Flat tire plug kit

You two (Koolau & aja8888) should be on stage. The first stage out! LOL

Nice to see some laughs, I like it!!

aja8888, yeah, I wasn't smart enough to go get a drill. I was sitting in my driveway that would have been too easy.
 
My last car came with a compressor and a can of goo instead of a spare tire. The car before that had a doughnut tire. My current car came with absolutely nothing, so I bought a plug kit and hope I never need to use it, since I've never used one before. But I'll have it for absolute emergencies - I just wish I could try it out on something before I really need it.
 
DayDreaming said:
My last car came with a compressor and a can of goo instead of a spare tire. The car before that had a doughnut tire. My current car came with absolutely nothing, so I bought a plug kit and hope I never need to use it, since I've never used one before. But I'll have it for absolute emergencies - I just wish I could try it out on something before I really need it.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is nice to able to do a hand on just to get the feel for it. The next best thing is a YouTube tutorial. Every time I have had to use the kit it worked perfect but can be a little intimidating.
 
My new car also came with nothing other than Michelin "self-seal" tires, which I doubt work all that well, especially with low profile tires which are prone to sidewall damage/blowouts. I picked up a temporary spare at a salvage yard that, when partially deflated, fits in the storage area under the floor. I also added a screw jack, 12v air compressor and plug kit. I hope what I spent for all that (~ $120) was a waste of money and never needed.
 
I've used plugs for many years and have always had good success. As others have mentioned, get the kit with T-handle rasper and plug inserter. I always use rubber cement to help lubricate the plug and seal better. I always take a repair kit and inflator when travelling.

Some Goodyear shops will repair for free. I think it's just the corporate owned stores. Did this last time I had a leak.

https://corporate.goodyear.com/us/e...ram-in-all-goodyear-auto-service-centers.html
 
REWahoo said:
My new car also came with nothing other than Michelin "self-seal" tires, which I doubt work all that well, especially with low profile tires which are prone to sidewall damage/blowouts. I picked up a temporary spare at a salvage yard that, when partially deflated, fits in the storage area under the floor. I also added a screw jack, 12v air compressor and plug kit. I hope what I spent for all that (~ $120) was a waste of money and never needed.
Click to expand...

If you ever have to use those emergency items, they will be priceless.

For me I can drive to ranch round trip about 42 miles and never see one other vehicle. No cell service and if there is it is a rare occasion with poor intermittent signal. It really is a lifeline (kit) when winter comes around.

Walking isn't crowded but the distant to another living body is a far and in between. Lol
 
street said:
aja8888, yeah, I wasn't smart enough to go get a drill. I was sitting in my driveway that would have been too easy.
Click to expand...
Don't feel bad, I've worked on cars (a lot) and drilling out a tire puncture never occurred to me. :facepalm: :facepalm::facepalm: Now I''m thinking about adding a battery powered drill and bits to my travel kit. :) Still learning.
 
Car-Guy said:
Don't feel bad, I've worked on cars (a lot) and drilling out a tire puncture never occurred to me. :facepalm: :facepalm::facepalm: Now I''m thinking about adding a battery powered drill and bits to my travel kit. :) Still learning.
Click to expand...

I think a 3/8 inch round file with handle is a better option since I would forget to charge the drill battery and it would be useless when I needed it.
 
Like this? :)



1879-reamer.jpg
 
Good idea, drilling. New to me too. I would be afraid to enlarge the hole to the point where the plug didn't hold though. With a file, it would have to be less rough than the one in the kit and have a good handle. Maybe carry a couple of chainsaw files in different diameters? They are constant diameter and the ones I have in my files drawer do not have really aggressive teeth. Even grind the ends to a point to make insertion easier?
 
So a rat tail file (as we call it) with a good handle.
 
Telly said:
Wouldn't "Tire Slime" plug up a TPMS sensor and render it useless? I never tried.

I don't think I've ever seen a "Tire Professional". Although I too use Discount Tire, I haven't seen any. I've had to select different store locations as time goes by to try out as people move around and come and go. One location was fine, until replaced with idiots. I doubt some of them ever finished high school, and on the job training was do what Bill does, and do it FAST!!! I don't care about "FAST"! I want it done RIGHT!

At one store, I brought in 4 new TPMS sensors to be used for the 4 new tires. The guy at the counter could NOT understand why I was replacing the sensors, and not just the extensions on them. He didn't understand about the batteries. But that wasn't the bad part.

The idiot in the "shop", I told him about the new sensors I brought in. He ignored me. And he started replacing the extension on the first existing TPMS sensor. I told him I had new ones. He said there weren't any new ones. I said it's written up on the work order, "Use customer-supplied new sensors". He said there aren't any new sensors. I told him to go look for the box that the Work Order was attached to! It took two times telling him that to get him to go look. I then told him that they were PRE-Programmed, all he had to do was install them, and train the car to the new sensors. But watching him, he tried to program them, over and over, and over. I yelled "they're pre-programmed!!! You CAN'T program them!"

Work stopped as he eventually brought one idiot after another over to help him find out why they wouldn't program. After a while they just shook their heads and walked away after a bit.
I though I may have to resort to "an action".
But a guy drove up with their tire delivery for the morning, and the idiot asked him. I yelled over to that guy, "They're pre-programmed at the factory, they can't be programmed, all he has to do is train the car to the new sensors!!! The driver instantly understood, and told the idiot to do just that, and walked on. Idiot grudgingly did it.
I never went back to that store. I have many other Discount Tire stories to tell about my observations, and going to a store with other people for their cars. It seems that common sense has become scarce resource.
Click to expand...

I gave discount tire a chance after reading this thread. I had two slow leaking tires on the back that needed looking at. The guy checking me in said, no, I needed two new front tires. I was planning on replacing those eventually but not that day. Changed my mind after he told me that it was well past time for replacement.

After agreeing to dispose of the two front tires and bringing the two good but repaired slow-leaking tires to the front, I eventually left the store about two hours after my appointment. I got all the way home (30 miles away) and my tire sensor light went off. Called the store. Bring it back in before 6. Another 30 miles back to the store. The front desk guy walked around the car four or five times with his sending unit and pronounced it good to go. He said the sensor will blink for awhile but then go off after about fifteen minutes. The sensor blinked for awhile and then went back on solid. Discount Tire closed for the day.

Returned today at 8 a.m., different front desk guy does his circle dance around the car with the sending unit. Sensor light is now off. Seems to be fixed. No explanation. Suggests that maybe I need to replace all of the sensors at $60/each.

I think I'll buy a plug kit before getting all new sensors.
 
Before many start to order that kit on Amazon, I think we need a report on how it actually works in real-world.

That video is hokey. A lot of twisting around the parts in the kit just to see them, and a cooked "repair".

A typical tire puncture would not have a nice big perfect hole (I'll bet they used the metric equiv. of a 1/4" drill bit!), and a lag screw just loosely turned into the hole. Look at that needle and handle. Flimsy, the handle is tubular, not solid. The needle should be molded into the handle for strength.
Unlike the "demo", in reality, it takes a lot of oomph to push the ropey cord into the tire. I cringed at actually thinking about using what they showed! I think there is a good chance that the plastic snaps and the handle-end of the needle needles into the user's hand.

And the adhesive in the little cup sure didn't look like rubber cement. What was inside looked like the little tub version of BiOFREEZE!

I really wouldn't want any of y'all to be possibly injured by an inferior product. And it looks very inferior to me.
 
Wouldn’t it be easier/better to just throw a spare in the trunk - assuming your car didn’t come with one. Repairing a flat on the fly seems ambitious at best and frankly a bit unlikely. I could almost see handling it if it was on the front tire where you can turn it to get access. That’s assuming you find the leak. Are you going to take the rear tire off or, are you going to get on the ground to get the angle you’ll need to push the plug straight in?

I’ve never been in a situation like Street where there’s no cell service and no way to call for assistance. If I was, I’d certainly have a spare. Even without that limitation, I’m old school and can’t imagine not having a spare. Even if just a donut.
 
street said:
If you ever have to use those emergency items, they will be priceless.

For me I can drive to ranch round trip about 42 miles and never see one other vehicle. No cell service and if there is it is a rare occasion with poor intermittent signal. It really is a lifeline (kit) when winter comes around.

Walking isn't crowded but the distant to another living body is a far and in between. Lol
Click to expand...

Not bragging here, but after 25 years of oilfield projects, I have been to places no one knew existed in this country and others. Some places in Canada are really way out.

And I have been up your way a good number of times.:)

When we would go out a few hundred miles into nowhere land, we took two spares, cans of tire sealant, plug kits, you name it. And that was just for flats.

One one trip, we lost a transmission in a deep gorge. Fun!

And many times, no cell service. We got up to the axles in mud once and it took a service rig 8 hours to get to us.:D

Once we locked the keys in the truck. Had to use a rock to bust out a window.

Many more stories.......:D
 
Trailwalker said:
I gave discount tire a chance after reading this thread...
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Too bad the tire-delivery truck driver didn't come by while you were there :(

Since you had to drive 30 miles to get to a DT, it doesn't sound like you have much choice on individual DT stores. There are two DTs in my area that no way would I go there anymore, or send anyone there. I have a favorite store, I just hope it stays favorite. It has an older crew of folks in the garage than average, and there's no goofing around in that place.

I DID catch something at the favorite place, and was able to stop it in time, a guy in his teens. He was receptive, and thanked me for the info. My pickup has a very long wheelbase, and will not completely fit on their racks. The rear end hangs out, and with the most-rearward set of lift pads as far back as they go, there is a lot of truck hanging out beyond them.

So he automatically wheeled up a big floor jack, and was about to put the saddle of it under the rear differential... but I stopped him. He said that's where they told him to put it. I explained to him that back in the 1960s/70s when Integral Carrier differentials were common, it WAS OK then. An I/C diff has no cover plate in back, its a closed casting. All the guts go in through the front, the pinion end. The case parts are massive cast iron, and a jack saddle under them is no problem.

But the differentials made for many years are not like that anymore. They are a hollow shell, the guts go in from the rear, and a thin steel plate bolts on to close the case and hold gear oil in and dirt out. Shop manuals for vehicles say do NOT jack under the differential, as the rear cover my be damaged by doing so.

So instead, I instructed him to use two jacks, one each at each axle tube as far out from the differential as you can. He did, no problem. But I always stand out at the door edge of the stall whenever possible. I seem to be the only one doing that. Don't care, do it right.
 
I guess this is the place I should be embarrassed to admit I don't even put air in my tires. I just take it up the street to the tire store.
 
badatmath said:
I guess this is the place I should be embarrassed to admit I don't even put air in my tires. I just take it up the street to the tire store.
Click to expand...
They probably use a special nitrogen blend.
 
aja8888 said:
Not bragging here, but after 25 years of oilfield projects, I have been to places no one knew existed in this country and others. Some places in Canada are really way out.

And I have been up your way a good number of times.:)

When we would go out a few hundred miles into nowhere land, we took two spares, cans of tire sealant, plug kits, you name it. And that was just for flats.

One one trip, we lost a transmission in a deep gorge. Fun!

And many times, no cell service. We got up to the axles in mud once and it took a service rig 8 hours to get to us.:D

Once we locked the keys in the truck. Had to use a rock to bust out a window.

Many more stories.......:D
Click to expand...
Those are great stories. When I was employed, I was on call 24/7/365 and can tell you stories just like you described. For most of those years there wasn't any cell phones and even when there was coverage was/is not good. I have some stories about walking out of places in middle of night in extreme weather conditions. Lol Fun now to think about them at the time not so much.
 
Jerry1 said:
Wouldn’t it be easier/better to just throw a spare in the trunk - assuming your car didn’t come with one. Repairing a flat on the fly seems ambitious at best and frankly a bit unlikely. I could almost see handling it if it was on the front tire where you can turn it to get access. That’s assuming you find the leak. Are you going to take the rear tire off or, are you going to get on the ground to get the angle you’ll need to push the plug straight in?

I’ve never been in a situation like Street where there’s no cell service and no way to call for assistance. If I was, I’d certainly have a spare. Even without that limitation, I’m old school and can’t imagine not having a spare. Even if just a donut.
Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more. Last time I had a flat was seriously out in the boonies. Ever since, I've insisted on having a spare of some kind. Even a donut is OK, and I really don't mind giving up the trunk space for it.
 
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