# Tiny gash in tire... replace?



## Dan333sp (Aug 17, 2010)

I recently installed a pair of Vittoria Diamante Pro tires on my bike, and since then have put probably 500 miles on them. I've gotten 3 flats on my rear in the last 2 months, and finally yesterday I noticed a small partial puncture in the middle of the slick which seemed to correlate to the hole I found in the inner tube, which makes me think all these flats are the result of debris or whatever getting in through that little puncture in the tire. Is it best to get a new tire, or do those tire liners you can find online do the trick of sealing up a little hole like that to prevent such frequent flatting? I'd rather not junk a nice tire after relatively little use, but it's getting frustrating that I constantly need to worry about it.


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## jarbiker (Sep 29, 2009)

Dan333sp said:


> I recently installed a pair of Vittoria Diamante Pro tires on my bike, and since then have put probably 500 miles on them. I've gotten 3 flats on my rear in the last 2 months, and finally yesterday I noticed a small partial puncture in the middle of the slick which seemed to correlate to the hole I found in the inner tube, which makes me think all these flats are the result of debris or whatever getting in through that little puncture in the tire. Is it best to get a new tire, or do those tire liners you can find online do the trick of sealing up a little hole like that to prevent such frequent flatting? I'd rather not junk a nice tire after relatively little use, but it's getting frustrating that I constantly need to worry about it.


Replace it, that small punture will only get worse. Save yourself the headache and spend the cash. The economy needs the help.


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## onespeed (Mar 21, 2002)

*Put the dollar bill inside the tire.*

Maybe supplement it with a patch over the gash and then the dollar bill behind it.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

*Bulge test*

Does the tire bulge out at that point when you pump up to normal pressure? If so, you've got some cut to the tire casing. If you can't prevent the bulge with some kind of a "boot" on the inside, the tire has probably had it.

If there's no bulge, the cut is just in the rubber tread. I've had good luck sealing such cuts with rubbery glue like Shoe Goo, or black rubber sealant you can get at the hardware store. that would help prevent additional debris from poking through there.

Finally, are you sure there's nothing actually stuck in there that's causing the repeated flats? The way you phrased it I'm not sure if you positively located the source of the earlier flats. That's essential if you want to prevent repeated punctures. A very small bit of sharp material poking through the can be hard to find, but you have to look for it.


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## nyvram (Apr 11, 2002)

i had a small gash in my tire after riding through a debris field and hitting some kind of metal thingie.

while it seemed ok (new tube and good to go) i had dropped it off at LBS for something unrelated and the tube exploded. they put another one in and it exploded as well so i trashed it. :wah:

it sucks because it was a brand new GP4000


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## Hooben (Aug 22, 2004)

If the tube is not peeking through, I usually dab a bit of super glue on it. That will keep it from splitting for quite a while.


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## rward325 (Sep 22, 2008)

MY experience with those very tires is they cut very easily! I had them on my bike for about 6 months before I had to trash them. In one day had 3 flats, the final being a gash to the sidewall that was not bootable of repairable. This is the only time i had to make the call of shame!


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## gamara (May 20, 2002)

The problem is the choice of tires. The diamante pro's while excellent rolling are more for race day or time trials. Its not a high mileage, long wearing tire. If you want an all around everyday tire then you should consider the rubino pro. As JC pointed out shoe goo is an excellent sealant for small holes & I've used it myself with success. If it is a small gash in the tread only, then it can be closed with crazy glue first. YMMV.


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## smoothie7 (Apr 11, 2011)

I personally would scratch the idea of repairing the tire and just get a new one. That way, you have total piece of mind and don't have to worry about it any longer. That's the last thing I would want every time I left my house and go a far distance, will my tire hold up???
No thanks, buy new and forget about it!


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## Speed_Metal (Feb 9, 2004)

the "dollar-bill" for on-the-road tire repair to get me back home

here's my permanent fix for gashed tires
materials needed:
1. strip of casing from an old tire. tear off the tread and the bead, so that you only have the casing left
2. tyvek mailing evelope
3. super-glue 
4. tire tread from and old tire

cut out a piece of old casing to cover the gash on the inside of the tire
glue in the casing strip
cut out a piece of the Tyvek paper to cover the casing patch and glue that on top
cut out a piece of rubber from the old tire to fill in the cut on the outside of the tire when its fully inflated. glue that into the hole. for this last part, you may also try shoe-goo to glue in the piece of rubber

i've done this a number of times so several different tires that i've gashed


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## stumpbumper (Jan 22, 2011)

While this is not addressing your question about what to do about the Vittoria Diamante Pro tires you now have, my advice based on experience is to replace with another brand once those you have are done for and it sounds to me like that one is. Not long back I bought a new bike wearing those tires and liked them so much on the first few rides I bought a couple of spares from the dealer I bought the bike from. Bad decision as not a sngle one lasted more than 800 miles and I don't ride on rough roads. All things considered, I don't believe you can beat top-of-line tires from Conti and Michelin, although I have also gotten excellent service from the Kenda Kriterium L3R Pro.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

smoothie7 said:


> I personally would scratch the idea of repairing the tire and just get a new one. That way, you have total piece of mind and don't have to worry about it any longer. That's the last thing I would want every time I left my house and go a far distance, will my tire hold up???
> No thanks, buy new and forget about it!


So everytime you get a little nick in a tire you have to replace it? Even if the casing is sound and you can fill the nick in the tread? 

Personally, not my approach.

Anyway, there's no such thing as "total peace of mind" in this world. You can ride out on brand new tires every day, and you could run over something at the end of the block that destroys one.

Everything is a continuum, a tradeoff, a weighing of risks.


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## GetReal (Jul 26, 2010)

It was popular thing years ago for riders to repair a small gash by using Shoe Goo on the outside of the tire as a sealer. Tips in cycling magazines way back when.

I now use a small patch (vulcanizing) on the inside of the tire as a boot if the gash is small.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

most likely whatever junk made the "gash" was still there and made more holes, if it's removed the tire is likely fine. As others have mentioned, if it's not bulging, no real problem. 
If I had to change tires for every nick and "gash" I'd have to bring spare tires on longer rides.


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## scottzj (Oct 4, 2010)

Milk carton...........need I say more haha. Cut a small piece (curved of course) off the milk carton that fits from rim to rim or pretty close. Place the plastic piece you cut in the hole area and place tube back into the tire. Obviously hold that part at the bottom while replacing your tire back on and there you have a make shift patch for now. This is something very light weight that you can keep on you all times just incase. Personally I would definately change the tire when you can.


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## Kai Winters (Aug 23, 2009)

Make sure there is nothing embedded in the tire, outside or inside, before you do any other repairs to keep the tire.
Pull the tire off the rim, turn it inside out and bend it in different directions while gently rubbing the ball of your finger tip over the area searching for a possible piece of debris residing in the tire itself. Sometimes the debris only sticks out a fraction of an inch and only when the tire is under the load of the rider. It wears away at the tube over time and causes repeated flats in the same area.

I recently pulled a tiny piece of wire out of my tire, Vittoria Corsa CX. I found it when wiping down my tires are riding down a stretch of gravel road...new road, to me, that looked inviting...I generally wipe my tires down with a damp rag every week or so while I check for splits, debris such as the bit of wire, etc., and the rag stuck...hmmm...pulled out the bit of wire with needle nose pliers and its' been several weeks with no problems so I must have gotten a bit of lucky and the wire did not penetrate through the tire.

I've never used the Diamante's but have been a fanboy of Vittoria Corsa tires for several decades...I love the sewups best but haven't used them in years.

Good luck with the fixes and let us know how you make out.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

> I recently pulled a tiny piece of wire out of my tire


Those little bits of wire are a true pain. I think they're remnants of the steel belts from car tires that have disintegrated. They can make very tiny slow-leak punctures that can be hard to find, and they can be hard to locate in the tire, as you noted.


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## kmunny19 (Aug 13, 2008)

agree that if no bulging of tube through, and no foreign object still inside, then repairing the hole is smart. no need to toss and replace the tire, even if its a less durable model, unless you have enough spare cash to cut your losses and buy different ones. the shoo goo and superglue products are well accepted and so far, I've had marine glue work well for similar. also, booting inside the tire with old tube material is pretty well accepted, though I've been fine with just glue in the past.


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## jarbiker (Sep 29, 2009)

get yourself some of those GatorSkins, hell they will last forever.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

I've rubber cemented a bit of handlebar tape into a tire with a rather large gash as a temperary repair. Never had another problem with that tire and put about 1500 more miles on it. 

I tried one of those store bought boots one time, I think it was a Park. I tried to stretch some miles out of that repair too but after a coupla hundred miles I started flating again on account of the plastic patch wearing through the tube.

I tried using some good 20 year silicone caulk to fill the gash on the tread but it didn't last anywheres near 20 years.


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## Speed_Metal (Feb 9, 2004)

scottzj said:


> Milk carton...........need I say more haha. Cut a small piece (curved of course) off the milk carton that fits from rim to rim or pretty close. Place the plastic piece you cut in the hole area and place tube back into the tire. Obviously hold that part at the bottom while replacing your tire back on and there you have a make shift patch for now. This is something very light weight that you can keep on you all times just incase. Personally I would definately change the tire when you can.


icky. nobody should be drinking milk after infancy. ESPECIALLY cow's milk.


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## velodog (Sep 26, 2007)

Speed_Metal said:


> ESPECIALLY cow's milk.


Why not?


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## ocean-ro (Nov 23, 2009)

JCavilia said:


> Those little bits of wire are a true pain. I think they're remnants of the steel belts from car tires that have disintegrated. They can make very tiny slow-leak punctures that can be hard to find, and they can be hard to locate in the tire, as you noted.


8 out of 10 flats that I had lately were caused by these bits of wire. And I used 3 different brands of tire.


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## Peter P. (Dec 30, 2006)

Put a Park Tire Boot inside the tire at the cut. While the package will tell you the Park boots are meant to be temporary, I've had PERMANENT luck with them. If you're real particular, before you install the boot, clue the cut closed with a drop of Super Glue.

What usually happens if I let cuts like this be, is the tire under pressure tries to poke through the hole but never completely succeeds. Instead, the cut tends to "munch" on the tube pressuring itself into the gap and I get mysterious flats, until I wake up and figure out what's going on.


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