Im starting to get a few decent sidewall cuts in my TSL Swampers. None have gone all the way thru or leaked air but I have got quite a few long ones (2-3 inches) that have cut the rubber down to the plys and they look pretty ugly.

Just wondering what people do for them. Leave them and ignore them (so long as they dont leak). Fill them up with silastic or sikaflex (polyurathane)?? Or wait till I get heaps and send them into a repair shop and get them vulcanised properly.

:beer:

Sam

When mine get too bad, I'm gonna take them back to where they were bought and get them warrenteed... :D The silicon stuff sounds like a pretty good idea though...

my 42 tsl's are doing the same and i HAVE cut one all the way through about 4 weeks ago.

Most places in the US, we can't get a tire shop to touch a chewed up sidewall.

If they're not leaking, I ignore them.

If they are leaking, and it's not bad, I still ignore them and deal with them when I get home.

If they're leaking bad, I start stuffing plugs into them (it's all I usually have) till they at least slow way down. Then I decree that to be a FrankenTire, and retire it from road duty.

If I'm at home and have the luxury, I can patch them on the inside.

Given the pressure dynamics of a tire, anything you put on the outside, isn't going to do much to hold air. It'll just be cosmetic, and... umm... well... my junk's already really ugly. Plugs or patches will usually solve a losing-air problem, but if cords are cut in the sidewall, the tire is generally regarded as "done".

For trail fixes, I've seen guys use baling wire to "stitch" a badly cut sidewall, then stuff plugs into the gash some more till it doesn't leak so bad. I've also seen six-plus plugs in a smaller (un-"stitched") cut, basically just as a "get-me-home" option.

Bottom line, if they're not leaking, I just ignore them. I have yet to "wear" through a sidewall before I've worn all the tread off or cut a tire to unusability.

there's an online place that sells all of the tire ( or tyre for aussie's) repair / re-cap / re- tread stuff that you can imagine

patch rubber (http://www.patchrubber.com)

things like 10" x10" tire patches:eek:

try robbing your kids bike patch kit and use the vulcanizing cement on the side walls hang nail, it might just keep it out of harms way. NAPA SELLS VULCANIZING CEMENT IN TUBES TO GALLON SIZES, IF YOU DON'T HAVE KIDS...........LOL L8TR SCOTT

For gashes that do not go all the way through you can use cold vulcanizing compound..It is a two part compound that you mix together that takes 72 hours to cure.You will need to take a die grinder and grind out some of the rubber in the gash.Then you mix the parts and fill it in. Once it is cured you then buff it up.If properly done someone will be very hard pressed to ever find the spot on the sidewall. For gashes all the way through "hot vulcanizing" is better.You will need to find someone to do that for you.I have seen the cold vulcanizing material used to fill in gashes that went all the way through.The technique is to use a boot patch(high quality not what you will pick up at the local parts store) on the inside of the tire. The patch will serev as a platform to fill in the gash from.Once again it has to cure for 72 hours.The stuff for the cold vulcanizing is pretty cheap ..say 40 bucks..If interested try [url]www.techtirerepairs.com. You will want to search for A&B compound...part numbers 858 for 1 lb. containers or 859 for 2 lb. containers...you can quality boot patches as well from them. Good luck and hope this helps.:D

Try finding a tire company that repairs tires for a construction company, they should be able to do the hot vulcanizing if you have a cut all the way through. On the lime mixer that I operate, I had a one and a half inch metal dowel rod go through the tread of the tire and the tire company hot vulcanized it and it was as good as new.

Looks like you need some SX's.:D