Tubeless tyre repair - illegal?

twobitcares, Sep 25, 2:36am
Got a puncture the other day & when I took it to be repaired at Tonys I was told it is a tubeless tyre that is illegally fitted with an inner tube which is some real dodgy work. Partner said last time he got tyres from discount tyres (which we don't usually do) & was told they were good for another 2years. Tonys refused to repair it (fair enough) and I bought two new tyres which were recommended. 24hrs later I have another puncture in one of the non replaced tyres. Haven't had it repaired yet but I'm assuming it will also be tubeless & same scenario. Is this practice illegal & would you return to the discount place & expect any sort of replacement/refund? My partner said he certainly wont be getting second hand tyres again!

kazbanz, Sep 25, 2:43am
I think you are getting a bit confused. Its the LOCATION of the repair that's the issue. ie where on the tyre the hole is.

elect70, Sep 25, 3:42am
I had tyre wit 2 punctures side by side & it was allmost new & was condemmed , but luckily i had insurance on them from tonys so got new 1 free . 245 /60 /18 . AFAIK nothing illegall about fitting tubes .

v8_mopar, Sep 25, 7:08am
As Kas said.

I would never go back to tonys. Went to a branch for two new front tyres that had warn perfectly but had seen a guy with a spanner under the car so ask what he was doing and told just making sure all was tight. Took the car straight to Firestone and got a wheel alignment that turned out to be well out! From perfect to well out of alignment in two k's, yeah right

alfred011, Sep 25, 10:26am
Tyre fitters looking for a sale ,no reason why you cant put a tube in a tubeless tyre .

mrfxit, Sep 25, 10:37am
Had to do that recently with a pin hole leak in the steel rim.

hunter69, Sep 25, 10:43am
I would agree with you there.

llortmt, Sep 25, 6:54pm
Bad advice guys.
When a tubeless tyre is punctured, the penetrating object is gripped by the inner liner (the built-in tube) and thus air loss through the penetration will be gradual. By contrast, when a tube type or a tubeless tyre fitted with a tube is punctured, once the tube is penetrated, air loss will normally be sudden. In this case, air will rapidly escape through the valve hole in the wheel and between the tyre beads and the wheel which, with a tube fitted, no longer provides a hermetic seal. Sudden pressure loss in a tyre can result in bead dislodgement and a loss of vehicle control.
Not illegal but not best practice either, repair the puncture properly or replace the tyre.

mrfxit, Sep 26, 4:20am
Might not be the tyre at fault.
Seen a few leaking alloys before & recently had a leaking steel rim (pin hole under pressure).
Also leaking valve areas for various reasons & damaged (chipped) beadings

scuba, Sep 26, 6:40am
Did you google that?
Most valve holes have a valve in them-even the rims with tubes in them . This tends to restrict the amount of air coming out of them to the degree you realize there is an issue before the tyre is off the rim.
Of course majority of modern wheels and tyres are made to run tubeless and should be kept that way.
Tubes are not recommended in anything under 70 profile that is the limiting factor for most fitments - that and the fact some modern rims have the valve hole in a position which means the tube won't sit properly in the wheel well.

scuba, Sep 26, 6:48am
Low profile?- bad idea,
you need to know the reason for the tube before saying yay or nay.
.ignorance and the mechanics inability or the shops lack of the right tool/equipment to correctly repair a tubeless tyre is not a reason.

llortmt, Sep 26, 7:34am
Scuba: If you fitted and sold as many tyres as me every week you'd realize VERY few car tyres are bigger than 70 profile this days, if you think a tyre with a tube that bursts doesn't go down significantly faster than a tubeless tyre you'd nothing short of an idiot.
EVERY tyre manufacturer will tell you that by fitting a tube to a tubeless tyre you are compromising road safety and it is thus NOT recommended.

andrewcg53, Sep 26, 8:18am
For a radial tire it is true

scuba, Sep 26, 8:22am
you probably see bugger all tubes but if you did you would know very few tubes burst- most just get a hole and go flat-then get run flat .

Surprising as it may seem i do realize most tyres are lower than 70 profile and have been since the 1980s.
all i was saying was anything below 70 profile a tube was not recommended fitment.
While fitting a tube to tubeless tyres was not recommended practice by tyre manufacturers it was standard practice in many garages and they worked fine in most cases when fitted correctly.
Not something we did in our shop but was common enough practice.
When they were fitted to lower profiles we tended to take the tube out and look for the original cause of the puncture but if there were no obvious problems in a 70 or 80 profile just left it as is.

Ps: do tube punctures go down faster than tubeless- yes but rarely do they "burst" or cause a catastrophic failure.
Of course its hard to tell by the time it's been run flat.

mrfxit, Sep 26, 8:29am
Well heres a catch22 for you

A tubeless tyre with a pin hole leak that can't be located for what ever reason gets fitted with a tube, ok
(All this presuming a std puncture cause by a small screw or nail)

That tyre won't go flat any differently to a std tubeless tyre, or maybe slightly faster but not much, as long as the valve stays in place.

The tubeless construction will still work mostly correctly as long as the valve stays in place.
The beading systems will still hold on to the rim as intended regardless of having a tube or not.
Just about all tyres & rims since about the 70's have beading systems designed to seal & hold on to the rim & certainly since the 80's for all rims & tyres.
The main reason why a tube fitted tyre can go down faster then a properly fitted tubeless tyre is only IF the valve pops inside the tyre leaving the valve hole exposed.

mrfxit, Sep 26, 8:36am
For reliability & safetys sake, If fitting a tube to a lower then 70 profile tyre, you MUST fit the correct size tube.or you WILL get folding & creases in the tube which causes rubbing wear of those folds & sometimes balance issues.

In the event of a stop gap repair, it's slightly better to fit a smaller profile tube then a larger profile tube then whats really needed, for the above reasons.

mrfxit, May 3, 5:29pm
ANY tyre (domestic or commercial) that "bursts" regardless of tube or not, will go down faster then a whore.
1 of the bigger niggles I have seen in the tyre industry is that a tyre AND tube fitment combo often takes more operator brains & more lead to balance