Spoke hole plugs possibly causing inner tube puncutres?

[zs3889]

Hi folks,

I've recently been getting tiny punctures on the rear wheel of my road bike and it's always been on the inner side of the tube, where the tube is in contact with the rim. The punctures have been really small, to a point where I can pump it up to ~70 psi and get a full day ride in, but there's always a slow leak where it would drop to 10-20psi in 24 hours.

I've cleaned the rim several times with a brush, but that hasn't solved the problem. I've had the same thing happen to a latex tube and several TPU tubes. The rim does have spoke hole plugs without a rim strip, and I'm starting to suspect if one/some of them are causing the punctures. I've had this setup for around 3,500 miles in the past 2 years and I'm just recently having this issue.

I thought I'd ask for opinions/feedback on here, before I start replacing the plugs or replacing them with a rim strip. Thanks in advance!