Can you remove a patch on tube?

abceire

I repaired a hole in my tube, but it went down slowly again, so I was wondering can you remove a patch from a tube? Any other suggestions, besides of course taking the tube off and putting it in water to check all is ok? I suppose I should check there is nothing on the inside of the tire too putting holes in the tube?

TheBlaaMan

No. You need a new tube.

abceire

Damn! Shop was closed today, guess I'll go borrow a bike somewhere.

bedirect

pull it off, rub some petrol on it to remove the old adhesive sand it and repair it. Bit a new tube is the best option

tomasrojo

Do you mean can you remove the patch you put on and try again? In my experience, yes. You just pull off the patch and use a piece of emery paper or such like to get the rubber cement off and try again.

kumate_champ07

yes you can peel it off, it didnt stick properly. sand down the tube and clean with soapy water, let dry.

you have to leave the glue on the patch for 1+min till it gets tacky, I put glue on the tube too, useda tooth pick to spread it. when applying the patch press it firmly in place, fold a junk mail flyer and put the wrapped flat tube under a table leg till it dries

kumate_champ07

also, vulcanizing solution doesnt last very long. thoes small tubes go bad after a few months after opening and wont work properly. I keep a few spares as theyre cheap. the rema touring kit are the best patches, the circular patch with orange around black centre

TheBlaaMan

Or for the sake of the price if a pint, just buy a new feckin tube and give yourself the confidence that your fix will last. Jaysus..

tomasrojo

I never found it necessary to wash the tube after sanding off the cement, but that might work better. Five minutes is a good time to let to cement dry, and make sure the cement covers a sightly larger area than the patrch you're going to apply. Pushing down on the patch for a few minutes with the repair-kit box I find usually suffices, coupled with spreading the edges of the oatch down.

Where can one get spare small tubes of vulcanising solution? I always end up with lots of spare patches, so I don't need to buy kits for quite a while. I've seen solution on its own online, but only in medium-size tubes.

tomasrojo

I read somewhere online that opened solution lasts longer if you wrap it up tight in a polythene bag. Not sure whether it works though.

piston

It should peel off if it wasn't stuck properly in the first place. Perfectly acceptable thing to do imo. I'm always amazed at how many people bin perfectly usable tubes. I've picked them up from the roadside, took them home and patched them and used them myself.

The important point with tubes of rubber solution is to make sure the nozzle of the tube does not come in contact with the rubber of the inner tube. Squeeze a blob out on a (clean!) finger and spread it on the tube. Don't use the nozzle to spread it on the tube like I've seen some doing. Little bits of rubber will get into it and set of a chemical reaction which will cause it to go hard.

Allow the solution to dry on the tube before applying patch. A quick way to make sure if it isn't windy is to set fire to it with a cigarette lighter. Instant dry and clean solution ready to apply patch. A tip I picked up in a tyre centre and it works very well.

abceire

I bought two tubes, and the nice lady in the shop pumped up the tires on the bike I borrowed for the day, she also explained the best way to repair a tube, what a helpful lady she was.

Highway_To_Hell

piston wrote: »

I've picked them up from the roadside,

dumping gel wrappers is bad enough but surely people aren't dumping tubes on the side of the road?

abceire

Nope they are dumping them in lanes, I saw lots in a lane way near were I used to work, old tires too, I was tempted to go thru the tires and bring some home.