You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I’ve just joined the modern world , my new car has nothing whatsoever to deal with a puncture, so if I get a puncture what are the best options to have with me. Thanks
I fixed mine with an MTB tubeless repair plug a while back.
I’ve just joined the modern world , my new car has nothing whatsoever to deal with a puncture, so if I get a puncture what are the best options to have with me. Thanks
It must have something - even if it is just a sealant kit (or has run-flat tyres). What car is it?
My Dacia came with some sealant and a pump. I bought a spare wheel.
Berlingo, nothing, no jack, wheel spanner just a towing eye
Oh yeah and a jack!!
My van came with one of these
https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/holts-tyreweld-400ml-549772001
And something similar to this
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8813330
I've never had to use the tyreweld but the compressor is a handy thing to have in a car even if it has a spare wheel
Berlingo, nothing, no jack, wheel spanner just a towing eye
From a Google AI search: In a Citroen Berlingo, the tyre sealant kit is typically located under the driver's seat, often in a black bag with velcro. It may also be found in the compartment behind the driver's or passenger's seat. The kit may include a pump, sealant, and towing eye.
what are the best options to have with me. Thanks
Your AA membership card! 😃
I've got a can of Holts, a pump and a bigger version of a tubeless repair kit with pliers (T handled reamer and insertion tool and the worms are about 4mm thick). The good thing about the repair kit is most of the time you can fix it without even taking the wheel off, just find the screw or whatever it is, pull it out, push the plug in, trim the excess, pump it up and ben on your way, doesn't even need jacking up!
Mmmm, well dealer says nothing now provided with latest cars
so any recommended tried and tested sealants and will a standard car tyre pump (12v power via car) be ok as the compressor
Just FYI: those worms won't work if your sidewall is slashed. Not sure about sealant either so neither are a "proper" solution like a full sized spare wheel.
It infuriates me that manufacturers foist these shitty solutions on us...my car came with a stupid space saver and I replaced it with a full sized rim/tyre as I wasn't willing to take the risk of being stranded down a remote forest road.
I'd guess it won't matter what pumping method you use.. Foot pump or electric.
Electric probably preferable if it's pitch black and raining etc.
Just get a suitable wheel from a scrappy? The spare was missing from my van when I got it, bought a wheel for a tenner, put a brand new tyre on it and relegated the most worn of the existing tyres to the spare.
Your AA membership card!
Came here to say this…except RAC.
All the sealants in the world ain’t gonna help if you damage the tyre beyond repair.
Saw a Mercedes running on the rim on the M8 on Tuesday morning so, it does occasionally happen.
It's 10 years since I had a puncture. And that was such a tear that sealant would not have touched it. (Building materials spilt on French mountain road and unavoidable). Modern tyres are superb for puncture resistance.
Best puncture response is good breakdown cover.
My Dacia came with some sealant and a pump. I bought a spare wheel.
So did I because there's a tray for it. But for the Zoe I have a breakdown cover for the car and a credit card for a taxi for me. Last puncture 1996.
realistically I won’t get a puncture but as we do rural Scotland and rural France it might be quicker to have options,
really irritatingly the floor pan seems to be the same as my previous berlingo (which had a spare) but no spare and no dropdown wheel holder or bolt to hold it in place, will keep an eye on scrapyards.
It's 10 years since I had a puncture
Last puncture 1996
Ooee, tempting fate by saying that out loud 🫣
Best puncture response is good breakdown cover
Strong disagreement its fine but last time i had an unfixable tyre sidewall on that reck cut and the a9 south of newtonmore at 9pm.
Totally unsafe to stay put so risked the alloy to get to a layby. 3 hour wait. Get picked up, aa affiliate has keys for the garage and fits a new tyre. All good. On the move 4.5 hours later.
Run inverness marathon the next day.
Vs limp to laybye swap to anything including a space saver. Deal with tyre during normal opening hours.
1996 1996 1996 1996 NINETEEN NINETY SIX !!!!!!!!
It's 10 years since I had a puncture
Last puncture 1996
Ooee, tempting fate by saying that out loud 🫣
🫣
I haven't had a puncture in my current car in 75k miles. That said I specced a spare wheel when I ordered it. I also carry a compressor, repair worms, can of sealant, and a jump start box. Modern cars are very reliable but I just don't want a flat tyre or flat battery when I get back to my car somewhere like the road end Loch Arkaig.
I honestly can't remember the last time I had a puncture.. but something more more important maybe - arsehole garages that put wheels back on with one of those air gun things for the bolts.
There's a special place in hell for those people, pure laziness and you don't stand a chance of getting the wheel off, especially if its cold and wet.
Full size spare preferably + tools
If that won't fit then a spacesaver spare+ tools.
Then all those sealant kits+ compressor as a last resort. If you need to use sealant you will find the tyre can't be repaired either.
It's 10 years since I had a puncture. And that was such a tear that sealant would not have touched it. (Building materials spilt on French mountain road and unavoidable). Modern tyres are superb for puncture resistance.
Best puncture response is good breakdown cover.
2 punctures in 2 years / 25,000 miles on the current car, goodyear vector tyres.
1 in 10 years / 100000 miles on the previous car, generic cheapest available tyres.
The 2 recent punctures were nails through the tread, both driving in the Glasgow area.
We now have a space-saver that fits in the well under the boot floor. Definitely favour this over breakdown cover or worms by the side of the road.
OP Check under passenger or drivers seat (usually a kit and a compressor) if not in the boot.
ive successfully used one of those cans of tyre weld to fix and reinflate the tyre after i found a drill bit sticking out my flat tyre
i topped it up with the electric pump in the back of the zafita.
ive also used a cheap mtb tubeless plug and a track pump, both worked pretty well, i actually drove on the tubeless plug one for ages before swapping out!
thats 2 punctures in 97k miles over the 10 years we've had it- and i only buy cheap tyres!
Live in Tobermory the nearest car recovery people are 50 miles/1.5 hours away at the bottom end of the island - even when I got a flat 4 miles from there it took hours to sort. Since then, I carry a spacer-saver, jack, bacon-strips repair kit, sealant and an inflator. I also run semi-off-road tyres which are more puncture resistant. Lots of visitors get flats here - singletrack roads with big drop-offs that shred sidewalls. I rarely drive on verges for this reason, despite having 4x4 with suitable tyres - I’ll reverse back to a passing place instead.
My son has managed with a 'worm' to fix a car tire before getting it properly repaired. They aren't a legal permanent fix, but in a situation, they have to be better than the sealant - at least the tyre can be fixed. My last car never got a puncture in 22 years of use, and the spare was never used.
How long do 'worms' last -?
How long do 'worms' last -?
Long enough to drive slowly and directly to a tyre fitter, and not an inch further!
I carry a Rema Tip Top TT651 and a Slime anchovies tyre plug kit for tubeless car tyres.
I repaired a puncture with the Slime kit on our V70 near the Spanish border and it was fine on the journey back home.
How long do 'worms' last -?
i think i probably did a few hundred km on mine in the end, including some motorway journeys and it was fine
i wouldn't recommend tho, obvs
I've had maybe 4 punctures over the last 10 years.. almost exclusively caused by nails through the tyre. My current VW touran doesn't have space for a spare.
I've fixed it once using a big tyre worm kit. Was fine for ages.
Don't use the sealant/foam stuff unless you really have to. It'll write of the tyre and make it impossible to fix.
As said above I can't really.see what the sealant would fix that a big tyre worm couldn't.
Officially you can't use the tyre worms on the sidewall or shoulder...but if I was stuck I'd probably give it a go and just drive very slowly/carefully to the nearest tyre fitter for a proper replacement
Many cars come with a small electric compressor, often hidden away under a panel in the boot. Unless you absolutely have to, don’t use any sealant, that means the tyre will be trashed and you’re faced with buying a new one, even if the puncture is just a nail or screw through the tread. Buy a small compressor that plugs into the 12v aux socket, and over inflate slightly. On a long trip, you might need to stop a couple of times to check the pressure, but if it gets you home, or to a tyre fixer, it’s worth ten minutes here and there.
My car has no spare, there’s really no space to fit one, but at the last mot, it had two tyre advisories, both were objects in the tyres, one was non-repairable, and I had no idea either was in the tyre, there was no significant loss of pressure that triggered the pressure sensors on my dash!
I do carry two different compressors, one that came with the car, the other I aquired from a car that had three.
Lots of visitors get flats here - singletrack roads with big drop-offs that shred sidewalls.
But not enough to have a great tyre repair service! A missed opportunity for someone 😉
We got forced off the road just up the road from Lochcarron. The aa subbed the job out to the garage in Lochcarron who came out in fully equipped tyre van and fitted a new tyre very quickly.
The tyre fitter said the did 8 a day.
When I got home I bought a spare wheel and jack etc.
You are not going to fix a big hole in the side wall of a tyre with noodles or tyre gunk.
a space saver is as low as id go in terms of fixes.
not had many flats but when they come sealant isnt going to touch it .
my last one was a 5 inch nail though the inside sidewall. - only visible when the sealant started pishing out round it.
but what i have done more than once - is take someone who's stranded with no phone signal to a place with signal to phone their recovery.
what are the best options to have with me
A phone.
I'd buy a spare wheel, TBH.
Much like my experience of tubeless on the bike, I’ve had a puncture that wouldn’t seal with a kit. I bought a spare wheel/tyre from eBay.
The briefest of Googles suggests that a space saver spare for a Berlingo can be had for £100-£150, depending on make/model and whether you want the mini toolkit (jack, wheelnut socket etc) that goes with it.
My new (to me) motor (Hyundai i30 64 plate) had a brilliant little kit* with the space saver. I only found this out on Wednesday morning when I found I had a flat, though.
*Actually just what you'd expect as standard, but I'd regard as excellent nowadays.
As a slight aside, is there any evidence that sealants permanently damage tyres, or simply a ruse by the industry because they don’t like cleaning up the mess?
Even with a spare and tools I'm still carrying a cordless electric pump and goo in a can as I'd like to be able to limp somewhere if I get a flat at the edge of the motorway or similar. The other advantage of the cordless pump is that because it cuts faffage with cables and so on im more likely to regularly check tyre pressures and can use it on the bike when away.
I just peeked under my combo.
Dirty great space to hold a wheel. Can one retrofit a wheel holding... Thing... under a car legally?
Some EV tyres you will knacker with sealant, the foam doesn't like it. Mostly it's just a ball ache to clean.As a slight aside, is there any evidence that sealants permanently damage tyres, or simply a ruse by the industry because they don’t like cleaning up the mess?
As a slight aside, is there any evidence that sealants permanently damage tyres, or simply a ruse by the industry because they don’t like cleaning up the mess?
Probably the latter is what I'm betting
It's 10 years since I had a puncture
Whereas I've had two in past year, all caused by potholes. .
First one was near home, so just drove back.
Second involved being towed to Kendal and waiting for several hours on a Sunday.
The sealant didn't work at all when I tried it.
In seriously considering buying a spare wheel
My son's been victim of potholes at least twice this year, ruining brand new all seasons ! Touch wood, I've been lucky and the ones we've had have been screws or nails, and the tyre went flat at home.
I’d suggest your son needs to drive more carefully!
There’s nothing much you can do really.
I my experience run flats get you about 5 miles before falling apart.
Ture sealent stuff is supposed to be a bit shit too
I fixed mine with an MTB tubeless repair plug a while back.
Came here to say exactly the same thing.... My wife had a nail in her tire that was letting air out. I put two or three plugs together and jammed them in the hole. Inflated the tire back up what it should be and the next day checked it. It seemed to be holding air so I drove carefully down to the garage and got it changed
Interestingly, in other countries they sell essentially a big mountain bike repair kit with ginormous wiggly worms for exactly this purpose. In the USA apparently people drive around for years with wiggly worms in their tires. I still prefer a property glued mushroom plug 🙂
I’d suggest your son needs to drive more carefully!
There’s nothing much you can do really.
I my experience run flats get you about 5 miles before falling apart.
Ture sealent stuff is supposed to be a bit shit too
Many years ago I had a ford galaxy that had run flats. I once got a puncture on the way to Ireland and managed to drive from the m6 toll road booth all the way to Dublin on the run flat. In the manual it said I could drive 200 miles so long as I kept the speed under 50 mph.
We got to Dublin and got the tire changed but the man at the tire change place even wheeled the tire in to show us that it was delaminating badly
I noticed in a later car that the instructions around run flats have changed dramatically to reduce the amount of distance that you could drive to essentially "okay to drive to the next garage"
I would never fit run flats to a car again, every time I got a puncture I ended up having to change both tires on the same axle due to tire wear and it ended up getting very expensive. I think I managed to spend over 1k on rubber n about a year and a half - every time I got a flat it was either early in the morning or somewhere very inconvenient so there was no way of being able to shop around
Q
(The galaxy had aluminum valve stems and an aluminum rim so galvanic corrosion with set in relatively easily and cause the valve stems to shear off. It happened three times to me in the space of about a year and a half - twice of the m6 toll)
I just peeked under my combo.
Dirty great space to hold a wheel. Can one retrofit a wheel holding... Thing... under a car legally?
My wife's current car didn't come with a spare wheel but definitely have the space for it so I just went on eBay and for £70 had one delivered in a few days. The boot even had all the mounting kit for the tire but it just didn't ship with one it just shipped with this little polystyrene circular plug which contains tire sealant
I think a lot of modern cars don't ship with them as it makes the car cheaper, a lot of people don't use them anyway and it makes the car lighter for emissions (that's my theory )
I got caught with a puncture while out on my motorbike (and no way of repairing). That was a pain, meant lots of stops on the way home at various garages to put in more air.
I have since bought a battery powered inflator so at least I can limp home. I might buy a tyre repair kit also. Carrying a spare wheel might be problematic 🤣
If the puncture was terminal I'd have to call the breakdown service I guess.
I honestly can't remember the last time I had a puncture.. but something more more important maybe - arsehole garages that put wheels back on with one of those air gun things for the bolts.
There's a special place in hell for those people, pure laziness and you don't stand a chance of getting the wheel off, especially if its cold and wet.
Yeah, I worked in a garage when I was young. Procedure was to loosely spin the nuts on with a rattle gun, then check them by hand to make sure they weren't overtightened. I always carried a proper cross type wheel brace in my car - if you need to loosen an overtightened wheel nut, you can prop one end on a rock or something and then jump on it to loosen the nut.
But I haven't had a puncture in 30 years, honestly no idea whether my car even has a spare tyre. Had to top up the screen washer bottle last month, took 10 minutes to figure out how to get the bonnet open (safety latch was well hidden), then another five to find the washer bottle. Realized it's the first time I've opened a bonnet in about 20 years.
Just FYI: those worms won't work if your sidewall is slashed. Not sure about sealant either so neither are a "proper" solution like a full sized spare wheel.
They won't fix a blown head gasket or malfunctioning fuel pump either. At some point you're prepared enough though.
I carry a spare belt for the MG because it they fail and it's a quick fix.
I carry sealant and worms because punctures happen.
I don't smash it into kerbs or wind up people into slashing the tyres though so sacrificing half the boot space and being prepared for that is a step beyond practicable 😂
I did once hit a pothole that wrote the whole wheel off, turned out the monkey metal spanner in the kit was deformed so had to call out the AA anyway 😂went for a walk and had a decent meal in a pub while we waited.
My son has managed with a 'worm' to fix a car tire before getting it properly repaired. They aren't a legal permanent fix, but in a situation, they have to be better than the sealant - at least the tyre can be fixed
I've left them in for the life of the tyre. Actually it turned out to be the life of the car but that wasn't because of the tyre.
Big screw in the tyre. Probably would have been repairable but the other half drove a few miles to work in it and trashed the sidewall. Rim wasn't damaged. The return journey home was completed by inflating the tyre using the compressor that came with the Corsa. I didn't add the foam as the screw was holding the air in long enough to get home.
Only £60 for a new tyre.
Anyone got experience with Air Stop tyres fitted to VWs. They claim to have a fancy slime layer that allegedly stops punctures up to 5mm but for anything bigger than that I think I'm scuppered anyway as I doubt sealant or worms would help and there's no spare.
I put tractor sealant in my scooter tyres. Usually lasts for the lifetime of the tyre or until I get a significant puncture.
My last puncture ? Christmas eve. Total PITA. Didn't even waste my time with a foam can as it wouldnt have worked. Couldn't get it fixed (replaced as the hole was in the side) for 3 days and meant the travel plans over Christmas were ****ed. The car had a space-waster tyre, but still ****all good as its only rated to 50mph and 50 miles (and still probably not healthy for the AWD, bit of a liability etc). Couldn't be driving on that for several hundred miles.
And when the tyre shops were open, of course I couldn't get a replacement Cross-Climate right away either, so had to be something half good (= half-shit) to get back to being able to drive to family, then cough up another wedge of ££ a couple of weeks later to get the Cross Climate.
Went and bought a new spare rim + TPMS sensor, and got the new Cross Climate put on it. The half-shit full size tyre on the original rim is now in a tyre/wheel bag, and gets taken with me in the rear foot well, if we're going anywhere remote, far away, or over holiday periods where garages will be closed (eg France !!!).
Oh and I always have a proper breaker bar + 6 sided socket that fits the wheel nuts, as you know garage monkeys with air guns will have over-tightened them to a point the nut wrench that came with the car is way too short.
Having a spare (at least a space waster) is a deal breaker for me on the next car. No spare (or at least space for one) no sale.
Berlingo, nothing, no jack, wheel spanner just a towing eye
How old is your Berlingo? If B2, the wheel is underneath the boot, jack and tools sit underneath front passenger wheel (if my memory is right).
Oh and I always have a proper breaker bar + 6 sided socket that fits the wheel nuts, as you know garage monkeys with air guns will have over-tightened them to a point the nut wrench that came with the car is way too short.
The studs on MG's are notoriously skinny (same studs on a lot of old Austin's and Minis), the torque spec really does feel like finger tight.
The garage not only managed to stretch them, but collapsed the 'blister' on the rostyles that the nut sit in. I was not a happy bunny when I figured it out.