Tyre Punctures and Prevention

Toolern Vale · Member

Tyre Punctures and Prevention

Basil Faulty · Guru

I carry a can of the aerosol tyre repair stuff ("TYRE PUMP") and I have found it does work in an emergency for puntures of the nail or screw etc through the tread but only untill you can get it repaired... I carry also in the tool kit that came with the new car inc a little compressor a set of the plug type tubeless repair tools and I have used those on many occasions, the trick is to make sure you cut the plug stuff of as close to the tread as possible to avoid having the plug pulled out by the action of the tyre on the road.
For blowouts you have no choice but to either fit your spare or change tyres at the side of the road/track, a practise that can just get you out of trouble but unless you have the facilities to ballance the new wheel & tyre at the roadside you need to travel slowly untill you can get the wheel ballanced.
The KIA came factory fitted with the Hankooks on so I will report back in due course, they seem quite good in the wet and on gravel & sealed roads and I pulled my son's Tereos out of mud without any loss of traction. I don't do much strict off roading so I can't say how they handle beach or mud....

dave06 · Guru

the plug method is a much better way to fix a flat on the side of the road as long as the hole is not too big, as stated cut it off as close to the tyre as possible

if you use the adhesive sealant you must IMMEDIATELY drive no less than 50 kms, more if possible, any time standing will cause the adhesive to start forming a dam and dry on the bottom of the tyre and will throw the whole thing out of balance

after a while the "leftover" goop will dry and create little balls that run around inside your tyre creating a very strange noise

please don't use this stuff on a tyre that has a tube, the plastics in the tube don't like it and will deteriorate rapidly and then fail, even if the manufacturer states that it is fine in a tube

tyres are chosen for the compound mixtures present in the tyre and for the purpose that they are thought to encounter, as a generalisation soft compound good grip, good ride, low mileage, hard compound less grip, hard ride, more miles,

the stiffer the sidewall of a tyre the less it will "move about" on the road and therefore will not be as comfortable or as maneuverable and will not guarantee a penetration of a stone or whatever, the best defense for sidewall intrusion is actually a "soft" side wall with partially deflated tyres, this allows the tyre to "roll" around the obstruction rather than bully itself over the top with dire consequences, under inflation not recommended for highway travel