If your vehicle gets a hole in its tire’s sidewall, and you don’t have a spare, you’re basically screwed. Driving that thing, especially on public roads, is a bad idea. But what if you’re off-road, and you’re desperate? Then what? Well, I’ve heard of people shoving lots of tire plugs into their sidewalls, which is sketchy. There’s also a kit called “Glue Tread” that involves glueing a patch onto the sidewall. But now I’ve learned of a new sketchy method, and I have to share it with you all; it’s called the “Sidewall Slug,” and while it’s really meant for UTVs/ATVs, I’m tempted to slap one into my Jeep’s glovebox. But just for emergencies.
I saw this somewhere while scrolling on my phone, wasting away what’s left of my youth. The video was by an Alabama-based UTV repair company called Max Off-Road, LLC.
Here’s the clip:
Though I don’t drive UTVs often, I am an avid off-roader, so I’m surprised I’d never heard of these. They’re basically little plastic hollow egg-halves/cups, one appearing the size of about half an actual egg and the other a bit smaller, and both with holes drilled through them.
The way this works is, you insert a bolt and nylon (?) washer into the hole in your sidewall, preventing the bolt+washer from falling into the tire by holding the cable jutting out of the end of the bolt. Then you pull the cable through the smaller cup, which you then also shove into the hole in your vehicle’s sidewall.
With the inside of that smaller cup contacting the tire sidewall from the inside and the inner cup’s clear plastic string aligned with the tear, you just line the bigger cup’s two holes over the protruding bolt and string, then slide it down until it touches the outer sidewall. Then you install a nut on the bolt and torque it all down, squeezing the tire between the two cups.
I suppose the theory is that, so long as no air can get around where that inner cup contacts the tire, and no air can get around that washer, then the sidewall hole should be sealed. Sidewall Slug shows how the sealing actually happens with these two photos on its website:
The two different cup sizes pinches the tire, which I assume is meant to prevent a sidewall tear from growing.
“This patch will work with ATV tires, Side by Side tires, 6×6 tires, Zero Turn tires and Garden Tractor tires,” Sidewall Slug says on its site, which includes these instructions for installation.
You’ll notice that the instructions say you should snap the (hollow) bolt once the nut has been tightened; this way there’s less jutting out of the sidewall.
The result looks something like this:
Elegant? No. Something that would hold up (and balance) at high angular velocities? Definitely not. A bit sketchy as something that is actively deforming a tire’s sidewall/carcass? No doubt. But I could see it working temporarily and at low speeds, off-road. In a true “oh shit” situation.
Again, the Sidewall Slug is really just meant for UTVs/ATVs, though some overlanders on the “Overland Bound” forum say they carry them just in case, plus the video above by someone named Sean Hartman on the Two Rivers Off-Road Facebook page shows someone having installed it on a Cooper Discoverer STT Pro, a tire that Cooper says was designed for “pickup trucks, Jeeps and SUVs.”
So you could install this onto an SUV/pickup truck tire, but you probably shouldn’t.
Still, I figured I’d show y’all this, because I found the orange egg hanging onto an off-road tire rather bizarre.
Topshot: Sidewall Slug
David you need to get rid of those now. Those seemingly harmless plastic bulges are actually the eggs of Stellantophagus Commeomortis (aka the Greater Wranglhawk), a giant flying vespid native to the American Southwest that parasitizes off-roaders.
The eggs will hatch into young who attach themselves to the inside of one’s tire, leading to a peculiar “death wobble” effect at higher speeds that is definitely related to parasitism and definitely not Jeep’s engineering, causing crashes which tenderize the meat into a more digestible form. Contrary to its name, the Greater Wranglhawk will also take body on frame Broncos and even “trail rated” Compasses in lean times.
Luckily, the creature hunts by looking for lifestyle paraphernalia like rows of ducks and Trail Rated badges, and will ignore, for example, modified Smarts – so have Mercedes come pick you up.
This is going to become the Jeep community’s next thing, like the yellow and pink lip protectors the Mopar Muscle folks are still into.
How big does the hole need to be in order to get all that inside the tire? Reminds me of a molly bolt and some other drywall fastening systems
The instructions (which David posted a picture of) say 1 inch min, 1.5 inch max. They also say to cut it to 1 inch if it’s too small.
Oh David, wait till you see what ice racers do to their tires.
https://blog.365racing.net/2013/02/11/building-home-made-studded-tires-for-the-ice-generation-3/
https://www.pmw-magazine.com/features/feature-yokohama-nitro-rallycross.html
Honestly, changing a tire on a trail is no fun. This would be good to use as a temporary fix to get to the trailhead, then put the spare on.
A very simple and sometimes perfectly permanent fix to a hole in a lawn tractor tire (or thereabouts) caused by a nail is to simply screw a sheet metal screw into it. I’ve had several in one of my lawn tractors for many years. They don’t leak, why change them?
We had an old farm jeep that had a screw in the tire for many damn years. A farmhand tried to pull it out but dad stopped him. Told him it was the only thing holding the air in. As an old cj5 with a AMC 305 and 4 wheel drums, we didn’t wanna go fast in it anyway, and it rarely saw a paved road. So same idea.
Sorry I’m putting my money on a waterbed mattress repair kit. But hey DT what’s with this off-road fan but? I’m guessing you are now DT Mall Madman
I’ve only ever seen these used on tractor tires. They are often old cracked sometimes lower on tread but people go a long time running them because of replacement costs hassle and low speed use.
So, I guess balance is a problem with just one, but why have just one? After you patch your first hole, drag out your drill and make a few more in precise locations, then throw some more eggs on those. Now you’ll have perfect balance and can keep running that tire indefinitely! There’s no way that could go wrong!
You gotta connect them with duct tape and baling wire to even out the tension.
Or the third item in the Holy Trinity of bodge materials: JB Weld.
As we say down south: If you cain’t fix it with duct tape, balin’ wire, nor JB Weld, it’s broke fer sure.
As long as you pat the tire and say, “yeah, those aren’t going anywhere” out loud, all will be well!
If you had one of these in your trail kit it the chance of a major sidewall cut would be less as it will keep the evil spirits away. The orange eye protects.
Warning: Unsuitable for motorcycle use.
Expecting to soon see these in my area.
Especially on the bro trucks, and various KIA, Hyundai, and big energy Altimas.
Except that you can’t use them on bro truck tires, because they have no sidewall.
Clever, but from the instruction sheet, this thing only works on tears/punctures between 1 inch and 1.5 inches. So, bring a sharp knife if you have to make the hole bigger.
Im so glad the reason wasn’t fashion or “traction” related. I can see both these days. Pretty clever. I don’t think I will pack them with me but cool.
Having just watched the most recent episode of Vice Grip Garage last night, I reacted the same way. Derek’s doing a walk around on the featured car, when he sees a white oval object stuck to one of the rear quarter panels. Mushroom growing on the side? Some sort of nest or egg sac for an insect or spider? Nope – somewhere along the way, someone, because reasons, had stuck a plastic spoon through a hole behind the wheel well. It’s… fine.
At least these things are functional.
My Jeep 4 wheeling days are over, but we all used to carry full sized spares on our rigs. The egg is a cool idea and something small you could keep in your toolbox, but I don’t ever see using it if you’re carrying a spare.
It’s for the spare getting a puncture.
yeah… i can see that as only a VERY temporary measure. Perfectly fine, and in some cases potentially even a life saver. However, I can’t imagine that this helps at all regarding having a balanced wheel and thus would create a good amount of vibration and road noise.
I see it as a get ya to the trailhead thing.
That looks like a rubber washer. I once drove several weeks with a metal building screw in a tire and didn’t lose any air because the rubber washer under the head sealed it.
As an emergency keep you going solution this makes sense, but it would be terrifying at speed.
This falls into the “desperate times call for desperate measures” category, and I love it for that!
Why don’t they paint it black like a tire? 😛
So the state trooper can see it when someone actually tries to drive it somewhere AAA can reach them. Bright orange is a legal CYA for the company since that’s a “when” not an “if.”
I see an orange egg and I want it painted black.
Simple and elegant patch in a pinch. Love it!
I feel this is a missed opportunity to not have some glue or epoxy or rubber cement between the egg surfaces to chemically seal the hole even better.
No reason why not to do so. Adding tire-repair rubber cement is a good idea with regular tire plugs, too.
For the love of God don’t let my urologist see this.
Just add lube.
Given that sidewall damage is pretty much the end of a tire’s useful life anyway, there’s really no reason not to try this if you’re stranded somewhere. Just maybe don’t jump on the highway with it.
Seems like a great option to get you somewhere you can safely change to a spare.
I’m sure no one at all will try to drive one of these all the way home.
You thought Jeep Death Wobble was bad before….
Big Altima Energy sees this as a permanent fix.
If you see a Jeep driving 35 on the highway, look for eggs on the tires.
I may have seen one already, who knows! Usually I’m distracted by the stickers and rubber duckies
The rubber duckies and angry eyes, although those Jeeps normally are never off the pavement enough to need tire patching.
Um, what’s the idiom? “Hold my beer.”
MacGyver taught me that you can use raw eggs to patch a Jeep radiator.
I miss Richard Dean Anderson. He’s not dead AFAIK, but I haven’t seen anything with him in ages. Recent pix have him looking a bit like a chubbier Tim Robbins. Not a sin… most guys soften a bit over time. At least he doesn’t have that weirdly botoxed look that so many late-middle-aged male actors adopt.
I recently saw a shot of him alongside cast members from Stargate SG-1 at a convention. He’s still out there, having fun. He’s mostly involved in ocean conservation nowadays.
Living his best life I hope. He was entertaining as the curmudgeonly team commander on SG-1. I liked that show and the Atlantis spin-off, and one of the two movies as well. Plus, the original movie with Kurt Russel was good fun too.
This is awesome. I love stuff that doesn’t need new tech, but just needed some creativity to exist. This could have been invented 100 years ago. Brilliant!