Flat Tire Today

[MRG]

Last time I hit a pothole I flattened two rims. Tires were fine, but a winter warmup created a monster pothole overnight. I saw a guy do the same thing last year.

Last time I tried to change a tire on a pickup 911 had to be summoned. The safety mechanism on my Chevy trapped my finger in a huge spring. If I'd had pulled any harder my finger would have been severely injured. I had no choice but to wait. There was a lot of pain involved, not as bad if the truck had fallen on me. Based on the FD's response they were worried about that. There was no shortage of people or equipment!

[Scrapr]

My newish Volvo didn't come with a spare. But did have a jack & a can of sealant. As I traverse a mountain pass many weeks (areas of no cell service) I bought a spare that "just fits" in the space under the rear floor. I feel much better as I have flatted on that road. I guess we'll call that belts and suspenders approach

Last year i was walking out of the grocery store and i hear a car running on a flat tire on a busy street. Car pulls in and it's a woman. Sky was dark and rain was coming soon! I made an executive decision and asked her if she needed help. I had her pull over to a couple spare parking spaces and assessed the state of the spare. The trunk was a mess. Stuff scattered everywhere. My heart dropped. Very high likelyhood that there wasn't going to all the parts needed in that space. I dig around and find a few things so with an eye on the sky I start in. I got it changed with only one lug nut missing. (the spare lug nuts were different than the regular lug nuts) Finished up, told her to go to a tire shop "soon" to fix the original tire. Then the rain shower poured! Talk about performance pressure!

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover As to changing tires...I have plenty of experience as I swap winter and summer tires on 5 or 6 vehicles twice a year.

When I need to remove a tire at home to work on the brake, it's a breeze and safely done with multiple floor jacks and stands, and on flat concrete floor.

Pneumatic impact wrench to remove lug nuts and a 2-ft long torque wrench to tighten makes it so easy.

On the road, it's more hazardous. And jacking up a heavy vehicle like an RV, even a class C, is a bit scary even on concrete.

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound When I need to remove a tire at home to work on the brake, it's a breeze and safely done with multiple floor jacks and stands, and on flat concrete floor. Pneumatic impact wrench to remove lug nuts and a 2-ft long torque wrench to tighten makes it so easy. On the road, it's more hazardous. And jacking up a heavy vehicle like an RV, even a class C, is a bit scary even on concrete.

The last time I changed a flat was at least 20 years ago.

I have quick lift floor jack and a pneumatic impact wrench, so swapping tires on a flat concrete floor only takes 20 minutes...but for years I used to do it the hard way with the vehicle's scissor jack and lug wrench powered by muscle.

[Omalley]

Just a reminder to use caution with any jack, but especially a scissor jack. I had a scissor jack incident a few month ago while changing a flat on a dark roadside. The jack tipped over as I was taking the flat tire off, but luckily I had placed the spare under the frame as I was lifting the car. The spare caught the car and prevented any damage to the hub or me.

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omalley Just a reminder to use caution with any jack, but especially a scissor jack. I had a scissor jack incident a few month ago while changing a flat on a dark roadside. The jack tipped over as I was taking the flat tire off, but luckily I had placed the spare under the frame as I was lifting the car. The spare caught the car and prevented any damage to the hub or me.

Thank you good reminder for any jack scissors or not.

I remember being 16 years old, changing oil on a bulldozer. As I crawled under it, my brother saw I'd only jacked it up with the hydraulics, no blocking. He gave me a lesson in what might happen if the hydraulics leaked.

[Gallaher]

2012 Ford Escape came with both a jack and spare. However, when I deployed the jack to change a flat, it would not lift high enough to get the flat off. When the tow truck driver arrived, 2 hours later, he said it was common for jacks not to lift high enough.
Good idea to check your emergency equipment in your driveway.

[Ronstar]

I change a flat tire about once a year. Sometimes one of mine, sometimes for someone in distress on the side of the road. I keep a bin full of work clothes/boots/gloves/hats/coveralls in my truck for such emergencies. It will be interesting if I ever get a flat in my corvette. No spare - just a plug kit, slime and a mini air compressor that I put under the hatchback 15 years ago. I’ve never had to use it. Chances are I’ll be calling AAA if I get a flat in that car.

[Telly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gallaher 2012 Ford Escape came with both a jack and spare. However, when I deployed the jack to change a flat, it would not lift high enough to get the flat off. When the tow truck driver arrived, 2 hours later, he said it was common for jacks not to lift high enough. Good idea to check your emergency equipment in your driveway.

Are you certain that you were positioning the jack correctly?

For Front Wheel - Top of jack goes under the bolt head that bolts the rear-most mount of the Lower Control Arm up to the body structure. It's quite a ways in.

For Rear Wheel - There is a downward-facing nub cast into the Rear Trailing Arm, not easily seen, as the tire/wheel assembly blocks easy view of it. Jack has to go in on a diagonal, just in front of the leading edge of the rear wheel. The side of the jack will almost touch the tire.

[ownyourfuture]

Misery loves company. Here's what happened to me on Easter eve.
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...g-a-91577.html

[kitesurfer2]

replace that can of sealant with a sticky string. that sealant will ruin your wheel and some if not most shops won't work on it. it's all got to be leaned out.

[MRG]

We spent 10 years in a tiny town(population 247) outside KC. The country roads were all gravel and maybe twice a year they'd run a road grader through. When that happened every nail, bolt, or any old metal would be turned up and you were very likely to get a flat. I quit putting my spare back under the truck because I'd need it every couple of months.

There was a local tire place who'd patch them for a good price, it made up for the low personal property taxes.

I walked in for a repair and a local woman was having a large piece of the owner's backsides. "That grader man is your cousin. He's out there stirring up nails for your benefit"! She was red in the face and totally out of control. I don't recall ever seeing anyone have that bad of a meltdown.

[easysurfer]

Just ordered a new Ryobi battery for my better tire inflator to leave in the car for the next time I choose to chase potholes .

[easysurfer]

As you know from this thread, I got a tire blow out so had to get a new tire.

So, my question is, why only one tire when if I was to buy new tires (not from a blown tire), isn't the rule of thumb to change them in fours are at least in pairs?

Granted, the tire that blew was only a few months old, so the wear shouldn't be too uneven, if at all.

But for the sake of discussion, if my other tires had many miles on, would the suggestion be to change more than just the one that busted?

[Music Lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by easysurfer But for the sake of discussion, if my other tires had many miles on, would the suggestion be to change more than just the one that busted?

That's especially important with AWD as the tires need to be within a certain tolerance:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=18

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Music Lover That's especially important with AWD as the tires need to be within a certain tolerance: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiret....jsp?techid=18

Good to see I'm no alone with this train of thought .

[MoneyIsMyHobby]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Hmmm... Wonder if I should get an electric impact wrench to keep with my RV. The lug nuts are torqued a lot higher than those of normal passenger cars. I can run the wrench with the installed 2kW inverter. That's easier than carrying my existing pneumatic impact wrench, which needs a compressor. Or I can take along a small air tank, which can be filled up using the 12V emergency compressor. This small compressor is powerful enough to pump RV tires, but the air tank is needed as an accumulator to supply the air volume to work the wrench. I have seen many class A owners carrying a mid-sized 115V compressor in the storage bay. My class C does not have much storage room.

I have a Ryobi 18V Impact Wrench, but I don't carry it with me. The downside, of course, is ensuring the battery stays charged.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoneyIsMyHobby I have a Ryobi 18V Impact Wrench, but I don't carry it with me. The downside, of course, is ensuring the battery stays charged.

The car place (no longer around) that I used to take my car to would always over torque the lug nuts. I tried taking them off manually and with a Ryobi (I'm a big fan of Ryobi) 18v impact wrench, but no luck. Not sure if Ryobi has a more powerful one now. This was a few years ago.

I ended up getting a used impact wrench kit (included wrench, charger, two batteries, nice molded carrying case) since this was my only Milwaukee product. Even used was pretty expensive and wasn't sure if I'd ever use. But the came in handy with the recent flat.

The Milwaukee I have is made to have enough power to take off lug nuts from semi trucks , so no question about the amount of heft.

As for the charge, I pretty much don't use the tool for anything else but emergency in my car. A charged battery sitting idle stays fresh easily for over a year. But I charge anyhow each year as one of my annual "To Do" things is too keep my car emergency stuff ready.

[NW-Bound]

The torque multiplier that I am thinking of buying and carrying with my RV works like this one.

They usually come with a gear ratio of 1:58, but I have seen one with 1:78. That's how much your manual torque is multiplied.

It may not fit on some passenger car wheels, the way it is constructed. Or a kit may not come with the sockets for smaller lug nuts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vesBDXCWrUw

[braumeister]

Years ago I bought DW one of these to keep in her car:
Geared Lug Nut Remover.

It's a pretty high quality tool.