Frank wrote, on Mon, 07 Dec 2015 12:23:09 -0500:

Interesting to learn this:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=77

Wondered why it cost me $30 to get a tire repaired a few years ago.
The tire has held up well.

Out here, at $100/hour shop rates, it could easily cost more just
for the labor, plus you have to rebalance and they often destroy
the valve and they are brutal on your expensive soft rims!

I'm sick and tired of the brutish monkeys prying off my BBS
hubcaps with screwdrivers, damaging the soft rims, torquing
the lug bolts to 100 foot pounds instead of 84, not removing
the old weights when balancing, putting the same psi into
all four wheels, etc. They're just horrid.

So, I'm just gonna do it myself.

But that takes knowledge, so, I'm glad you pointed me to that
web page. It shows that you don't want *air* to get in between
the plies, so that's important to put the plug in there to
prevent air from sneaking in between the plies.

They call them "mushroom" patches in that article and they
say that the patch keeps air in and the plug keeps air and
moisture out of the plies.

I just want to do the job right, instead of letting the monkeys
do the job wrong. This will take all the advice you know of!