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Blowouts happen a lot. Hence why I see a lot of tire debris on the highway whenever I travel.
You sure the "debris" wasn't treads coming off of tractor-trailer re-treaded tires? because that's all of the tire debris I see on the highway whenever i travel on it for my 2+ hours worth of daily commute.
I see a mix of it. More truck retreads on open highways between cities but I have seen a good number more near the city.
And I like how you avoid the important part of my statement.
I have seen more than 1000 flats in my life from passenger cars coming into my service departments. You saying that blowouts just don't happen is with lack of knowledge or experience. And to say that one is more likely to have a simple puncture sealable by a tire fix can is worse.
Fixaflat will not hold when you have a long sidewall cut, large sidewall holes, large holes in the tread.
Plus fixaflat type materials can ruin tire pressure sensors which are standard on all cars 08-newer.
Also some 'blowouts' simply arent always blowouts with the tire exploding everywhere. If you hit a big enough pot hole or bump in the road, a perfectly good tire can be ruined completely[big hole on the side] and/or unseat from the rim.
And tires that have small holes can become uninflatable if the driver doesn't pull over fast enough and the tire unseats from the rim.
In eight years of driving (and probably 200,000 miles), I've used the doughnut four times on three different cars. Two of those times, it was due to a sudden blowout that a sealant would have no chance in hell of fixing.
I'm glad that every car I've had so far has a doughnut.
When I was buying a new car, the Hyundai Veloster did not offer a spare tire. As a result, it actually affected my purchase and I did not buy the Veloster. I went with a car with a spare tire (amongst other factors).
Has anyone had to use a flat tire repair kit? Were they good? Would you go back to a spare tire, or was the kit sufficient?
Steel Belts. They are all steel belts so unless you have a sidewall puncture or rolled on a flat to destruction, its easy to fix a flat.
Flat tire repair kits costs a few dollars and what you will do is exactly what a shop would do.
1) Jack up the side of the car with the flat about an inch off the ground. But, block the car before you do anything else. That means, make sure the engine is off, gear in park, emergency brake on, all three wheels need bricks, blocks behind them, and shove something under the car so if it falls off the jack it can't move. It happens. DON'T REMOVE THE WHEEL/TIRE.
2) Wipe your bare hand around the flat tire to locate the nail, screw, metal. Hint. Its probably between the tread. Once you find it, mark the location, lipstick's good, and work the nail out. You will need pliers for this usually.
3) Now from your tire repair kit take that sharp pointy tool and jam it into the hole where the nail was. Be brave, its OK. Twist the tool around to make the hole bigger. Yes, I said bigger.
4) Open the tube of glue/cement from the kit and inject it into the hole. Then smear the glue over a piece of the rubber strips that come in the kit. Looks a little like beef jerky.
5) Follow the directions on the kit, turn the rubber strip with the glue into the hole as far as you can. If its too tight just make the hole bigger. Wait 15 minutes. Take a knife or razor blade and cut the rubber strip that is sticking out of the hole flush with the tread. A little will still be sticking up.
6) Drop the car down, using the car jack in reverse after removing the block under the frame but not the wheel blocks.
Pump in some air or inject it with those cans of compressed air sold in stores, and clean up. You are good to go. Should take about 20-30 minutes.
I think the reason is not just to cut costs but to increase mileage ratings. Anything to reduce weight will increase gas mileage, if only a twentieth of a mile.
That's more of a video of your average Jane. And it does prove you need a spare, because fix a flat cans won't hold that kind of hole.
Thats why if that had been me, I would have driven 10 mph with my e-lights flashing, directly to the nearest tire shop. They would have been putting my new tire on, while that guy was still trying to figure out how to get his tire off.
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Repairing a steel belted tire
