Fix a flat

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Came up in a conversation and I realized I hadn't kept up with the times... I recall, years and years ago, the stuff was disliked--it left a mess in the tire. And you were supposed to put a sticker onto the tire indicating that it had been used. Is that true today? Coworker said he had a slow leak, and I recommended going to a tire shop where they could dunk it in a tank and properly find the leak--and properly fix it. [Besides it could be bead leak for all we knew.]
 
That's what I thought--best avoided at all costs, unless for some reason truly dire.

That reminds me, I oughta teach the wife how to change a tire. I'm 99% sure she would read the manual and do it, no problem; but might as well review it next tire rotation.
 
Use Liqui Tube now.Its thicker,has ground up rubber bits and is based with gycol,so it wont freeze or rust rims.Just carry an air compressor/inflator with you to blow it back up.Oh,and its not TPMS safe..so not for the newer vehicles.
 
What are the usual causes of flats?

Other than the piece of metal that bounced in the road last year, generally it's all about screws and nails.

At least for me personally that's where the danger lies.

So some pliers, a plug kit and an air pump, to me, is the best bet.
 
Originally Posted By: twouvakind
Run "run on flat tires" get a flat and buy a new tire. NOT! Is it true they are not repairable??


Here's the complete scoop.

When you run a tire flat, the sidewall gets damaged. In a regular tire, you can see the damage and assess whether the damage is enough to warrant scrapping the tire.

When you run a RunFlat tire flat (Boy, was that a fun phrase to say!!), the damage done to the sidewall is covered by the thick insert in the sidewall and you can NOT properly assess the damage that has been done.

Some tire manufacturers say that makes a RunFlat tire unrepairable - since you can't tell if it is severely damaged, but it could be - and others say that the risk of the tire being damaged to the point where it should be removed from service is low enough to allow repairs. The risk I see to the second position is that every so often there will be a catastrophic failure and someone will be hurt (or worse!).

So depending on which tire shop you go to, they will say: a) RunFlat tires are not repairable, b) Only certain brands of RunFlat tires are repairable, or c) ALL RunFlat tires are repairable - all depending on how they interpret what the tire manufacturers are saying.

Simple question - complex answer.
 
I'm pretty sure yes. The RAV4 was like that, ditched rear mounted spare on Limited(?). Not sure what they do now.

I've read little good about run flats, would not buy a vehicle with them.
 
Quote:
I oughta teach the wife how to change a tire.
Important to do. Even if she doesn't change it and a friendly helper or tow truck driver does it, she'll know where everything is located and how the jack fits, etc. Also show her how to check the air in the spare so she can have a shop check the air in all five tires.

I showed my mother how to change a tire. Where the jack was, how to fit the jack to the car, how to put a lug wrench on the nut at 90° and loosen it by standing on the handle, etc.

The new RAV4 has the spare mounted under the rear of the car. More awkward when changing, more convenient when getting groceries a thousand times more often than changing a tire.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
I'm pretty sure yes. The RAV4 was like that, ditched rear mounted spare on Limited(?). Not sure what they do now.

I've read little good about run flats, would not buy a vehicle with them.


I was de Paxing some Honda vans with less than 20K on the junk Michelin tires. Biggest piece of garbage ever foisted on the buyer.
With this trash and VCM buyers of the top of the line vans got screwed royally and Honda and Michelin could give a rat rear until people started suing them.

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/air-runs-out-run-flat-tires
 
Originally Posted By: twouvakind
Thanks for that 'splanation. Are car manufacturers ditching the donut in lieu of run on flats?


More like they are trying to eliminate the spare and there are 3 paths.

a) Keep the donut because customers want a spare.

2) Move to RunFlat tires.

3) Move to inflator kits.

Most car manufacturers are doing a), and they are waiting to see how people are reacting to b) and c) - and so far, there has been enough negative feedback on both to cause them to hesitate - but it appears that c) causes less issues.

And just an FYI: Many of the complaints about RunFlat tires have been how rapidly they wear - but that is more a function of the more aggressive alignment settings and the fact that they are OE tires with pretty stringent rolling resistant specs. In this respect the thing that makes a tire a RunFlat, can be applied to long wearing tires.
 
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Originally Posted By: CapriRacer


3) Move to inflator kits.



I noticed that BMW moved to the tire inflator pump for the M3 (no donut spare) and even some Hyundais.
Here's pics of the OEM BMW pump: BMW E36 pump - ECS Tuning. The kits usually include some sort of tire sealant with it.

Like most fix a flat type sealants, you are supposed to stop after a few miles and recheck tire pressures before going again. So usually that is already a hassle after inflating.
Still, I usually bring a can of sealant for long road trips, in the very rare case you get two deflated tires.
 
I've never been a huge fan of donut spares, but I'd rather have that than no spare.

On any longer trips, I usually throw in one of my winter tires on top of the donut spare.

Cam in handy when two of my tires were sliced.
 
I've had a couple of blowouts from punctures on the freeway. While the tire was still in one piece each time, the tire itself was shredded within seconds, and there's not much one can do to stop it.

In that case there's not much that a sealant in a can will do.

I remember someone with a car that came with runflats and no place for a spare. I asked him what he would do with a flat, and he said a can of sealant, a cell phone, and a AAA membership.
 
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