Tyres are one of the exposed and delicate parts of a car. While the strength and quality of materials used to make the car tyres have significantly become better over time, they still face a variety of lands and terrains in day to day life. So, ending up with flat tyres isn’t quite uncommon. In fact, it is one of the most common problems one faces when the car is driven over a variety of terrains.
Although the modern tyres are made out of synthetic and composite rubbers, they are still damaged by little things like pointy rocks, dust particles and glass pieces. Several other factors like low air pressure, excessive load-bearing, and unbalanced wheels also contribute to tyre puncture. Be it a tube or tubeless tyre, driving a car with punctured tyres is highly dangerous. It can cause serious damage to car rims and wheel alignments. Accidents are also a possibility.
Sometimes, one may end up with a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere. This is one of such times that one cannot reach out to a garage shop for getting the tyre fixed. This is when one needs to take the car tyre puncture repair in their own hands. While repairing a tyre puncture may be a tedious task, it can be quite simplified. Self-performing a car tyre repair service also has several advantages like time-saving zero labor cost. All you need to have is repairing kit handy at all times and you are good to go. Here are some tips to ease up the repairing process.
Handy Guides:
A car comes with a variety of documentations. These documentations help the user to understand the car up to some extent. Some of them also feature guides to get things done. Car tyre disassembly is one of them.
Having such a guide handy can prove beneficial. It can help the user quickly get started on disassembly of the punctured tyre right away. It would effectively save time by eliminating the effort required to find the starting point. Some types of guides also feature visual aids that offer a detailed view of how to get things done and the exact tools that one might need for removing the damaged tyre.
Jacking up:
Once you get acquainted with all the tools, it’s time to get started with tyre repairing process. Once the starting point has been determined, the next step involves loosening the tyre connection points. The points are loosened by the removal of lug nuts withholding the car tyre. One must ensure that the car is jacked on a flat concrete surface while removing the tyre. Jack holds up the car onto that same angle and position it was before the tyre was removed. This ensures that the user is easily able to fit the tyre back in once the car tyre puncture has been repaired.
Not making use of the jack has several disadvantages. Some of the common disadvantages include damaging the transmission assembly, unexpected wheel spinning and difficulties in lifting the side while refitting the tyre. Sometimes, the car might fall off on one side due to loose screws of the jack. Hence, one must ensure that the jack screws are well tightened before going for a tyre repair.
Cause finding:
Once the tyre has been removed, it’s time to look for the signs that punctured it. The size of the object that punctured the tire helps in determining the reparability of the car tyre. Tiny objects like nails or dust particles cause small holes on tyre tubes, which can be easily fixed. While such small holes aren’t an immediate threat, they should be immediately fixed once identified. Such small holes can turn big due to friction and may even cause the tyre to blowout at high speeds.
On the other hand, big holes that occur due to the age of tyres cannot be fixed. Such kind of holes usually happen at the sides and air filling point of the tyre. The only viable solutions, in this case, is to mold the hole at a tyre shop or to replace the punctured tyre with a spare tyre.
Safe Removal:
Once the cause of puncture is determined, the object that caused the hole should be safely removed with the help of pickers and pliers. Once the object has been caught in the plier, put it out straight off the hole. Ensure that the object isn’t rotated at all to avoid extra damage. Clearing the object off the hole lets you determine the size of the hole made by the object. Removal also determines if the hole is fixable or not.
Size and location:
Tyres have a unique rule when it comes to fixing them. The rule states that the car tyres are easily fixable if the punctures occur in the central region of the tyre tread. In simple terms, tyres can be fixed if the damage occurs on the shoulders of tyres.
One can determine the size of the puncture hole once the object has been removed. Any puncture hole having a size of less than 5mm diameter can be easily repaired by patching. Such a relatively small-sized puncture hole can be sealed with the help of sealant tapes. A quick patch job and the car shall be back on the road in no time.
However, one must also take note of when to not attempt the puncture repair. Any hole greater than 55mm is unfixable and would leak the air even if it was tried to be fixed by any means. Other side effects of a highly damaged car tyre include internal tyre damage, tread cracks, and tube wear. All such side effects compromise the structure and integrity of the car tyre. They also lead to loss of performance in most cases.
These are some of the common ways to easily examine and repair your car tyre puncture. They can pretty helpful if one is stuck with a flat tyre in the middle of a barren highway. Sometimes, such kind of self-repairing might not be enough. Once the temporary fix is done, one must consider visiting an authorized car tyre repair shop. A regular visit to the tyre shops helps to keep the car tyres running for hundreds of miles in the way they are meant to be.