[airguitar]

Lately, I have seen local puncture shops insisting on mushroom patches for fixing punctures rather than the regular puncture strips saying that they last longer and provide a better fix.

These patches cost 4 -5 times more than regular plugs that are done without removing the tires from the rim. Last heard, each mushroom plug + labour costs around Rs. 500 while it costs Rs.100 or thereabouts for a regular one.

While on paper I understand how a "mushroom patch" could be better, are these a scan in them making? We all have survived decades of driving with regular patches, so why this new mechanism now?

[deep_bang]

I actually feel it's worth the cost, but this is just speaking from my experience. Let me elaborate.

Generally, what I see is that, once a tyre starts having a puncture, it keeps having more of those in the next few months till I either change the tyre or fix a mushroom patch. So I see that mushroom patches are usually more reliable and so it's fine.

However, on my current ride, I have had only 2 punctures - same location (and fixed via a mushroom patch) in the last 30k kms, so perhaps I am lucky in this aspect.

[longhorn]

My experience with the regular strips is that they start leaking air after a few years of doing the patch. Since it is the same spot where a puncture was already fixed, we cannot redo it. Thankfully for me, the tyre was already at the 7 year mark, so ended up replacing the tyre.

[sagarpadaki]

In my experience, mushroom patch is the right way to fix a puncture. The regular brown plugs will start leaking air from the periphery of the hole which they plugged after a few thousand kms. It is more likely to occur if driven on broken roads. Unless the puncture is near the shoulder where even the smaller diameter of the mushroom patch does not fit, in which case the brown strips are the only option, I would always recommend the mushroom patch.

The remaining life the tyre also matters. If the tyre is at end of life or has 5k-7k left then the brown plugs should be good enough till the tyre wears out.

[windrider]

Just saw a video regarding this a few days back from FortNine on YouTube. This should help in deciding.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qm6fTW...UgcHVuY3R1cmUg

[Axe77]

Trust Fortnine to post the one definitive video on the subject. Thanks for sharing this.

Confirms my belief in the rope plugs now that Ryan Guruji has personally endorsed it.

[PaddleShifter]

Mushroom plugs must be more profitable for a tyre shop. Contrary to the posts above, I have driven with tyres having one or more punctures fixed using the tried and tested plugs.

Infact, have been fixing punctures using the conventional plugs from all kind of shops (branded tyre shops, road side puncture guy or a small shop).

Only once, a puncture started leaking from the previously fixed puncture site and the small shop owner refixed it using another puncture plug despite my polite insistence to not do this (I have now learnt that if you live in Rajasthan, you have to be firm and even a bit rude if a person giving you service is not listening to you and is trying to damage your stuff out of ignorance and lack of competence). One month later, the twice repaired puncture gave up which was later fixed using an internal patch. The tyre worked fine for the next two years.

[yesyeswe]

Some 4-5 years ago my bike had a puncture and even after multiple tries by different shops using the glue thread type sticks the air was still leaking. Then one shop told me about the mushroom type puncture and I took my bike to a MRF dealer as the tyre was from MRF. I remember the cost was under 200rs but that fixed my tyre for good until I sold my bike.

[androdev]

The real danger is not slow leaks but the strip repair has the risk of the plug popping out. It happened once in my case, thankfully my speed was pretty low (within the city). I opt for mushroom patch these days for peace of mind.

[Bhupesh_2628]

Recently, I had a puncture where a screw got stuck on the edge of tyre where the sidewall area just starts, not the actual sidewall. The puncture repair guy told me to opt for mushroom patch as that will ensure that the fix applied will be more robust.
That makes sense since that area was kind of a softer compound which may render the tyre more prone to punctures if we didn't fix it properly for the first time.
It costed ₹300 in Delhi including labor. In my case, they removed tyre from the alloy wheel and with the help of a machine, they skim through the insides of the tyre around the puncture area. This is done to smoothen that area so that the mushroom patch can be properly fixed/glued and applied on that area. Few tyre rubber particles are lost due to smoothening of that area.

So, IMO, you can opt for mushroom patch fix in the following cases:

• On those areas where tyre is softer like the edge of sidewall - not the actual sidewall area since it's better to change tyre instead of fixing sidewall as it's more prone to bulges which is risky.
• On those areas where the strip patch failed leading to multiple punctures.
• On those areas where the puncture is severe that the regular strip patches won't work.
• In case you want a robust and sort of permanent fix for the time being and do not want to end up with strip patches with the fear of losing tyre pressure every now and then.

Beware of the scam that these people do. They deliberately try to damage your perfectly working tyre valve in your absence or when your mind is diverted to something else. After damaging tyre valve, they will simply tell you that valve is also damaged, it needs replacement.

[AR1571]

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

Mushroom plugs must be more profitable for a tyre shop. Contrary to the posts above, I have driven with tyres having one or more punctures fixed using the tried and tested plugs.

I would agree that mushroom plug may be just another way to earn more. I have been using the Internal Patch to fix punctures at least for the last 7-8 years and they are quite reliable. Never have I ever faced an instance where there has been leakage from the same spot.

[Zen Av8r]

I have been getting punctures repaired using mushroom patches since 2013. Lesson learnt after a roadside puncture repair guy widened the puncture so much that he ended up putting three strips and finally ruining the tyre. I used to pay Rs 100 initially and paid Rs 200 in the last two years. Clean and neat job all the time with no problems. These days i drive to Mysore to get my punctures repaired as no tyre shop in Madikeri keeps mushroom patches.

[Guru_GPS]

Originally Posted by airguitar

Lately, I have seen local puncture shops insisting on mushroom patches for fixing punctures rather than the regular puncture strips saying that they last longer and provide a better fix.

These patches cost 4 -5 times more than regular plugs that are done without removing the tires from the rim. Last heard, each mushroom plug + labour costs around Rs. 500 while it costs Rs.100 or thereabouts for a regular one.

While on paper I understand how a "mushroom patch" could be better, are these a scan in them making? We all have survived decades of driving with regular patches, so why this new mechanism now?

I have not gone through entire thread, but from my experience of getting punctures fixed on four of my two-wheelers and my car [which is now sold], the stripe type fix is always done for tubes inside the tires, and the mushroom type fix is for tubeless tires, which they did [and are always doing] without removing the tire.

[aviator1101]

I think there is some confusion.

All three are different items.

The patches are used to repair the puncture in tubed tyres. For this, either the tube (in case of bikes) is taken out or the entire wheel has to be removed from the vehicle.



The normal tubeless repair strips are like simple pieces of ropes.


This is how they look.


This is how they are ultimately fixed inside the tubeless tyre

The mushroom plugs as the name suggest look like mushrooms with the cap going inside the tubeless tyres


This is how they look


This is how they are fixed inside the tubeless tyre. Notice the cap on the inner part.

The mushroom plugs, contrary to the myth, are not a permanent solution despite the premium they command over normal strips and are also prone to leaks.

IMHO the normal strips are better since they don't cause any additional enlargement to the puncture (as in case of mushroom to insert the cap) and hence less likely to cause leaks.

[ferrarirules]

Originally Posted by aviator1101

The mushroom plugs, contrary to the myth, are not a permanent solution despite the premium they command over normal strips and are also prone to leaks.

The two images that you showed of mushroom plug puncture repair kit are actually two different mushroom puncture repair processes.

This is a mushroom patch. For this the tyre needs to be taken off the rim and then the puncture is put from inside. It has a patch which sticks to the inside of the tyre and plug that fills the hole. There is redundancy in the puncture.


This one is mushroom plug. For this the tyre needs not to be removed. Nobody is applying these in India. People either use the rope/thread type puncture repair kit or use the more permanent mushroom plug type puncture repair kit.



All in all, the video shared by windrider clearly shows that 460N of force to dislodge the mushroom patch puncture so it is much more a permanent fix that the roadside thread puncture repair.