A quick post for users of latex inner tubes. Using this method, I fixed latex inner tubes and its proven out with 5 months on the road, no problem.
What you need
A donor latex tube
Sharp scissors or knife.
Regular vulcanizing glue / patch glue
Method
- Find the hole, this can be tricky and harder than butyl tubes, sometimes I have to use water to find a bubble stream.
- Cut a patch from the donor latex tube, try to cut a a flat non distorted place that doesn’t have a seam, make clean sharp non distressed edges.
- Cut the patch square and oversized. You can round the corners a little to ensure it doesn’t catch on things.
- Clean the patch well with water, no chemicals remove any contaminants, dry well.
- Apply vulcanizing glue to the hole area and the patch. Kinda stick it on thick, don’t be shy. Let it dry a little so it will bond well, but don’t let it dry all the way down like you would with a regular patch. You want to keep it moist.And its probably good here to use too much vs too little.
- Apply the patch, clamp together, I used a stationary bulldog clip and a stiff bread bag clip I found lying around. The clamp force doesn’t need to be crazy, just needs to have a little pressure and hold it in place.
- Let it dry. I leave mine overnight. You can see the results below.
This technique could also be used for other damage, as it bonds the latex well.