Can I use a tire sealant as a temporary fix to get me to a tire shop?

[howardnj]

I am 130# female an hour from Birmingham, Alabama and this happened. It was so noisy to drive I was afraid to leave it in. I went to an Advance auto that was open at 845 on a Saturday night and got a tire repair kit and 2 cans of air/ fix a flat. The high school kid closing the store was very nice, but couldn't help.I took out the nail and plugged it with every bit of force I could muster. Tire pressure dropped to 20 and both cans got it up to 27. I drove to the interstate and found a gas station with an air machine that took a credit card and finally made it home. My husband took it to the tire store next day. They said it looked great and didn't need to be replaced. That was 7500 miles ago. Tires now have 27500 miles on them and still look good. Tire pressure sensors are still working. So in case of emergency...you might be OK with doing it yourself. I did not know that Tesla, mobile service could come out and fix a tire. It would have taken a long while to get there most likely and I had been up since 4:30 that day and just wanted to get home.

I am so thankful for the information above that you shared.

You may want to consider having a AAA membership as a backup to Tesla? Now that many automobiles are eliminating a spare tire and a jack it provides additional insurance against a roadside problem. Trying to repair a tire on the road is dangerous. If it ever happens on certain toll roads you are at the mercy of contracted tow agencies that can charge outrageous rates. AAA will reimburse you if that should ever happen.

 

[Ctuna]

Funny that Tesla sells Tire sealent kits on there website .
But this does not look like it would be good for a tire with foam in it.
Also the foam is suppose to screw up the TPS.

 

[dhrivnak]

The bigger problem is with not having a spare, they also don't have a jack.
So it's all well and good to have a tire patch/puncture kit, but in many situations (rear tires especially) you cannot reach where you need to be able to repair it without removing the wheel first.
So it's simple to have the small patch kit in the trunk. It's not as practical to carry around a strong enough jack for our +2 ton cars.
I don't trust a standard scissor jack found in other cars to be able to safely lift a Tesla. (at least not my MS D)
I have a strong low profile jack in my garage that I could theoretically leave in my sub-trunk, but it alone weighs +50 lbs. So I'd be sacrificing a bit of range to do so. Maybe some are ok with that. To each their own. At that point, why not just get a spare to carry?

I have repaired 6 tires while still on the car by plugging them Only once did I remove from the car. Only two of the times was my Model 3. It is nice to be able to help others at times.

 

[ThomasD]

Expect to pay more to get your Tire repaired if you use The Tire Sealant. That crap makes a mess and is a pain to clean off the Tire and Wheel. You may have to replace the Tire air pressure sensor if you do use a Tire Sealant.

 

[hashashyin]

I can confirm that the Tesla Tire repair kit is useless with the foam filled tires. I had a flat tire on the highway (~60 miles from the closest town). First, the sealant pump side would not work. A little bit of research online showed this is a known issue - use a small aluminum piece to connect the metal plates. Once I was able to do that, I pumped the sealant into the tire. When the bottle was empty, I removed and tried filling up air - no luck! Not even a single psi. I had to get my car towed to the nearest Tesla service center (~54 miles away). When I arrived there, the service advisor said the foam material absorbed all the sealant and hence it did not work. What's worse - since the physical integrity of the foam could be compromised, they had to remove the entire layer just in case it comes loose and starts rattling inside the tire.

5 hours, $122 later...I'm traumatized and worried when the next incident might happen. Basically, it's a stupid design that will cost Tesla owners a sh*t ton of money. My tires only have ~3000 miles on it. But I'm already thinking about getting them all replaced with non-foam. Stupid Tesla designers.

 

[zoros]

Foam in the tyres is a joke. Too much marketing lobbying going on. As long as the tyre(s) you fit meet EV (in general) specifications, for example that the tyre walls are heavy duty/reinforced etc - that is satisfactory.
Example - M3 alloys have a load stamp on them: 700kg max vehicular load. My (non Tesla tyres) have: Max load: 750kg on the tyre wall.
Prices for many of these is very favourable, certainly much better than so called "Tesla tyres".
If you can determine the noise reduction caused by the foam inserts - you're unique - possibly not human!.

 

[Iron]

I have a strong low profile jack in my garage that I could theoretically leave in my sub-trunk, but it alone weighs +50 lbs. So I'd be sacrificing a bit of range to do so. Maybe some are ok with that. To each their own. At that point, why not just get a spare to carry?

The spare needs a jack anyway, so now you've got the weight of both. I carry a plug kit. No slime.

 

[android04]

I can confirm that the Tesla Tire repair kit is useless with the foam filled tires. I had a flat tire on the highway (~60 miles from the closest town). First, the sealant pump side would not work. A little bit of research online showed this is a known issue - use a small aluminum piece to connect the metal plates. Once I was able to do that, I pumped the sealant into the tire. When the bottle was empty, I removed and tried filling up air - no luck! Not even a single psi. I had to get my car towed to the nearest Tesla service center (~54 miles away). When I arrived there, the service advisor said the foam material absorbed all the sealant and hence it did not work. What's worse - since the physical integrity of the foam could be compromised, they had to remove the entire layer just in case it comes loose and starts rattling inside the tire.

5 hours, $122 later...I'm traumatized and worried when the next incident might happen. Basically, it's a stupid design that will cost Tesla owners a sh*t ton of money. My tires only have ~3000 miles on it. But I'm already thinking about getting them all replaced with non-foam. Stupid Tesla designers.

Foam inside the tire is not a Tesla design. Many tire manufacturers have that in their tires for noise reduction.

Also, no need to replace your tires to get rid of the foam liner. Just have any tire shop pull off the foam liner and rebalance your tires.

 

[ChooseFreedom]

The spare needs a jack anyway, so now you've got the weight of both. I carry a plug kit. No slime.

Yeah, I've added the screw-type plugs to my kit. So much easier than the tar sticks.