Mushroom plugs – do you need glue as well?

Ive got a small hole in one of my tyres that just won’t fully seal. It’s about 1-2mm and I’ve even tried pushing a pick through it to widen it a bit in case it is too small for the sealant to work. Sealant comes out and then it appears to seal but if I wipe some spit over where the hole is I get bubbles, so air is obviously escaping albeit a very small amount –  left over a few days it goes pretty flat though so it’s enough to be annoying.

Aaanyway I have got some mushroom plugs but Ive never used one before so, before I bin the tyre I thought I would try one – do they need glue as well like a patch? I’m assuming that the sealant stuck to the inside of the tyre is going to be a PITA to try and remove fully but I may as well give it a go….

Tips?

Always sand the area around the hole and use tyre repair glue. Never had one fail

Ta – bit like you would do for a patch for a tube then.👍

Yes you need glue, use Rema TipTop SC-BL.
Brake cleaner then sand paper the tyre around the hole, glue on both plug and tyre, when touch dry pull it through, and push the patch round the edges like you would a normal tyre patch, cut off the external bit, remount the tyre and pump it back up. If your lucky/careful you can just remove one side bead on 1/4 of the wheel and leave the rest on.

Yep, roughen the tyre and apply vulcanising solution on the tyre over the roughened patch.

Apply vulcanising solution to the mushroom patch as well and allow to dry.

Once dry on both surfaces, press together firmly and cut off the excess often “pull” part of the plug.

Yep, normal mushrooms should have vulcanising solution, it gives a perfect seal and permanent repair and adds strength back to the hole. You can fit them without and it’ll probably work just fine- the air pressure and the friction from the interference fit will hold it on and the sealant will seal it. But, it’s way more likely to have some sort of failure and it won’t give you the strength that the vulcanised-on mushroom does, so basically don’t, there’s no reason.

TBH with such a small hole I’d just clean it up well and then put a standard bike patch behind it (not a self-adhesive, a proper oldschool one). Even the smallest mushrooms I’ve ever used were designed for a bigger hole, there’s bike ones that start from 3mm. Which is fine, you can make the hole bigger and the mushroom will still give you a completely permanent repair, but, a little interior patch is usually going to be fine, and cheaper.

Good stuff – thanks all.

I would try a worm with some glue on it, before going to the hassle of taking the tyre off and applying a mushroom plug. I save them for larger cuts and grazes that can’t be fixed with a worm.

I haven’t used a pull-through mushroom plug, but I have used an internal patch (like a tube patch just a bit thicker) on a 6mm cut on my G One Bites. Plugs had sealed it to get me home but I wanted a stronger, permanent fix as I’d had plugs come out before.

I took the tyre off, cleaned out the sealant and then sanded the cut slightly before using vulcanising solution. After 24hrs, I then added a thin coat of Stormsure rubber glue (Shoe Goo type stuff) over the edges. I also did a layer of rubber glue on the outside over the cut for a bit more peace of mind.

I’ve had

I’m disappointed the Stan’s hasn’t sealed it TBH. It’s a road tyre though so maybe the higher pressure is not allowing the sealant to set/cure? I’ve let all the air out of it and I’ll leave it on the rim like that for a few hours to see if it makes any difference then I’ll try the plug as I haven’t got any patches other than the sort for tubes.

I was wondering what rubbish sealant you must be using but hadn’t realised it wasn’t an MTB tyre.

Anyone use a lighter to heat the glue before setting it? Seen a few people do it, they swear by it but haven’t seen any long term repairs to know if it’s needed and works better?

They also do it with inner tube repairs.

Is there any science behind it other than warmer glue works better?