This Tire Repair Kit Helps Fix an Overlander’s Worst Nightmare
When overlanding, there are two common ways you can ruin a tire. The first is to puncture the tread with a screw, nail, or sharp rock. The resulting holes are usually small enough to fix with a tire plug, similar to what you’d use on a bike.
The second, more difficult type of damage is to tear a sidewall. Overlanders run the risk of sidewall tears because we often brush against rough rocks while climbing backcountry roads. Sidewall tears can sometimes be fixed by jamming several plugs into the hole, but some holes are so big that plugs won’t work. In the past, that could leave me stranded if I had multiple flats.
Recently, however, I learned about Gluetread, a company that makes large, durable rubber patches that cover multi-inch tears. Curious about whether the patches work, I called my friend and veteran overlander, Walt Wagner, who runs an Albuquerque-based build shop called Tactical Application Vehicles. Together, we ran a comprehensive test of the patching system, starting by intentionally cutting a two-inch slash in a tire sidewall.
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