What percentage of flat tires can be saved?

I've done the job of mounting, balancing & patching many times. The "properly" part is trivial. So is the cost of the equipment.

To do it properly takes only your ability to learn basic things. Ask me anything you want about how to do the job properly.

See if you can find anywhere where I'm not doing it properly at home.

The equipment pays for itself so the only real cost is the storage of it. People who have no place to mount the changer, for example, can't do it.

The main justification is whether you want to do the job or not. If you do the job, you know it's done right.

If you pay someone to do the job, it will almost always be done wrong.

But you might not care if they do some things wrong, like someone said they have to check the lug nut torque, or the air pressure, or they scratch the rim, or they don't mount the valve stems where they should have put them or they didn't use a patchplug or they ripped off your wheelcovers wrong.

Whatever they can do wrong, they will do wrong because they don't give a s*it about your car or your tires or your wheels.

They're doing it for cash. Like contract soldiers. You're doing it for yourself.

People who don't want to do it for themselves will always find a justification of why they can't or don't want to do it for themselves.

To me, having someone do it for me is like paying them to wipe my ass. But to others, it's like paying someone to clean up the toilet afterward.

The only thing different is the attitude of the person. Ask me anything you want about how to do the job properly.

It has nothing to do with can you do it or should you do it. Whether or not you want to do it is the only thing that ever matters.

It's kind of like justifying whether you should hire a landscaper or not.

If you hate trimming your roses, then you'll find reasons to hire him. If you think you need too many tools, you'll find reasons to hire him. If you are worried you'll get injured, you'll find reasons to hire him.

It's not a question of can you or should you pay someone to trim roses. It's only a question of whether or not you want to do your own trimming.

Come to think of it, trimming roses probably is more difficult than mounting and balancing passenger car and light truck tires at home.

Ask me anything you want about how to do the tire changing job properly. (I don't know anything about how to trim rosebushes so don't ask me that.)

Yes, indeed. The used tire store I wrote about earlier is in the center city, Also, when an exhaust pipe broke at a joint in front of the muffler and I went to a suburban muffler shop, all he was willing to do was replace most of the system. I headed for downtown and found a pretty big, nice looking garage and he welded the two pipes back together. Let me watch, did a very good job, one full bead and then another on top of it. It lasted as long as I had the car.

In theory the treads should match but on a dry road if you're not doing doughnuts or wheelies, I don't think it's worth worrying about. When I did buy two front tires, the used store had matching tires, but if he hadn't, that would have been okay too.

See another of my posts about that.

I didn't know we had to answer in a particular order.

One time I was dressed up and about to go to a rally for a political candidate I was working for. And I got a flat and it was raining. Instead of changing the tire in the rain, I drove about 1000 feet to a garage and no doubt about it, I ruined the tire.

Water Displacement, Formula #40. It's not a lubricant, sealer or rust preventer.

You said two things right and one thing wrong. It's just loony that you think it takes some kind of special strength.

It doesn't take unusual strength that any normal man doesn't have. That's what the fulcrum leverage is for.

If you have strength to lift a tire off the ground, that's all you need.

That's a goofy comparison.

The professional machines are designed to save the mechanic's time. they're also designed to be used by someone who isn't all that smart. And to be used after a lot of training. But also to be used without supervision. And yet to have as much safety and speed as is possible.

And to work on many sizes of tires. For thousands of tires a year. And to be quick & easy to repair when/if the machine suddenly breaks down.

And... and... and... and....and...and... (the list goes on and on).

The point is that you can't compare something like a $100K alignment machine to a $5 protractor and plumb bob when both have the same accuracy.

They're completely different tools because their goals are different.

That's just silly.

If you don't have a compressor that can fill a passenger car tire or light truck tire with air, then you bought the wrong air compressor. Return it.

That's irrational.

It's like saying you shouldn't mow your lawn because losing a lawnmower blade at speed is quite an exciting adventure. It's just ridiculous.

It's no less safe to mount & balance or patch your own tires at home than it is to pay someone else to mount & balance or patch your tires in a shop.

If you think it is, you'd better justify why as it's an absurd statement.

This is the type of part I use.

I'm sure some shops might use them, but they are really for homeowners.

You'll find different types of kits depending on the type of search.

This, for example, nets you homeowner garbage tire patch kits.

I once passed a stopped semi on the side of the road, and BANG! Smoke! WTF? What happened!!!!! I pull over, and the smoke is gone. WTF?

Turns out it was the bottom of a hill. The driver's brakes overheated. He pulled over to let them cool down. The moment I passed them, the heat blew out one of their inside tires. That was the bank and instant smoke.

Regarding mounting and balancing tires at home for your car or light truck, there's no more danger than there would be if someone did it in the shop.

Ask me anything you want to know about mounting & balancing tires at home. I've done it many times.

That's the part I was wondering about the most. How long can you drive on a flat before the tire is ruined?

If it's only 1,000 feet, I'll bet a lot of tires have that on them because you have to get out of the traffic and find a safe spot to park the car.

At 65 mph you are going about 100 feet per second. A blowout is way different than a flat. My thought is a flat in standstill traffic is going to destroy that tire and then some. Newer cars let you know when pressure is running low in case you cannot figure that out. What I despise in my car is if the warning light does turn on, it does not tell me which tire and they all look good.

Maybe you're strong and an average person would have trouble with part of the removal procedure?

Also, the one in the link had to be bolted to a concrete floor, right? Maximilian should consider that.

The hand machine was only 55 to 174. OTOH, the pneumatic one listed first is 2300 (I said 1000 or more. Definitely more.)

Despite the difference in price, I too don't think it's worth removing tires from rims at home, especially since most flats can be fixed from the outside.

As an aside, the used tire store I go to now includes balancing, but at stores where it was separate, I stopped doing it and never had any tire vibration. Another improvement over the years must have been in the innate balance of tires.

HOw do you know what is an excuse and what is a reason?

How do you know if a reason is WHY someone doesn't want to do something, versus something thought of later? I plan ahead and my reasons are reasons.

I'm sure your wife woudn't work out for me.

I love working on my car. I almost wish it would break more often so I could do more things. When a drug made me drowsy and I hit the curb and had to replace the half-axle, ball joint, brake disc and one other part, it was the most fun I had all year.

But I still don't want to remove tires from rims. It's more work than it's worth and there are shops that have pneumatic tools that go bing, bam, bom and it's doen. (Although I think $20 is an old price and it's closer to 40 now.)

And I don't want to have to bolt the manual tire machine to the garage floor.

I did an oil change once. I even bought the constainer that lies on its side and collects the oil. Then I had to go find someone to take the oil. Once is enough. Now I pay someone who is all set up. It's the same reasosn I don't make my own nails or aluminum foil.

Humble, I don't think so.

Real spares on my husband's and my Toyotas. His is on the rear door; mine is slung underneath, between the rear tires (IIRC). The last time I had a flat, I called AAA. The guy nearly burst a vein trying to get the tire out from under the vehicle. What a stupid design.

This is exactly the one I bought from Walmart Canada. The description clearly says it is non-flammable. And I have just found the empty bottle to read the ingredient. The propellant is nitrogen.

Slime 60184 Thru-Core Tire Sealant, TPMS Safe, 454g , Green

The Canadiantire.ca website has the photo of the complete backside of the bottle (the photo in the middle). It lists the ingredients as "water, SBL rubber, modified rosins, glycerol, and nitrogen propellant.

The amazon ad someone posted (you, I think) said it "must be removed".

Yes. The flat I drove on I didn't know was going flat while I was drivign. Not until I parked and got back to the car, in the rain.

If you have a flat *while* driving it's probably a blow-out. Now that people have tubeless tires, I would think blow-outs are verrrry rare except like when my tire was driven at 20 mph into the curb.

How does that work. TPS monitors are devices in each wheel that does a diret pressure measurement???? I thought I read that since the fancy braking systems were common, the system measured tire rotation speed and if it changed, it was because the circumference of the tire changed and that meant it had lost air.

Two very different methods. Are both used.

I think the company's law firm told them to say that.

If you read the product reviews on the Amazon website, most of the raving reviews are from people using it to stop slow leaks.

I only learned about those today. Nobody tells me anything.

My two Toyotas, nearly identical 2000 and 2005 Solaras, only had donuts but the well, under the trunk floor, was big enough for a full size spare. So why did they put donuts in it?

Wow, I assumed there was some good way to get those out, but if the AAA guy didn't know it, maybe it really is stupid.

Maybe that AAA guy was a new hire.

Or rusted so bad it was difficult to remove. OTOH, some come off too easy. Toyota had a recall about 9 years ago. I've seen in happen and the driver did not notice.

Front wheels can come off too

Yes. Each wheel. The valve stem at 200 bucks does something. I am old school and can tell a low tire while driving. The sensors should wait a bit more than an alert at 2 psi loss.

On Sun, 30 Apr 2023 15:19:32 -0700, Bob F wrote:

Absolutely. I drilled holes in a cement walkway out back. The original plan was to use bolts so that I could remove it at will. I never removed it and the red has weathered to a nice rosebush pink.

The Egyptians built the pyramids with a plumb bob I'm told. And maybe even bubble levels for all I know.

HF sells a lovely aluminum and steel tire sized bubble level. HF sells only the stick on weights though. So you have to buy clamp on weights online.

Never. Balance isn't a problem because you can cut the weights to size.

You lay them on the rim while you're balancing and move them around like checkers until you get just the right amount of weight in the right spots.

That's the sixty-four dollar question. Every brand can be different.

Here is the instruction for mounting for my Yokohama tires.

I never did it in a rush. I bring a coffee if it's in the morning. And a beer if it's later in the afternoon. I take my sweet time doing it.

However, if you were in a race, it shouldn't take you appreciably longer or shorter than it takes a tire shop to do it since you do the same steps.

You chock & lift the vehicle and place safety jack stands where needed. Remove the wheel & tire assembly & remove the schrader valve inside pin. Lubricate heavily with a spray bottle with a dab of dish soap in it. Break the 1st bead and then flip the tire & break the 2nd bead. Put the tire on the tire mounting stand & remove the 3rd (top) bead. Lift the tire into the drop center & remove the 4th (bottom) bead. Lift the tire off the stand and remove the tire valve from the rim. Inspect the rim and clean it up if needed & look for match mount marks. Usually they're long gone so just mount the red/yellow dots to the stem. Pop a new stem in (the better ones are all metal and as long as you like). Remove the schrader valve from the new valve stem. Throw the new tire onto the rim & lubricate lightly with a spray bottle. Set the 5th (bottom) bead by running the tire iron in a 360 degree circle. Set the 6th (top) bead the same way - but you might need extra tire irons. Attach a wide-open air gun rubberbanded open to the valve stem threads. Lift the lower bead into the drop center & lift the top bead to the rim. Fill with air until it pops. If necessary, grab the bazooka (1 out of 10). Once it pops into place, replace the valve stem schrader valve inside pin. Fill to 60 psi and spray soapy water checking the uniformity of the set. Drop it back to 30 psi (or whatever you want) and remove wheel from stand. Check that the static tire balancer bubble dot is in the center circle. Put the tire & wheel assembly gently on the static tire balancer. Place weights along the rim as needed & when satisfied, glue or crimp on. Flip the wheel and do the other side but usually it's already balanced. Place the wheel & tire on the vehicle & torque to the manufacturer specs. Take it for a test drive. You're not going to get vibration.

If you get vibration (you won't), then take it to Costco who will charge five dollars to balance any wheel/tire even one that they didn't do.

Not counting the test drive, it will take you as long as you want it to. The only hard beads are the 1st bead and the 6th bead. The rest are easy.

Maybe a half hour if that's all you do but normally I take my time while I have the wheels off. Normally I rotate them. And I check the brakes.

It's pretty safe that if that's all you did, and hour would be plenty. That's not counting the shower you'll want to take after blowing all the brake dust out and washing your clothes and putting all the tools away.

Anybody, even the first time they do it, can do it in an hour, although you'll find in the beginning you need to make some special tools that make your life easier (like a way to blow air into the tire to set the bead).

You need to know basic anatomy like where is the drop center for your rim.