Tube patches: dedicated ones or recycling old tubes?

Question

Before I discovered puncture less tires, I had often to patch my inner tubes.

I initially bought dedicated patches (which invariantly were too big or too stiff), then decided to try cutting old tubes to shape, and using them as patches after washing away the white powder they had on the inside and giving both the tube and the patch a light scratching with sandpaper.

I find reused tube to be more easily workable, while being thinner and more similar to the tube they are going to patch.

Is any of the two to be preferred?

Answer 1

Recycling tubes as patches works, but its a lot more work and can be error prone.

You cut an oversized piece of tube and dust off all the talc. Then stick a loop of tape on the back side as a handhold for later. Then sand/abrade it really well, in three directions.

Once that's done you spread some proper vulcanising fluid on the sanded area so its got thin but complete coverage in the middle. Then leave it untouched for 5 minutes while you do the punctured tube prep, the same way.

While the tube is drying, use sharp scissors to trim your patch to the ight size. Use the tape handhold and do NOT touch the sticky side. You can try cutting curves but I find a 45 degree corner snip then to much thinner snips off those corners works well enough.

Then if you can, inflate the tube to about where it would be inside the tyre, so abut 50mm for a MTB 2" tyre. Stick the patch on centered over the hole. There should be no part between them that doesn't have dried vulcanising fluid.

Lastly, use a roller, or a dollar coin or something round like the end of a spoon to press the patch firmly into the tube.

Peel off the tape handle, inflate to "firm" which is 5-10 PSI when bare, and leave for a couple hours to test. If it holds pressure that long its fine.

Then roll and stow it, or refit to the wheel.

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Upside - Recycling! Save the planet!

Downsides

• No chamfered edge to the patch, so any movement can wear a fresh hole. Hence why it has to be stuck down all over.

• Prep time is doubled.

• Old donor tubes make for worse patches if they're already a bit ratty.

I once fixed a 20mm gash this way, cos I was broke. That tube punctured again elsewhere but my bodge held for years. I think its still in a spare 26" wheel hanging on the wall...

Answer 2

I have managed to patch tubes using old tubes (as an experiment) but wouldn't recommend it. First I cut and sanded a larger than normal patch, then applied patch glue to both the patch and the tube and let it dry before applying the patch. With thick-edged patches I tend to run a bit more glue round the outside, and this was no exception, then I used talc after that had dried, to stop it sticking to the tyre. It held for light inflation as a test so I installed it in the tyre.

I suspect I was actually abusing the vulcanising patch glue as a contact adhesive/sealant, and once the tube was back in the tyre the patch couldn't escape. But I wouldn't trust the raised edges long-term. Real patches are tapered to nothing at the edges so they can't catch on things.

The patches with the orange edge and no self-adhesive layer (e.g. first picture here), even if cheap, work well. And small tubes of vulcanising glue are available online on their own.

Answer 3

I just patched my 13" wheelbarrow tube. I used a bike tube donor and two part epoxy adhesive. It worked great. Why did I do this. Went to Harbor Freight to buy new tube and it sold out, $6.00 if in stock. Their $4.50 patch kit was also out of stock. I went to Northern Tools. They wanted $16 for a tube. My wheelbarrow is 10 yrs old. The tire has always held air. I had a new roof installed and was helping the roofer clean up and must have got a nail in my tire. I pulled the tube and the hole was easily found. I sanded the old tube to rough it up. Also hole was almost on center line where a raised mold line is. I sanded that smooth as well as raised ribs that ran circumferential, I assume to keep tube from slipping in tube. Cleaver. I sanded patch and wiped everything down with alcohol with paper towel and repeated until paper towel was clean. I mixed up some epoxy and applied to patch and tube. Pushed them together and the fit perfect and tight no wrinkles or gaps. Tube had a little air in it to hold shape. Let it set up over night. Shoved it back into tire that was half on rim, reseated tire, filled with air... BEAUTY.

Original Tube with hole I repaired is HEAVY duty and looked almost new. Tube used to make patch was also in good shape. Time to cut patch, clean, bond was not very long, may be added an extra 5 or 10 minutes more than installing a new tube (if I could buy one) or having a store bought patch kit. SO TAKE THAT naysayer above. I am back in business for basically FREE and materials on hand. I spent WAY more time driving to the store to shop for tube. I WILL SAY Harbor Freight had new tire/rim assembly for under $20, but like everything was not in stock. They also have a sold rubber tire version for under $30. The roofers had two wheelbarrows with solid tires. They looked like pin cushions with nails in them.