Fix for minor tire leak

[rdfarr]

Pulled a small finishing nail from my rear tire. It was stuck in mostly sideways, but I still got an almost imperceptible leak when I removed it. Does anyone advocate those gunks that you apply thru the valve stem and is supposed to seal small leaks? I'm going on a long trip, but sure hate to replace an almost new tire for such a small leak.

[DEF]

Tire slime is not recommended. It can cause severe imbalance and do more harm than good.

 

I would remove the tire and patch it from the inside. I routinely plug the radial, tubeless tires on my GS. Your leak is so small that I recommend NOT plugging due to the fact you will have to fully penetrate the inside of the carcass and possibly weaken some cords.

 

And while the patch requires removal, applying the patch and rebalancing, it is the safest way to go.

[rdfarr]

If the leak is small enough maybe I can just top off the air every so often? Using soapy water for the leak detector, it takes several seconds for a small bubble to grow and grow and finally burst. If I did not know where the nail was, I would never be able to find the leak it's so small. Is there any reason to believe that a small leak would later develop into a large leak under highway conditions?

[DEF]

Water will find its way into the tire and cause eventual rotting. Patch it.

[BMWRich58]

Change the tire and when the new one is wornout put the old but "repaired/got plenty of tread left" back on for your local riding!

[rdfarr]

Had the tire dismounted and patched internally.

Would have replaced the OEM tire except couldn't find an identical replacement in my required timeframe, and everyone advised against mismatching a replacement back to the OEM front.

Took about 8 calls around before finding someone to do the patch job. Most deferred saying they didn't patch tires due to liability concern. The round patch had a center stem that was forced thru the leak by a encasing metal pick thereby plugging the hole.