R4P... Emergency tyre inflation?

[TonyHSD]

One of my interesting experiences with these strings was around 9 years ago in a Prius plus. I was waiting for my pax in early mornings to do an airport transfer. I arrived earlier and decided to step out and refresh myself walking around the car then I heard the dreaded pspspsps, checked and found a nail in the front tyre. Quickly took my emergency kit from the boot, put the gloves on and using these strings I managed to fixed the tyre in no time, then the lady arrived just before I was about to finish pumping  up the tyre. She was not happy seeing me doing work and asked me of we gonna make it , “ yes ma’am, we are on our way “ , and drove off towards the airport. No problems at all and all took me around 5-10min max. 

[Nick72]

8 hours ago, ernieb said:

@Nick72, I’ve ordered a similar kit as an additional back up. 

Worth it Ernie. For just a few quid and hardly any volume. Now watching how to videos 🤣

[Nick72]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

One of my interesting experiences with these strings was around 9 years ago in a Prius plus. I was waiting for my pax in early mornings to do an airport transfer. I arrived earlier and decided to step out and refresh myself walking around the car then I heard the dreaded pspspsps, checked and found a nail in the front tyre. Quickly took my emergency kit from the boot, put the gloves on and using these strings I managed to fixed the tyre in no time, then the lady arrived just before I was about to finish pumping  up the tyre. She was not happy seeing me doing work and asked me of we gonna make it , “ yes ma’am, we are on our way “ , and drove off towards the airport. No problems at all and all took me around 5-10min max. 

Excellent. What did you do after Tony? Did you keep running it or change out the tyre?

[philip42h]

18 hours ago, Nick72 said:

Thanks all. I ordered a plasticy string and repair kit. If I ever get a puncture anywhere other than the motorway hard shoulder or the inside lane of an (un)smart motorway then this will be my go to. Fix it myself.

Can you effect the repair simply with the wheel on the car and on the ground?

Or might one need to take the wheel off to facilitate access to the puncture wound? In which case you would also need to carry a wheel brace and jack ...

[TonyHSD]

1 hour ago, Nick72 said:

Excellent. What did you do after Tony? Did you keep running it or change out the tyre?

I kept the tyre as is. Usually if it’s within the safe area of repair and on the tread itself the string can last for the lifetime of the tyre. If it’s between treads where tyre is thinner it is a good idea to keep checking just in case the tyre starts to change its shape or bulge which will show structural damage and a new tyre will be needed.
Here an example of repair that  lasted over 60k miles although the repair was just outside the official safe area, however there were no issues at all and after some time the string  became flush with the tyre and almost impossible to see it.
From inside may not look very good from an engineering point of view, it looks like a knot , but this all we need. Here some pictures from my tyres. 

[TonyHSD]

Forget to mention, no need jack or tools but good idea to have in addition to the puncture repair kit a mechanic gloves and pliers. Sometimes the nail or screw can be very difficult to remove. Air compressor plugged in and ready is also a must have because when you remove the screw and insert the hole drill tool to prepare the hole you will lose pressure and while inserting the string the softer rubber makes it more of a hassle. 

[Nick72]

On 6/29/2023 at 5:07 PM, philip42h said:

Can you effect the repair simply with the wheel on the car and on the ground?

Or might one need to take the wheel off to facilitate access to the puncture wound? In which case you would also need to carry a wheel brace and jack ...

I think it depends on the puncture. I've got a hydraulic trolley jack already and a cross bar wrench so hopefully all bases are covered. 🙂

[Nick72]

On 6/29/2023 at 6:12 PM, TonyHSD said:

I kept the tyre as is. Usually if it’s within the safe area of repair and on the tread itself the string can last for the lifetime of the tyre. If it’s between treads where tyre is thinner it is a good idea to keep checking just in case the tyre starts to change its shape or bulge which will show structural damage and a new tyre will be needed.
Here an example of repair that  lasted over 60k miles although the repair was just outside the official safe area, however there were no issues at all and after some time the string  became flush with the tyre and almost impossible to see it.
From inside may not look very good from an engineering point of view, it looks like a knot , but this all we need. Here some pictures from my tyres. 

Awesome 👍