We were out in the Cotswolds today with friends, and driving into a pub carpark in a small village in the middle of nowhere, when I hear an odd noise. It was clearly wheel related, so I got our friend to observe as I carefully drove forward. He yelled "Stop!", then said "You're not going to like this..."

On inspection, I found this little farquhar stuck into my almost-new rear Pirelli 305/30:



Hmmm... I'm out in the sticks, it's Sunday, and there's a major airshow going on a few miles away so any low-loaders in the area are likely to be tied up up with people who've overheated in the horrendous traffic queues.

Fortunately, having seen a bunch of people on the forum mentioning Dynaplugs as part of their flat-tyre solutions, I decided last week to find out what a Dynaplug is. Looked reasonable, so I bought a kit - it arrived on Friday, just before we left for this trip.

I yoinked the offending hook out of the tyre, and we banged two Dynaplugs into the hole - it was still leaking after the first one, so we added another. It wasn't easy to push them in, but our friend managed it; I think I was using the wrong technique. Tested the repair with some dishwashing liquid from the pub kitchen; there was still a very small slow leak, but I knew the tyre would hold pressure for long enough to get us back to Cheltenham. Pumped it back to full pressure using the Jag inflator - all good.

Now we're back at our hotel, and I'll take the car to a local tyre place to get a proper repair tomorrow when everything is open. That will allow us to get back to London safely, then I can order a replacement. If I didn't have the kit, I'd probably still be waiting in the pub carpark for a low loader (the AA always seems to want to send a van first, which just delays everything).

So, a big thanks to everyone who mentioned Dynaplugs - saved our bacon!

 

Good for you Mate!
I have my kit too.....beside me mini jack.

 

Yeah, that's next on the list - a jack & wheelbrace. While Jon was able to get the Dynaplugs in with the wheel still on the car, it would have been a hell of a lot easier with it off.

Epilogue: I took the car to a major tyre chain to get it checked. They'd never seen Dynaplugs, so I showed them. After checking the puncture, their advice was that, if they tried to repair it, it would run the risk of breaking the Dynaplug seal which was holding perfectly well. They said it would be better to leave it alone, drive (sensibly) back to London, and replace the tyre when not under time pressure.

I stopped to check a couple of times on the journey, and everything looked fine. Back home now, no problems, tyre is still fully inflated.

 

Those Dyna Plugs look very nice. Was not familiar with them until you mentioned them. Here's a nice link for all who are interested...
Dynaplug® Tubeless Tire Puncture Repair Tools and Accessories

 

I wouldn't want to rely on it for a permanent repair, particularly at the very high speeds my car is capable of. The company says that a single-plug repair can be considered permanent under US regulations, but I'm just not comfortable with the idea of doing 180 mph on a tyre with a weak spot. A moot point in this case, anyway, because I used two plugs.

However, I'm now fairly confident that I can safely fix a fairly big puncture and get home without incident. And I could also have used the tyre 'gunk' in the Jag repair kit if I couldn't get a sufficient seal, though I would have tried more Dynaplugs first (you can use up to 4)

I'm still slightly boggled by the fact that I only bought the plugs last week, and needed them so soon!

 

While it's true our cars are capable of high speeds, in actuality, how often do we exceed 193 kilometers? Here, I've run on plugged tires for years. Most often we do not exceed 110-112 km.
But, I do understand the hesitation.

 

Oh, I agree, mine seldom gets over 90 mph - but I have had it up to 184 (296) on the autobahn, and I'm planning to go back to Germany this year. I don't really want to be the first to find out how well a Dynaplug works when the tyre is hurtling around at those speeds. And I also want to take it back to the 'Ring, and to spend a day at Silverstone, and I'd have the same concerns about how a plug would stand up to track stresses. It might be absolutely fine - but things could be very dangerous/expensive if it isn't.

In any case, as I said, it's a moot point - Dynaplug says that a multi-plug repair cannot be treated as permanent. And the location makes it borderline for a permanent repair from a tyre shop; in the UK, it has to be in the middle 70% of the tyre.

 

Yeah, closer to the edge, the more you're living o the edge!
Happy Motoring....

 

Someone is looking out for you Ross. Those plugs should be standard equipment with every safety kit.

 

Just to make life interesting: it appears that Pirelli 305/30 ZR20 tyres are rarer than rockinghorse dung in the UK at present. As we speak, the last one in captivity is winging its way down from darkest Scotland; hopefully it will arrive tomorrow. As I'm driving to York on Monday, I really want a tyre I can rely on.

On the other hand, the plugged tyre is still holding air just fine. Since there's a chance I might not be able to get a 305 quickly when I need one in future, I think I might just hang on to this one as a temporary spare. Need to make (a lot of) space in the garden shed...