I doubt if manufacturers are liable for the truth. I see no reason why they have to stop at the simple statement of "we do not recommend repair." I can not believe they have not tested various repair strategies for various damages and have good knowledge of what does not work and what may provide reasonable results. Frankly, I suspect that there are some repairs of some types of damages that they know produce "as good as new" results.
With the price that Tobin is doing repairs for, he is not doing it for the profit. It is just one more example where the Scuba equipment retail industry, in general, has banded together to disservice customers. The very idea that vehicle tires can be safely repaired, even by customers, and BCDs can not be is absurd.
Go visit your local bike shop with a flatted tire and ask them to put a patch on the inner tube. Not going to happen at least in my experience.
A mechanic has to remove the wheel, remove the tire, inspect the tire casing, find the source of the flat, prep the tube apply the patch, install the tube and tire and test inflate. Some times the the repair will not pass the test, the patch didn't stick, there was *another* hole in the tube etc. That means the mechanic needs to start over.
Compare that to replacing the damaged inner tube with a new tube. Actually a bit less work, but the chances of success the first time are much higher.
In addition there is a real liability issue. Every product liability app I've ever filled out has been quite specific about repairing components vs replacement of same.
Tires? I used to work as a mechanic for a construction company, with many trucks, tractors, trailers, etc.
I don't know of any tire
manufacturer that actually does repairs. Some tire dealers do, but they all limit repairs to simple punctures in the thread, anything else, side wall damage, slices etc. and they will refuse.
I've also "plugged" hundreds of punctures with kits purchased at the auto parts with generally very good success, but these kits were never sold by or recommended by the tire manufacturer.
Tobin