Flats, Patches and a Ruined Ride
 

So I was on a long ride Sat and noticed a slow leak about mile 25. I stopped and did what I normally do- felt inside the tire for any debris (didn't find anything), replaced the tube, and went on my way. About 5 miles later I had another slow leak. Figured it was the same problem and took the tire completely off and carefully searched the inside and found only a small cut that didn't feel sharp. Covered it with a Park tire boot, and put in my last new tube. You know what happened, flat again in a couple of miles. Tried to patch it with the Park glueless patches, and went on my way. Flat again in a few miles. I tried patching a few more times, and never made it far. I had a hard time with the glueless patches.

Are these glueless patches any good? Or should I get a regular patch kit? I haven't used them in years since I normally just throw the tubes away.

I know that the better way to do it, is to carefully take out the tube, find the whole in the tube, and use that to find the problem in the tire. I just don't bother doing that anymore since I never have problems like this.

Eventually gave up and called my wife who had to drive 2 hours to get me. Not good.

I've had problems with glueless patches not taking pressure too well - if the tube is at a pressure I like to ride at, and I hit something, the patch will blow. My solution? don't hit something.

Whenever I've had more than one flat tire on a day's ride, the second flat had something to do with the first one.

You've almost surely got a piece of wire sticking in your tire or a spoke hole uncovered or something like that. Until you figure out what it is and correct it, you're doomed to having frequent flats.

IMO glueless patches are worthless.

I've been using the Park pre-glued patches for 6 months now on my commute. Figure around 5,000 miles and I haven't had a single one come loose running at 90 psi on the current tires, and 110 psi on the previous tires.

Specialized has a patch kit which looks identical to the Park one (same price as well) and those have worked just as well for me.

You've definitely got something stuck in that tire, but it will probably take magnification to locate and remove it. Had a tiny glass shard do that to me a few months back, but without whole make-the-wife-drive-2-hours thing, luckily for me.

Continental GP4000 over a year and no flats! (Rear tire worn out… not one flat).
Glue-less patch… What fun is that? Contact cement… love that smell! Blessings.

IMO glueless rock. I've only had a couple flats, but each time my glueless patch did the trick. Make sure to rough up the surface of the tube and apply carefully without getting any gunk on the surfaces and you're good to go. Perhaps humidity plays a roll? It's quite dry here and I've never dealt with rain while patching.

The glueless ones seem to me to work as well as the old style...especially if your glue has dried out in the tube, which happened to me on a ride last year.

+1 on using the valve stem orientation to narrow down where the problem resides. When I've had repetitive flatting problems like you've described it almost always turned out to be a spoke poking through the tape or a real small piece of wire or glass embedded in the tire causing it.

I have always had better luck with regular glued patches. Try brushing a cotton ball along the inside of the tire. They will snag on debris that may be hard to see or feel. Good luck.