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I can't believe it... another flat! This time a nail. So, what did I learn? Make sure the flat kit you buy has "handle style" tools. I combined a Slime kit I had into my Smitty thinking if I broke one, I would have a spare. Well today, I wasn't thinking and pulled out the Slime poker... no handle. I could not get that rat into the hole. I had it lubed with rubber cement and could not push that damn thing in. I rolled the tire up to a wall and with the tool against the wall, rolled the thing to push it in. After all that crap and a ton of cussing.... it finally dawned on me I grabbed the wrong tool. The slime poker is now in the trash where it belongs.
There are many fine kits out there, just get one with a handle.... and that is metal, not plastic.
Bruce, This looks like your 2nd in 2 months? Remind me not to drive in Philly!! Sorry, for your misfortune.
I don't get it... and always my rear tires. As I noted in my last flat post, my local Shell station will not plug these high performance tires.... Joe said it is illegal for him to do it.... well, just got to keep DIY'n.... and saving money too.
Mine is always a rear, and always the *right* rear. It doesn't help that my car is my DD and I work in an industrial park with various fasteners occasionally strewn down the parking lot. It's the same with my wife's Macan.
I had always heard that most flats are right rear. The thinking is that junk from road migrates to right side due to crown of road. Then, the front tire goes over the item and kicks it up so that it hits the rear tire at the right angle (or I guess the wrong angle!).
90% of the puncture happen to be the rear because as you roll over debris, the front kicks it up and the rear catches it. Good thing our car have TPMS and warns us ahead of time before the tire gets completely flat. I always carry a plug kit (the expensive ones with sturdy metal handles) and it bailed me out a couple of times. BTW, throw that gooey puncture sealant away. Keep it in your car a couple of years, it leaks and you don't want all that mess in your frunk.
BTW, throw that gooey puncture sealant away. Keep it in your car a couple of years, it leaks and you don't want all that mess in your frunk.
I keep a plug kit in all my cars, which I prefer even to changing a tire when I have a spare. I can plug a tire quicker (and cleaner) than even just getting the jack out. Call me conservative, but I also keep an up-to-date bottle of factory slime on board as backup. I've never had a problem with it leaking, but I do replace them with new when they go past their expiration date. I hope to God I never have to use it, but I would rather drive home than walk.
3 months ago I had to pull a 10 mm open end wrench out of one of my Acuras tires. Left rear, but it was kicked up by, you guessed it, the front tire. Got to teach the kid how to change a flat since I was taking him to school. Seriously it was half a 10mm open end. Head was sticking out winking at me...
Years ago Pam flicked up a 7/16 nut driver with the front tire and the rear picked it and snapped off the handle. The resultant straw drained the air almost immediately.
This stuff happens. In this case it was on the left but the point about debris migrating toward the ditch is relevant.
I try to never use the shoulder just because of this.
Not only does debris migrate to the sides of the road, but rear tires track closer to the apex of a turn, sometimes by a couple feet (depending on a car's wheelbase). Take a tight right hand turn and while your front tire clears the cub by a wide margin, your rear right tire could be up against the curb--dramatically increasing its potential for getting a puncture.
When I was dating my now wife, she got flat tires on the right side on an almost weekly basis. I always drove when we were together so one day I insisted that she drive. Within a few blocks I knew what the problem was. She was cutting corners so tightly that she would often drop the right rear wheel off of the pavement.
Once I got her to make turns with a greater radius, the number of flat tires dropped dramatically.
Just got a flat in Rear Left, needed all new tires, but, wanted to wait till I got back to MA from my NJ home.
luckily on route one, just before I was to get on the NJ turnpike.
gave up and flatbeded to dealer, figured they could get the 305’s quicker than tire place, plus got a loaner.
First flat in any of my Porsche’s in 49 years.
kudos to AAA.
Another Flat!!! Smitty vs Slime
