What a plug is, and what a patch is
A plug is a sticky rubber cord pushed into the hole from the outside. It's fast, and it can often be done with the tire on the car. A patch is a piece of rubber bonded to the inside of the tire. To apply one, the tire has to be off the wheel so the inside can be cleaned and checked.
Combination repairs do both with one unit: a stem fills the hole and a patch seals the inner liner. Tire makers and repair guidelines favor a repair that seals the inside of the tire, which is why a plug used alone is often called a temporary fix.
A plug kit from a parts store does the outside-only version of the job. Plenty of drivers carry one, and it can get you to a proper repair, but treat it as a way to get there, not as the repair itself.
The punctures that can be repaired
The general rules are the same for any car:
- The hole is in the tread, the flat center part that touches the road, not near the edge.
- It's small, roughly a quarter inch or less across, and was made by something like a nail or screw.
- It isn't close to another repair, since repairs shouldn't overlap.
- The tire wasn't driven on while it was flat, which can destroy the inside even if the outside looks fine.
The ones that can't
Anything in or near the sidewall can't be safely repaired, because that part of the tire flexes constantly and a repair can't be relied on to hold. A hole larger than the limit, a slash, a bulge, and a tire that has been run flat all point to a replacement instead.
It can feel like bad luck to be told a tire can't be fixed. The driver isn't being cautious for fun. A repair that fails at highway speed is far worse than a new tire.
Age matters too. A tire with cracked rubber or tread worn down to its wear bars may hold a repair, but it isn't worth putting money into. A repair brings a tire back to as sound as it was, not better.
What a roadside repair looks like with TRA
TRA's tire repair is for a puncture in the tread. It's $54–$60, plus a $19 dispatch fee charged once per job. Your driver checks the tire before starting and tells you whether it can be repaired. If it can't, the options are putting on your spare, which is from $75, or a replacement tire supplied and installed, which is from $129.
Common questions
A repair to a tread puncture that's done properly is meant to last the rest of the tire's life. It's worth asking your driver what repair your tire is getting and where the hole is.
Sometimes, if the holes are in the tread and far enough apart that the repairs don't overlap. Your driver decides when they look at the tire.
The sidewall bends with every rotation, and the repair material can't be counted on to stay sealed while it does that. The same goes for the shoulder, where the tread curves into the sidewall.