Flat tire repair vs weigth savings techiques
 

We all know extra weigth is not good for MPG. In most cars there are two ways to solve flat tire problem:

Option #1
- Have a spare wheel
- Jack etc needed tools
cons
- adds a lot of weigth 10-30 kg depending on vechicle size
- takes space about 100 liters
- Takes skills and power to replace the tire and open bolts
- Some cases have limited speeds to drive speeds with sparetire
- Takes time for beginner to change the tire -15-60 minutes and you can easily break or car in the process if you dont know what you are doing
Pros
+ Usually can continue driving normally after spare tire is installed.

option #2
- Have a tire seal can which seals and fixes small holes
- Pressure compressor
Cons
- Tire fix foams limited ability to fix tires in cold and if you have a hole to side of tire etc.
- Takes also bit of space
- Seal foams have use before dates, and oem foams are expensive
- Usually messy job
- Tire might leak empty during nigth
- Fix takes time
Pros
+can continue journey if tire holds pressure
+ is pretty lightweigth solution

Option #3
- No tools, sparetire or nothing to fix blownout tires

Cons
- Takes a long time for the road assistance to arrive and tow the car or fix the tire at site
- Is very expensive
Pros
+ Car comes fixed professionally
+ Car is safe to drive after fix
+ LIghtest solution to save weigth and space

Any other options you know?
Some bicycle tires have some expensive glues to put inside tires which in theory fill the hole immediately.

What I know from my own experience is that usually when you are driving you are in a hurry. So when tire is blown your timeplan starts to go bad with all the normal methods.

I would appreciate if you could post here some pictures of your flatout tires and how you fixed the situation, what it cost and how long it took?

https://scontent-dus1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...2e&oe=5FE2ADA2

Here is my latest mishap. few years old winter tires and screw throug the side which is tricky to fix so it lasts. On that morning had to use other car for the journey. Tried to fix it with can seal no luck with that. Bougth new used set of tires to fix the problem.

Tire shops in the US would not attempt to repair the above damage. I carry a spare tire in all personal use vehicles. All vehicles at work do not carry spare tires larger than a pickup. We have 24 hour emergency tire repair services available.

Weight hardly affects fuel economy unless the commute is heavily stop and go traffic, and even then 40 lbs isn't going to be all that significant.

Tire plug kit, pliers, and a mini air compressor is the best option. You can make a repair in as little as 5 minutes without taking the wheel off the car. It would permanently fix about 90% of leaks. Plug kits can be purchased for $2, and inflators for maybe $15.

A tire shop wouldn't repair that screw because it's in the sidewall. Again, I'd just throw a plug in it and see how it holds up. Worst case, a leak develops and I have to replace the tire eventually.

With those type of pictures where the screw is mostly sealing the leak, I get my ream tool and tire plug ready, pull the screw, and quickly ream the puncture, and then quickly plug it. It can usually be done with minimal loss of air so that you don't have to spend an eternity filling the tire.

Mmm...can 'o inflate & seal, unless I'm going on a road trip. Lots of stop and go in this town...every ounce counts?

I use to play the no spare, no sealant game. Once I got a flat though and had to call my Mother to bring the jack and wheel to me so I could replace it I changed my tune. I'm not about to pay for a tow truck or any service fees. I now carry a full size spare with me. Since it's only a 14" rim it's only ~25 lbs. If I was worried about that weight I would remove the passenger seat. The only passenger I ever have in my car is my dog and he doesn't car if he is in the seat or not.

I'll add that I've used all 4 options multiple times, so I speak from experience. My guess is anyone preferring fix a flat has no experience with plugs. Fix a flat might be capable of sealing some odd things that a plug couldn't, like rusty chrome from a wheel causing a leak from the bead of the tire. I haven't tried it for that purpose, though, so I don't know if it might work.

Couldn't agree more. I haven't driven on one to comment on longevity, but plugs are very easy to do and you can get the kit for like $8. The only thing keeping me from relying on plugs, for now atleast, is airing the tire up after when I am out and about. I haven't been impressed with the compact air compressors I've seen so far.

Full size spare always, and add it in with your tire rotation :thumbup:

have had a full tire blowout three times(over 20 years of driving Both personal and in jobs) that is something a plug cannot fix and definatly no spraycan either

I've needed a full spare twice in 20 years. I've plugged, gooed, or patched probably 2 dozen leaks in my vehicles, and another dozen for others.

I'm carring a spare. People around here just don't care and drop nails and metal on the roads from their uncovered trailer and pickup loads of roofing tear off, junk pickup, ect.
Last flat tire I had was a a hole almost big enough to stick my finger in. No plug will seal that.

One of my last flats was a 9mm bullet. Didn't try doubling up the plugs for that one since the tires needed replacement anyhow. The bullet lodged into the steel belt and didn't go all the way through, so I was able to drive home on it.

I carry a full size spare and a plug kit in my Jeep. I've driven maybe 20,000 miles or so on a plugged tire. The repair lasted until I needed new tires.

How did this happen at high speed?

Just to be difficult, I carry the donut, can of goop and a mounted spare. Haven't had much success with the goop, and the tires I run are special order so if im on the road I either have to run the donut at <55 mph until I get to a large city then wait a couple of days for it to get installed or try the goop (which is usually expired). Then I have to also buy a new donut assembly. The 2 nd spare tire doesn't fit in the hole for donut storage and I cant use the trunk with the spare missing.

Otoh, I can count the number of tire failures in 50 years on the fingers of one hand

I started doing this a couple of years ago. I've driven close to 30,000 miles in that time and haven't had to use it yet; in fact, I haven't had a flat in 50,000 miles on my current Continental tires. (The previous OEM Yokohamas flatted twice in 45,000 miles).

I ditched the spare mainly to free up the storage space. Now I can fit, entirely under the trunk floor and hidden, a sleeping bag, pillow, tool box, and pump. With the rear seat replaced by a platform, I can store everything for a weekend camping completely out of sight.

No-spare is a no-way for me, even though I'd rather carry a fix-a-flat kit instead of nothing at all if I had no option.


If I were too concerned about weight, I'd rather use a donut spare instead of nothing. Even though it was not so usual in my country until some years ago, folks who already had cars fitted with a donut spare used to resort to motorcycle tyres on their assembly once the stock one became due to a replacement.

I don't know. I was on the highway at night, heard a bang then pffft, then the rim was on the sidewall.
Never even saw what I ran over.

Grabbed the mini Segway today to run over to the neighbors house for some fresh herbs and realized a tire was low.

Found the culprit
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1606448715

Took 7 minutes to repair since I couldn't get a good angle on the tire (low profile). It's the 2nd plug in 450 miles.
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1606448715

The spare that came with my car weighs only 8lbs (it's alloy), and I'd say the jack couldn't weigh more than ~2. Total weight of the two is maybe 10lbs / 4kg. I've never needed to use it, but the footprint and weight are so small, I haven't been seriously tempted to remove it.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...pare_Wheel.jpg

Went tree hunting yesterday with the Mazda and a trailer. I had already scheduled to get new tires Tuesday, but I managed to push my luck. A sharp rock punctured the tire and lodged in the tread. I'd never seen a sharp rock from a gravel road puncture a tire before, so that's new. It broke in half as I attempted to remove it with pliers, so half of the rock is still in the wheel.

The hole was too large for a single plug, so I doubled them up. By far the most lengthy tire repair I've done, taking about 45min. Took a while to realize the tire was losing air as fast as the pump could provide it, which is when I added the 2nd plug. Normally with a screw puncture I'm able to repair the tire without losing much air, but this time it went all the way flat once I pulled the rock.
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1606761396

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1606761414

Looks due to be replaced anyway...?

Yes, and that's why I had scheduled new tires for Tuesday. Was 2 days late getting them replaced.

The whole assembly or only the rim? Impressive yet.

Good thing you didn't kill a brand new tire with that rock.

Of course, it might not have gotten through a brand new tire, with thicker grip, but ya never know.

My hunch is the newer tire would have held up, though I haven't researched how the plies are different from OEM and what I'm going with this time (FIRESTONE WEATHERGRIP).

The whole assembly. I might throw it on a scale to verify but it's definitely featherweight.

Some of my cars have full size spares I've bought and put in them and others have donut spares. I don't trust being out on the road without a spare. I have plug kits but, usually if I have a flat on the road I'll go ahead and change the tire and repair it at home instead of trying to do it on the side of the road. About a week ago I was airing up the tires on my cars, it hadn't been long since I'd checked them but when I was airing them up one of them only showed about 20 PSI so I knew something wasn't right. Since I was home where I had access to my floor jack and was in a safe location I pulled the wheel off and found what looked to be a concrete nail in it. I put a plug in it, aired it up and all is fine. In 45 years of driving I've probably had less than 10 instances where I needed a spare but was glad I had it when needed. I remember at least 3 instances where the flat was either a blow out or the tire was ruined and plugs nor Fix A Flat would have done any good. All 3 of those times were on highway trips where I'd have had to be towed in and would have been an added expense. Driving without a spare in my trunk all these years wouldn't have saved enough gas to have paid for 3 tows.

I had a screw jack and spare too, just would prefer to plug considering I was on top of snow and plugs are generally faster.

Approaching 3hrs at the tire shop now... only got 2 days of use out of the tire I plugged.

Doughnut spare to get home or to a tire shop, full size spare stays in the garage, the full size spare goes on until the regular tire can go back on.

I was getting stuck a bit in the snow as it was, so I was hesitant to put the donut on, though that skinny tire probably would have done better now that I think about it.

4.5 hours later in the tire shop, and I've got winter rated all-seasons... this job I'm at is about as many hours over anticipated too. Hoping to sleep sometime.

IIRC at the WRC the snow tyres are narrower. Even narrower than the all-terrains which used to be fitted to some European and Asian econoboxes from the '90s.

I think I mostly wanted to show the group how to properly repair a tire in the field. That, and I hate screw jacks. Didn't know how the donut would fair over the miles of logging road, snow, and then freeway with the trailer. The car is AWD, so that would mess with the diff too.

Probably 6 in one, half a dozen the other.

Is it also lower than the normal tyres or just narrower? Otherwise, I see no reason for the donut spare to mess with the differentials.

Usually donuts are smaller diameter. I didn't measure, but it looks smaller.

Passed a car on the side of the road sitting on 3 tires and a screw jack. Don't be that person.

I once alternated putting chains on various wheels with a screw jack while high-centered on snow. Probably took on and off chains a dozen times while alternately digging out the car. Took 5 hours. When you get stuck going downhill in AWD, you're really stuck.

Was on my way with friends to Bagby Hotsprings from Detroit (Oregon). freebeard surely knows.

If there is that much snow, I'm staying home and rolling coal.

One issue not covered so far is temperature. I am thinking of 2 things here.

First, the obvious one is that if it is a nice warm summer day it might not be convenient to be stranded with a flat but you won't freeze to death. In the depths of winter, in some locations, being stuck with no way to fix/replace a flat can be life-threatening.

The other issue is whether goop can operate at low temperatures. I had one car which was supplied with goop and a compressor rather than a spare. The blurb on the goop bottle gave the operating temperature of the goop and it regularly gets below that where I live, so when I would need it most it could be no good.

I always carry a spare of some sort. Exactly what depends on the car. It may be a get-you-home emergency job. It might be a full-size spare. If I don't have a matching spare then in summer I carry one of the winter set of wheels and in winter I carry one of the summer set. Better than nothing.

Having said all that, punctures are very rare in my experience. Perhaps I am just lucky.

Once you put "fix a flat" goop in a tire a competent tire shop won't patch or plug it.

Most of the ones I have seen had the same diameter of the other tyres, I don't even remember seeing one with a smaller diameter than what it was supposed to serve as a temporary replacement.