Because of the wheel corrosion on my Taco, all my tires have very slow, persistent leaks. This is only mildly aggravating; every couple weeks I check them and top them up. Having an air compressor in the garage and pole barn, plus a portable air tank makes this tolerable. For whatever reason, the driver's side are worse than the passenger side. Given road crowns concentrate corrosive salt and other flotsam and jetsam to the outside, it would be more easily explainable if the passenger side were worse.
I'm not sure if the difference is due solely to metal, but I've had rusty 40-year old steel wheels still hold pressure just fine. I understand the benefits of aluminum for wheels, but isn't there better metallurgy available without huge cost increases? My underpowered truck isn't a Maserati, I can't help but think steel might have been a better option.
The first puncture:
On my to-do list before the opening day of the deer season, was to check my tire pressure. This would be one less thing to worry about going wrong when focused on sitting in a tree for hours on end. That afternoon before opening day, my driver's rear tire was alarmingly low. Looking around the tire, I spied the tell-tale shiny spot of metal embedded in the tread. A quick test with soapy water showed that it was leaking, followed by a worse leak after a yank with needle-nose pliers.
No worrys, Stop&Go to the rescue.
The Stop&Go is by far the best emergency tire repair system I've used. The hole is reamed out to an appropriate size, and the tools in the kit are used to force a mushroom shaped plug into the hole. I much prefer the mechanical fixture of the mushroom plug, over the (hopefully) sticky and stringy plugs widely available. Having done this too many times over the years, the whole process only takes a few minutes.
Most, but not all leaks, are effectively sealed and it is instantly effective (or not) without needing to wait for glue to dry (or not). The worst leaks that are not completely sealed, are at least dramatically slowed down.
Now I KNOW!!!!!!! that any repair done from outside of the tire must be considered temporary. I've yet to see one seal a leak and subsequently releak, and I've never seen the plug come apart or come out when correctly installed. So I still consider it temporary, just sometimes temporary for a very long time. Temporary might be shorter in a motorcycle however, depending on the nature of the actual tire damage. Margins are always thinner when dealing with only two wheels.
The leak in my Tacoma tire was repaired, and hunting season progressed.
The second puncture:
After a few days of hunting, I noticed my driver's rear tire was still losing pressure at an atypically high rate. My first thought was that the rim was the issue, since disturbing the bead while repairing the last puncture in the face of the heinous wheel corrosion can cause an increase in the rim leakage. I've slowed this down in the past by letting all the air out of the tire and cleaning the bead as best as I can without dismounting the tire. A small amount lubricant can also help slow leaks and minimize ongoing corrosion.
Once I pulled the tire off the truck, it was sadly easy to find nail number 2.
The leak was again quickly and effectively plugged by the Stop&Go system. The rim was cleaned up and the tire was doused with soapy water looking for any other tell-tale bubbles. All looked good and I was able to merrily go on down the road.
The third puncture:
Leaving for work a few days later, the TPMS light came on my truck. Again, it was the driver's rear tire. A quick look in the morning darkness found predictably nothing. I grossly overinflated the tire, and put my portable air tank in my truck for the drive home from work if needed. As an aside, the portable air tank is basically a pressurized bomb. I am made quite nervous by having this enclosed next to me in my vehicle, should it become self-mobile during any unexpectedly rapid trajectory changes.
Three tire issues within two weeks is starting to feel like more than a coincidence. Maybe the rims are beyond oxidative hope? Maybe someone has it out for me? Maybe someone doesn't like where I park? Maybe the deer have a ploy to keep me out of the trees?
The tire was low enough after work for the TPMS light to come on again. I stopped by a tire store on my way home and they were too busy to look at it, but did air up the tires and give the low tire a wet down with soapy water, unsuccessfully.
Back at home, I was able to find the leak, another puncture, but this time without anything in it. It also wasn't a nice clean puncture, but more of a short slit in the tire, and right near the edge of the tread where repairs should be attempted cautiously, if at all. Stop&Go was not able to stop this leak, but did slow it down.
I thought about taking this as a sign that it was time to do something more permanent about my wheels and tires. I have good tread left, but the wet grip of my tires sometimes makes me wonder if they are made out of slippery eels or something. I drove to my local tire shop that I've had good luck with in the past (local as in 10s of miles away), to see what they could do for wheels and tires.
En route, I changed my mind. My spare, while original to the vehicle, was the same type of tire as the current road tires. I could swap the spare to the road, replacing the now leaking tire (with at least three "temporary" plugs) and buy the cheapest new tire available as a spare.
This was done, with the warning from tire guys that the formerly spare tire was getting old. Noted - and thanks for doing it anyway.
The fact is, I know I'm on borrowed time. Hopefully I'll be able to continue to borrow that time until my tire tread shows Lincoln's head and at some point in the future, I'll be able to reboot my contact patch with new wheels, tires and TPMS sensors (the sensors are all original to the vehicle, and with 8 years on the batteries, I'm expecting a failure soon).
Whether I run out of the borrowed time or I impulsively get rid of the Taco first is still to be determined. Hmmmm, a new Honda Ridgeline probably wouldn't have corroded wheels....
Where the rubber meets the road, it has been a tough year. I think there was one other truck tire effectively repaired by Stop&Go. One massive gash unrepairable on another car, along with a repairable drywall screw in that same car. There were also at least two, maybe more punctures of motorcycle tires. Please people, keep your sharp crap off of my roads!
For now, I guess I'm headed to CraigsList.com to look for wheels.
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