does that tire sealer in the can really work.
For a relatively small puncture in the tread area, it is an acceptable emergency repair, but should not be considered to be a permanent repair. If you use it, a tire repair shop will charge you extra to remove that goop from the inside of the tire when they do a permanent repair. If you don’t have that goop removed, it will be very difficult to balance the tire properly.
So, IMHO, if I had a tire puncture while driving…let’s say…across the Atacama Desert, I would definitely use one of these tire sealers, simply because no better repair was available.
On the other hand, if I lived anywhere in the lower 48 states–where a tire repair shop can usually be found relatively easily–I would not use it except in emergency situations, such as being stranded with a flat tire and and flat spare tire.
Sometimes.
I agree with VDCdriver. I had a flat tire and used the tire sealer to get the car home so that I could install a plug.
Yes. Fix-A-Flat works. The wife and daughters carry cans of this in their vehicles for emergency tire repairs. And the wife has already had to use it once for flat tire she found after leaving work. This was enough to get her home so the tire could be repaired correctly.
Contrary to urban myths, Fix-A-Flat doesn’t leave a goopy mess inside the tire. Here’s what I found inside the tire when it was removed to install a patch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3CMZ9CNOUI
Tester
“Here’s what I found inside the tire when it was removed to install a patch.”
You found a video inside your tire???
;-))
Seriously, however, that video was interesting, and it did teach me to ignore one more urban myth. Thanks for posting it.
I had a basketball that kept losing air, so I tried the sealer in a can. It turned the basketball into a bowling ball. It threw the ball way out of balance. Now I realize that a basketball isn’t a tire, but if I had to use the sealant in a can in an emergency, I would have the tire properly repaired as soon as possible.
In an emergency one night I had to use a substance like Fix A Flat but I do not remember the name. This was when a utility trailer tire went down on me about 10 at night and it sort of worked enough to get me home.
The inside of the tire was a goopy mess when the tire was broken down a few days later and the guy doing the repair spent probably 7 or 8 minutes trying to clean it out.
A local service station here has posted a sign within the last year or so stating they are charging 8 bucks per tire additional on any wheel in which a tire repair substance has been used.
This may not apply to Fix A Flat the brand name but could apply to many other products.
Unfortunately, it’s not a myth!!
The problem with “Fix-a Flat” is that the word is also used for OTHER brands of tire sealant. THOSE sealants DO leave a gooey residue inside. The “Fix-a-Flat” brand is different, but the word is like Xerox. or Kleenex - the brand name is now used in a generic way.
Hmmm…I wonder if the other (problematic) tire sealant brands might include the “Slime” trademarked name. There are tire pressure gauges and tire pumps sold under that name, so…maybe they also sell Slime brand tire sealant, and I would not be at all surprised if it left a load of…slime…inside a tire.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine bought both a Slime brand pressure gauge and a Slime brand tire pump. The pressure gauge was so inaccurate as to be useless. The tire pump stopped working w/in about 4 months.
I’ve used different types of tire sealing chemicals with varying levels of success, but even when it isn’t the fix it claims to be, I’ve found that:
-Even when it doesn’t completely seal the leak, it can get you where you need to go, even if you have to stop every few miles to put more air in the tire.
-You should NEVER use one of the brands that has a “warning: flammable” on the can. If you go to an auto parts store or a big box store, you will find a variety of tire sealing chemicals that aren’t flammable. The only place I’ve seen the flammable stuff recently is at gas stations.
-Be prepared to pay for extra labor when you get the tire replaced. Some of the stuff will rinse away with hose water, but some products leave a sticky mess.
-This stuff is not a replacement for a proper repair. If you use it to get where you are going, you should follow-up with a proper plug-n-patch repair.
I’ve used “Slime” brand inner tube sealer on my motorcycle a couple times. It didn’t work very well, but it was good enough to get me home.
“Fix-a-Flat” brand has worked on my car tires in a pinch a couple times, but one time, I had a screw in a tire at an angle, and Fix-a-Flat didn’t work. I ended up plugging the tire myself with a tire plug kit.
If I had a car with no spare I’d have both a small compressor and, as a last resort, a can of non-flammable fix a flat. Many times a tire can be filled up using the compressor and keep enough air to get to a repair shop.