Flat tyres

[pponting]

Only had my buggy a couple of weeks and had it out twice and got a puncture both times.

 

What do you normally do to prevent punctures? Does anyone use that 'gunk' stuff they sell for bike tryes that seals a puncture straight away?

[8015]

Been buggying a year and now have 2 buggies - never had a puncture yet.

 

What sort of surface are you flying on and do you have enough air in the tyres to start with?

 

Also check the obvious things, like have you pinched the tube between the rim and the tyre and is whatever caused the first puncture still in the tyre. With my bike tyres glass sometimes gets into the tyre and isn't obviously found from outside but running your finger round the inside will locate the lump or spike where it is sticking through (best wear gloves for that!) and puncturing the tube.

 

The gunk stuff would probably work but it sounds like you might have a fundamental problem. The PL tyres (vredstein) really are not very good tyres, they are 2 ply and designed for low speeds - it could be that you have a defective tyre? Also if the puncture broke any of the wire beads inside the tyre (I think they have some) it could be the wire from the tyre that is sticking up and causing repeat punctures.

 

Like I say my buggies have been over varied terrain and I've never had a puncture yet. I'm picturing early supercup retirement due to a puncture now - Flydad was telling me earlier it was going to be a broken kite/line as that's the only failure that I haven't had in a race yet this year (I've had wheel bolts loosening, wrong selection of kites for the wind available, and serious injury - so far) - I'm hoping the wheel bolt issue was my mechanical failure, Because as Kev Hunt pointed out last time round, there is rust showing through the paint on 2 of my welds which could well be down to weld cracking..... (I'm actually hoping to get it in the workshop one evening next week and attack those welds with a welder) - so a puncture is the only unforseen mishap I could possibly have now, knowing my luck it'll take the bigfoot light right off the rim and shred both it and the tube leaving me completely buggered!

 

Good luck finding the cause - if it's the tyre and you bought the buggy new make sure you take it back and ask for a replacement tyre (I'm talking about manufacturing defect like delamination) - the tyres seem very cheap and cheerful so this seems a distinct possibility!

 

JIM

[MadAndy71]

Only ever had 1 puncture and that was down to the wrong size tube in the wrong size tyre. As boater says, its sound like there is something a litte more to thsi that just bad luck.

[pponting]

Should have elaborated a little more about the puncture.

I bought the buggy from this forum a few weeks back 2nd hand (good bargain)The first time I took it out was to a local park, tyres were fine for the week prior to taking it out, day after trying it and one tyre was flat. (didn't even ride the buggy cos lack of wind, only pulled it there with my 3 year old lad in it!)

 

Fixed the puncture, it was either a thorn or a very small nail, didn't pay much attentin, just pulled it out, patched the tube, check inside the tyre and off to the park again (another day), took it there, before I even went to sit in it, noticed a bit of thorn bush attached to the 'other' tyre, pulled it away and heard Hissssssss, Aghhhhhhhh.

 

Got about 50 yards before it was flat.

 

guess the tyres are the cheaper ones as they have a max speed limit printed on the side of 8kmh, also, the rubber is quite thin.

 

Before I buy new tyres, I may try the green gunk stuff.

[XR33GTS]

First time I took my buggy out I got a puncture, BEFORE I had even gotten in it!!!!! Turned out that the council had trimmed the hedges and there were lots of thorns on the path to the field..... This happened twice, before I popped down to Halfords and invested in SLIME..... No problems since, but have bought a spare wheel/tyre just in case.

[shaunie boy]

Got my first flat tyre today on our local beach went over a cockle bed well over powered. ah well just have to get the puncture outfit out and try to avoid the sharp stuuf next time.

[peajay]

I got a puncture with my buggy on my first time out on the local beach, so I put green slime for mountain bike tubes in my buggy tubes and no more punctures, worth it to prevent any unwanted loss of buggy time, it's short enough with out losing any more.

 

 

PJ.

[Sand-Yeti]

Sorry to be so flippant but to avoid punctures, do not run over sharp objects like broken bottles, bits of wood with nails sticking through, vegetation which has nasty sharp bits .

I get punctures from time to time. The main problem seems to be small pieces of wood (thorns) usually about 1 to 2 mm dia. from vegetation, which pokes through the tyre (I use bigfoots). They leave tiny holes in the tube, which are easily reparable with a patch.

 

I had once a problem with a tyre turning on the rim. You can see this by looking at the angle the tube's valve holder pokes through the rim. I did notice it angled badly but didn't do anything about it. Eventually, the angle was so bad that the rubber tore at the base of the valve holder. (not reparable).

 

Your terrain will determine the number of punctures you get more than anything else.

 

How to prevent punctures:

 

1) The slime mentioned by others put inside the tube works very well. It works so well that when air freighting a buggy, we wanted to deflate our tyres. After removing the valve the gunge was so good , it plugged the hole & we could only get the air out by poking long bits of wire down the hole to clear it.

I don't like the stuff personally.

 

2) I line the inside of my bigfoots with cut up truck inner tubes. I stick the pieces in place using good rubber cement. One of my friends has some 20mm thick foam stuff, which he places inside his big foots. This squeezes down to just a few mm's.

 

3) Unfortunately, many people in my part of the world are dirty pigs & throw their rubbish all over the place. At the end of a buggying day when the wind has dropped, I often drive around picking up bottles and any other junk, which can cause punctures in my favourite buggy places. In the dunes and deep desert, there isn't too much stuff to cause punctures, so very rarely have one in those places. During the DBC last March there was only one puncture experienced from the whole group in a full week of buggying. Everybody used bigfoots.

 

Other annoying puncture problems.

1- Pinched tube when putting on tyre after repairing puncture. I used to use tyre levers, which is not a good idea when fitting tyre. I use washing up liquid on the tyre bead and put tyres on by gently walking around the (one piece) rim with heavy boots.

 

2) Careful if you use split rims that you don't trap the tube between the two rim halves

 

3) Check that the the small hole in the tube is the only one. I had a 2nd very small hole, which I never noticed after repairing a puncture. I had to pull tyre off the rim again.

 

4) Check very thoroughy the tyre & remove sharp objects, which might still be poking through. I have had small shards of stone and thorns poking through, which I didn't notice . These pieces will cause another instant puncture as soon as your repair is completed.

 

5) After repairing puncture, check that you don't have a leak at the valve. You might pull out the tube again, which isn't necessary in this case. I just put some spit on my finger and smear it over the valve tube opening. If it bubbles, then either tighten the valve or replace it if it still leaks

 

You can have bad luck with tyre quality but the main reason for punctures is running over nasty sharp objects especially if you use bigfoots which are pretty thin to start with. In Aussie (On the BBB) we were on a stony track so used narrow 8 ply rating tyres - no problems.

 

I have one bigfoot, where the canvas is just starting to appear through the rubber. Do I run it until it fails or replace it now. Keep in mind they 'aint cheap'.

What do my fellow buggiers do with tyres that are getting thin?

 

 

Sand-Yeti

[pponting]

2) I line the inside of my bigfoots with cut up truck inner tubes. I stick the pieces in place using good rubber cement. One of my friends has some 20mm thick foam stuff, which he places inside his big foots. This squeezes down to just a few mm's.

Sand-Yeti

Excellent idea, will try this I think, just need to creep round a truck yard with my penknife in the night though......

[freejam]

I'm everso intrigued, 60 yo buggying in the sand dunes of Arabia! Yeti please reveal more about your desert buggying - the Bedouin must think you're batty as hell.

[sgeorge9q]

go to your local car dealer and get some nitrogen put in them it stops them going down as the nitrogen molecules are larger than air as it can't seep through the porous rubber