Thread: The Muppets are alive and well.

There is a lesson to be learned somewhere here.

I have a Disco 2 with std. alloy wheels and locknuts.

Over a long period I have one tyre that loses pressure with a VERY slow leak but that's OK 'cos I check tyre pressures regularly.
I have had it "repaired" by several tyre services over time and it appears that one of them used one of those temporary "rope plugs"...probably why it continues to leak?

After travelling from Melbourne to Brisbane I parked at a friends house and in the morning the same tyre was flat due to a nail puncture..time to change it.

HOWEVER..the Muppets and their high-pressure rattle guns had been at the wheel nuts.
My 100kgs bouncing on a 450mm 3/4 drive breaker bar and socket eventually cracked the nut seal on the normal wheel nuts.!!!
But alas the anti-theft lock nut. It had already been damaged and hidden under the removable cap. The key/socket was also mis-shapen.
It did not take much for the security drive-key socket to split and drop one of the drive pins.

This could only happen on a weekend and I did not have access to a compressor or pump so the car was immobile.

Monday enabled me to borrow a portable arc welder and repair the drive-key just enough to loosen the lock nuts on the other 3 wheels... just in case.
For the damaged locknut I bought a cheap socket, masked up the alloy wheel to avoid arc-splatter damage and welded the socket over the locknut shaft.
Again with much force.. Bingo..off it came.
I was always taught only to use air ratchets/rattle guns to Loosen stuff or to run nuts onto threads part way.
I am not as anal as to use a torque wrench but I can get a good "feel" when tightening wheel nuts by hand.

The Moral?

• Throw away the locknuts ..especially for outback travel...all those thieves with Toyotas and Nissans can't use your rims anyway.
• Check the nut tension after visiting a tyre "professional"...or ask them to hand tighten using your own wheel brace so you have a chance of removal.
• A smear of copper grease/antisieze does not go astray.

In this case itwas only inconvenience in a big city but even at night way out near Goondiwindi etc it would have been a real PITA.

In my experience, the rope-type plugs have always been a permanant fix, and no balance issues that you can get when the 'experts' use a huge internal patch.

The tubeless tyre actually has an air-tight inner lining which is the tube. Damage this...or have one that's not properly manufacured, and you get a sloooow leak.
Like yours. - Or maybe it was leaking around the valve-seat. (Had that once)

Too many tyre fairies do not understand that this is a prime reason for using a patch... to guarantee a 100% seal of this layer.
- It also keeps them rich and IMHO they should use some of the profits to buy and maintain a calibrated rattle gun.

Torque Tester, Torque Meter and Gauge for Testing, Calibration and other applications

Or just listen to the pesky client and use a torque wrench.

Edit: The advantage of plugs is doing the deed with the wheel in place, assuming the required muscle and agility!