Puncture stuff

[Glan gluaisne]

I have low profile jack pads. Its about 11.5cm clearance on a LR AWD. I had a good look around. Never found a bottle jack that would fit. Plus some dumpy jacks do not have the lift required - don't know what is needed, but not much thankfully. Wouldn't surprise me if Model 3 could sit on 3 wheels, so its just the lift needed to counter the suspension travel.

Thanks. Just measured my low profile bottle jack. It's just a bit too tall, ~130mm from the base to the top bit. The top bit screws in, though, so may be another ~5mm could be gained by making up a custom top fitting. It looks like this would still be too tall, though.

It looks as if my small trolley jack will just about fit, so OK as an "at home" jacking solution. I was hoping to be able to find a solution that could be carried around in the car, along with a small compressor and tyre repair kit. My one experience of using a tyre repair kit showed that it only worked well when the weight was taken off the wheel, ideally with the wheel being free to turn, so the gunk could spread around inside. Best bet might be an old fashioned scissor jack, as these tend to both be a low profile and have a fairly decent jacking range.

 

[LukeT]

I get the impression that because the gunk is already hampered by the acoustic foam, a dynaplug is already better, so for a "get me going enough to drive to tyre place" situation, plug the hole and inflate - no jack. Or am I missing something?

I've never plugged a car tyre with one of these but have done plenty of tubeless bike tyres. It's rough and ready but nice to have a solution that just plugs the hole and gets you going.

That all said, my most recent couple of car flats were from potholes and beyond repair anyway (not tesla, used spare)...

 

[LukeT]

Do you think the pads are really necessary on Model S? I don't find any difficulty with basic trolley jack direct onto jacking points.

Model 3 looks more of an issue as the jacking points are smaller and deeper under the car, and I can see pads (or just the right kind of jack) being necessary there.

Maybe not. I haven't used them yet but for £25 I just figured they're a little insurance policy.

 

[pgkevet]

I get the impression that because the gunk is already hampered by the acoustic foam, a dynaplug is already better, so for a "get me going enough to drive to tyre place" situation, plug the hole and inflate - no jack. Or am I missing something?

I've never plugged a car tyre with one of these but have done plenty of tubeless bike tyres. It's rough and ready but nice to have a solution that just plugs the hole and gets you going.

That all said, my most recent couple of car flats were from potholes and beyond repair anyway (not tesla, used spare)...

..just the issue of finding the hole. A lot easier with wheel off and a jug of water..unless lucky enough to have a nail head showing.

 

[LukeT]

..just the issue of finding the hole. A lot easier with wheel off and a jug of water..unless lucky enough to have a nail head showing.

Jug of water and roll the wheel using summon?

 

[arg]

Jug of water and roll the wheel using summon?

Front wheel maybe (turn the steering and you can see a fair bit of the wheel), rear wheel no chance.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

I suppose we really need to think about punctures in terms of probability. Looking back over the past 20 years, I've had two punctures in around 250,000 to 300,000 miles of driving. One was a rear tyre on a Mercedes SLK, that was so badly damaged by the time I noticed it was flat that I had to get a breakdown service out (no spare in the SLK, just a puncture kit). The only thing that would have helped would have been a spare wheel and jack. The second was a rear tyre on a Prius (again no spare, just a puncture kit) and that was caused by a nail, and was flat when I went to go to work one morning. The liquid gloop worked OK, but I needed to jack the car up and spin the wheel to get the stuff to seal.

The gloop was impressive, as I drove to work, left the car parked all day, then drove to a tyre place to get a new one fitted on the way home, and the tyre stayed at the same pressure. The tiny little compressor that was a part of the Toyota kit wasn't great, though, and as the puncture was discovered at home I used my big compressor. If looking at getting a puncture kit I'd be inclined to get one with a fairly beefy compressor, as I found that I needed to shove a fair bit of air into the tyre to get the gloop stuff to seal.

A final point is to look at the date on the gloop stuff. The kit that came with the Prius only had a 3 year shelf life, and I used it right at the very end of that (maybe a month before it expired). I'm not sure if all these tyre gloop kits have such a short shelf life, but worth bearing in mind.

 

[Adopado]

I got spare space saver wheel and tyre from Space Savers | UK Tyre Network

Tesla is not listed on their website but if you email they will sort out the necessary.

They do a complete space saver set that includes 18x4 wheel with 135/80 tyre, a low scissor jack (2000kg) and extendable bar with sockets that cover 17,19,21,22mm. It's still a big wheel and I don't intend carrying it around all the time but our last several punctures in other cars have all been only a few miles from home so someone can pick it up from our garage and bring it out in another vehicle if needed. I haven't used it as yet but it all appears to be good quality (and the jack fits under, including pad/puck).

 

[arg]

There's also the other end of the probability scale, of the screw that's sufficiently well embedded that simply putting air is enough to drive to a local tyre shop and get it fixed. Both punctures I've had on my Model S have been in that category

So I think the window of opportunity for using the gloop is quite narrow - puncture sufficiently small that the gloop is going to work, sufficiently big that it is actually needed, and occurs in a place where there's no other option (at home, there's the option of taking the wheel off and using some other means to transport it to the tyre shop, or switching temporarily to winter wheels).

The gloop also has high risk involved - given the expectation of wrecking the tyre even if it does work it's an expensive gamble, and possibly makes things worse if a tyre that could have been repaired is rendered useless and the local tyre shop that could have done the repair doesn't stock a suitable replacement.

So I think the only case where I might use it is if I'm 100s of miles from home with a slow puncture and it's late at night with no option to fix it locally. Even then, the alternative of calling for recovery might be more attractive. And yes, my tin of gloop is over 3 years old so it probably won't work anyhow!

 

[Adopado]

I suppose we really need to think about punctures in terms of probability. Looking back over the past 20 years, I've had two punctures in around 250,000 to 300,000 miles of driving. One was a rear tyre on a Mercedes SLK, that was so badly damaged by the time I noticed it was flat that I had to get a breakdown service out (no spare in the SLK, just a puncture kit). The only thing that would have helped would have been a spare wheel and jack. The second was a rear tyre on a Prius (again no spare, just a puncture kit) and that was caused by a nail, and was flat when I went to go to work one morning. The liquid gloop worked OK, but I needed to jack the car up and spin the wheel to get the stuff to seal.

There are clearly very varied experiences. We live in a country area with some of the smaller roads and tracks being poor with sharp edged potholes. We have had several punctures in different cars ... 3 last year, though that was exceptional. None of them would have been saved by gloop or similar. The most recent ones were sidewall damage and the one before that was a screw but didn't leak fast so there was plenty of time to get it sorted. To date I've always had a spare when I've had a puncture so fortunately the gloop option wasn't needed.

 

[Roy W.]

I’ve had the gloop on a few cars over the years. I think the first one was a LHD smart car in 2000. I’ve never had to use it.

the last puncture I had was in a Kia Ceed about four years, but that had a spare wheel so I just swapped it.

I think if I had a puncture in the Model 3, unless I was miles from anywhere, I’d call the recovery service.

 

[Wizzwizz]

First car I've owned without a spare. What are the recommended things to buy to keep in the car for tyre inflation and puncture repair?

Model S if it makes a difference.

Is this still the compressor of choice (found on teslaownersgroup.co.uk)?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ring-Automotive-RTC1000-Digital-Inflator/dp/B07MVVMCBD/

And would this complete the package and get me going at least temporarily?
https://www.screwfix.com/p/holts-tyreweld-puncture-repair/59631

The Ring RTC1000 caused my 12v outlet in the centre console to go off. It reset it's self after a time. This was with the light on whilst using the compressor. The current draw for the RTC1000 is 13amp. I have since change it for the RTC500 which is 10amp and works without issue.

 

[kuruma]

I have the one below that, the RAC635, which is rated at 10 amps apparently. Should that work? The one time I've tried it, it seemed to inflate only the compressor tube because it reached peak pressure almost instantly and this died off as soon as the pump stopped. I've a feeling I need to buy another one which is a pain.

 

[LukeT]

The Ring RTC1000 caused my 12v outlet in the centre console to go off. It reset it's self after a time. This was with the light on whilst using the compressor. The current draw for the RTC1000 is 13amp. I have since change it for the RTC500 which is 10amp and works without issue.

Interesting. The 1000 is what I have but it's just sitting in the car in case of emergency - I need to give it a try....

 

[MrBadger]

After holding off for a while due to one manufacturer (Ring) not answering two requests for clarification of max psi and current requirements, I spotted a nice Milwaukee compressor that I thought would be great if it only used my existing DeWalt batteries. I while later I stumbled on a the DeWalt equivalent the DCC018N https://www.amazon.co.uk/DEWALT-DCC018N-Triple-Source-Inflator/dp/B07F1X9F4P which I paid £105 for - looks like its since gone up in price.

I held off recommending it until I had used it in anger which I have now done having just changed winter shoes back to summers.

This required a small top-up of the summers typically around 37 - 42psi. It handled this topup very quickly without strain. I had used a pre charged small 2Ah battery from my DeWalt drill kit for the power source and having pumped a tyre from a 'flat' 9 psi on a stored car to 26 and adjusting pressures on 8 Model 3 tyres, the battery still had 2/3 bars and recharged in less than 10 minutes. The compressor comes with a 12v aux plug that importantly, at 10A (peak 12A) remains well within the power limits of the 12A (16A peak) Tesla aux socket. The separate battery just makes for a nice simple unit and the standard 18v battery is nice and robust and easy and quick to swap which will not render the whole unit kaput if the battery fails.

Down side, its quite a bulky unit, but not too bulky, but its a big boot so not end of the world. I also have a slight suspicion that it may fractionally over inflate. Tyres were inflated to 42 in the shade, then fitted to the car. The car subsequently was driven approx 2 mile round trip for TPMS to calibrate (and check correct operation) by which time, the tyres had appeared at 42-43psi and by end were at 43-44psi. Its got pretty warm out there, but will need to double check cold pressures when we again get the chance. The other thing that may be missing is auto deflate, but its easy enough to unscrew the valve connector slightly if tyre is overinflated.

All in all, if you already have a spare DeWalt 18v battery, its a very nice and easy to use self contained unit, albeit at a bit of a price premium. Slightly less easy to justify if just wanting to use as a tethered 12v aux unit, but at end of the day, I think its a unit that can be relied on unlike my electronic torque wrench adaptor that would not power up after last being used to put winter tyres on.

 

[Adopado]

Does nobody just use a foot pump these days? No battery required, quicker, and keeps you fit!

 

[Cnixon]

Ebay sell used! (Or most likely not used!) Audi/vw group kits. Pump gloop. Less than £30.
VW audi Seat Skoda tyre pump kit | eBay

 

[MrBadger]

Does nobody just use a foot pump these days? No battery required, quicker, and keeps you fit!

Last time I used a footpump I decided it would be the last time that I would use a footpump. Still use a stirrup pump on the bikes though.

 

[Adopado]

Still use a stirrup pump on the bikes though.

Actually I've used a bike stirrup pump on the Tesla ... they're very good at higher pressures so very easy for top ups ... much quicker than messing about with electric inflators. Of course they don't shift much air per stroke so not suitable to pump up a car tyre from flat.

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

The Ring one like this one https://amzn.to/2ObY4qv supports 50psi so plenty for a Tesla and I've used its previous version happily for years. You'd never manage to blow a flat tyre up with a foot pump unless you're Chris Hoy!

And if you want to avoid gunk, these dynaplug thing ( https://amzn.to/2TsenP2 ) allow you to fix some slow punctures yourself but you need a bit of muscle to get the plug through the tyre. There are a few variations on the theme and the AA even use them on the roadside to get you going rather than the hassle of recovering you to a tyre place.