Flex Paste Tire Crack Repair

Hey Guys, I did a little experiment on my model R tire that has several cracks. I know replacing the tire is the best option, but I wanted to give this a try. I tried smearing flex paste on the cracked areas for a band aid. I will post another video once I get the tractor up and running and get some field work in with it.

https://youtu.be/HqRVN7Ab100

I used several coats of bedliner on one of my tractor rears which had a pretty good sized split on the sidewall, so far has bought
me some time.

Nice! That will be a good one to keep in my back pocket as well!

That will be interesting. What is shelf life of that stuff?

it will hold till u use the tractor.

I used 'Sikaflex' on mine. Still good after 20 years. Admit to not much use.

That is good stuff.
I glued a butyl rubber floor in a shower with that stuff.

i would think that if the crack was deep enough that you was worried about the tube you should have put a boot in that tire. I realize that would be a lot of work if the tire was loaded.

Good question, I actually do not know...

The tore is not loaded, but I would be worried about causing more damage to the rest of the side wall. Time will tell if it works or not!

Maybe, maybe not, we will see!

I did see a guy on YouTube use it to repair a cut tubeless mud tire on a truck and a month later, it was still holding air.

I'd have to say this "repair" is akin to spreading bondo on a rust hole. You're covering up the problem, not fixing it.

This stuff does not add any appreciable strength. About the only advantages are cosmetic (mostly) and in shielding the covered area from further weathering, which, well, is kind of like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

I disagree on the part about strength. Once this stuff set up, it feels much like the rubber on a new tire. Not a lot of give to it, so we will see hot it reacts under load.

Burt Munro used black shoe polish.

Good for 200 MPH!

Lol what?!

(quoted from post at 10:28:01 08/03/22)
Lol what?!

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watch the movie it is very good!

(quoted from post at 15:14:59 08/01/22) Burt Munro used black shoe polish.

Good for 200 MPH!

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don't think the tractor was meant for the salt flats. Good one from Burt: "If you don't follow through on your dreams, you might as well be a vegetable." Cabbage he decided.

I thought it would be a reference to using shoe polish to make an old horse look younger for a quick sale to a rube. Apparently it does the same for tires. Used car salesmen have nothing on used horse salesmen I suppose. The point of the Burt Monroe comment was to indicate that this is strictly a cosmetic treatment. I can't quite bring myself to say repair.

Flex seal is silicone rubber. It is not very stiff, but it is very stretchy. It is softer than the tire, it will not share the load because it will stretch much more than the rubber under the same load. The crack is narrow and when it opens up it will tear the thin layer of silicone inside. Crack opens from 1/32 to 1/4, it stretches 800%, but not often if at all.

The only tractor tire retread I have seen (means nothing, I'm no expert) was a youtube video of a tire shop in India or Pakistan from the look of it. They were salvaging tread from tires with damaged sidewalls. They cut the sidewall out of the tread by hand and shaved the worn tread smooth, by hand. Some kind of sheet adhesive and I gave up on it. Too long didn't watch. Third world, poverty cheap labor backbreaking hand work to save a few bucks on a tire.

(reply to post at 11:58:47 08/01/22)

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fixer2u said: I will post another video once I get the tractor up and running and get some field work in with it.

Been almost a year now, so how well did it work??