Who makes the best tire patch?
 

My Continental Grand Prix & Gatorskin tires usually pick up small abrasions or pin-hole damage to the sidewall. The tires don't blow-out, but I've seen the damage expand in some cases.

I'd like to put some kind of durable patch on the inside of the tire. Something that keeps the tube from developing a leak and that limits the progress of the sidewall damage.

The only 'patch' I am aware of is tire boots, but those are intended for only short term, get back home kind of use. My understanding is that once a tire has damage that needs any kind of boot, it needs to be replaced ASAP.

I think the above is also my approach. Tire casings have threads in them that can break and it's impossible
to repair that sort of damage with a patch. Certainly you can put a large Rema patch in there, but as the cords
continue to flex at your cut or abrasion, expect your hole to gradually expand.

Even the best tires are cheap compared with the costs of failure and injury.

This is what I have always done, replace the tire that has damage. It seems that my good quality road-bike tires always begin to show tiny cuts or abrasion once it has covered about 2000 miles. The damage will start a slow leak, always the back tire. After I get a slow leak, I'll place a energy bar wrapper between the replacement tube and the tire, cover another 50 miles and return home.

I look at the tire, it would last another 1500 miles, except for the sidewall damage. I end-up tossing a otherwise usable tire due to some small damage.

My Cyclocross and touring tires see ten-times the abuse from gravel and singletrack, and never develop these abrasions and cuts.

What is it about back tires, anyway? I'm always picking glass shards out of the back tire while the front stays glass free...

The front tire causes the object to move and present a sharp side to the rear tire. I always go over the rear at my halfway point drink and stretch stop. Often I remove a flint chip that had not worked it way all the way past yet. Once I started doing this flats really decrease.

Rod

If the tube isn't showing through the cut and the tire isn't bulging due to cords being cut, continue to use the tire as if nothing has happened. If the tube is showing but the tire isn't bulging significantly because too few cords have been cut, a boot will help prevent the tube from ballooning outward and blowing out. If the cut is bigger than that, a boot will help get you home where the tire should be replaced.

Right now the pinhole damage is small enough that I can't see the tube behind it, but it is large enough cause a slow leak in the tube. I put a silver energy bar wrapper between the tube and tire to keep the tube from leaking, that wrapper wasn't visible. There is no bulge at this point.

Have you used a tire in this condition?

Small piece duct tape works good on the inside of the tire. It marks the cut and stops the tube from pinching in the cut.

No. I haven't had a hole in a tire make a tube leak without a hole in the tube. For the tube to leak, it needs a hole in it. The tube is there to hold the air, the tire doesn't hold air. It mechanically supports the tube to prevent it from expanding.

Tubes will always leak slowly because the rubber is permeable to gasses. A typical road bike tire at around 90-100 psi with butyl tubes will leak down a few pounds per day. Latex tubes will leak down two or three times as fast as the material is much more permeable.

The cheap patch kits in a box from "Rema" had always worked for me. The secret to getting any brand of patches to hold is to make sure you really clean the area of the tube really good, so there is no dirt oils or talc remaining on the inner tube surface, before you apply the patch on the tube. Also, avoid touching the bottom of the patch with the glue on it, so be careful when you peel off the foil backing and handling the patch after that. I usually just lift off just a small portion from the foil and only peel off the rest of the foil backing after that portion is in contact with the inner tube. That will avoid your fingers from contacting the glued bottom of the patch.
Having a few packets of alcohol hand wipes in your patch kit to clean you hands really well before handling the patches would really help too. You can get those free at some restaurants......so ask for some extras next time for your patch kit.