the tire taking up space to ensure a tight leak free fit.

 

[joshhemming]

Solved

I guess this is solved, for now at least.

The old plug was soft and gooey so I had to resort to using an electric drill to make a hole through it. I roughed the sides of the hole up and inserted a new plug with lots of rubber cement. That was 2 weeks ago and it hasn't lost any air yet.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update. Your thread is marked solved.