Tyre sealant

Christmas is coming and I am thinking of what to buy the car drivers.

I have just been watching a TV selling channel advocating the use of a sealant you put into the tyre. In the event of a puncture it is instantly sealed and you don't have to change a tyre.. Fantastic.

Now some new cars including Land Rover do not supply a spare tyre. Many people may be encouraged to use this type of sealant.

My fear is you pick up a nail and it stays in the tyre for ever and then one day the tyre fails big time.

As you die in the accident you don't have a chance to complain to the manufacturer so they don't have a problem. Are there any statistics relating to the safety of this product or does anyone have direct experience.

Before anyone comes back with " You should inspect your tyres every day, bla bla bla. " in the real world how often to you do this? What if a nail goes into the inner sidewall and you just cant see it. Surely this is a serious accident just waiting to happen

Reply to
4x4v6
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In my experience, with Beckys Mini which comes as standard with a can of tire weld in the spare wheel hole, it works ok as a get me home solution.

However. When you are home, and go to KwickFuck and the likes, they will not fix the puncture and you have to get the tyre replaced - so you need to way up £3.99 for a puncture fix, or £100 for a new tyre. :)

Personaly, i wouldn't trust it - but if its all you get.....

Reply to
Mark Solesbury

I took a Z-rated (high speed) tyre to Micheldever Tyres in Micheldever, it had a screw through the sidewall, they sent it off to the manufacturer (Michelin) and it came back as good as new, total charge was £20.

Best avoid places like kwikfit anyhow, I use independents always as the national names tend to be staffed by kids with the occasional knowledgable chap on-site to curb their worst excesses. I avoid ATS after I tried to get my tracking just checked, but they checked it then "corrected" it (I got three different figures from three different places), then tried to charge me for it. One of the larger monkies tried to throw his weight around and made comical efforts to analyse my claim to have only asked for a check, but the sensible chap turned up and I didn't have any further hassle.

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

Also rumours of extra fees because of all the mess inside the tyre and on the rim.

Which Landie doesn't come with a spare? The DIII does, uncovered and underneath at the back. FLII? Haven't looked close enough at one of them.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I always use ATS round here - excellent service and decent staff. They even gave me a part-worn 7.50 when I was stuck for a spare once. Never had a problem with them.

Reply to
Rich B

Lucky you, I've had hassle with them and two other popular chains, mostly due to staff who shouldn't be let loose on anything more delicate than rocks. Round where I live now, there's no large chains so no problem any more ;-)

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

The local franchise to us one time failed to do up the front wheel bolts on our Disco. We did about ten miles of straight dual carriageway at 70 after picking up the car and it was only when we got off onto the roundabout to join the motorway that I noticed something not right with the steering, got out to check and found the wheel wobbling on the hub with loose bolts. I don't want to think about what could have happened

Another time we were surprised they had the right size tyre in stock but when they fitted a "new" tyre we immediately recognised it as a damaged tyre they had taken off the year before. Thankfully they are now out of business.

Reply to
Tony Raven

My local independent tyre emporium used to offer a sealant service which I had in my mud tyres ~ nothing worse than trying to change a wheel in a muddy lane :-)

It worked pretty well and there was never a problem with getting repairs done afterwards.

They stopped offering the stuff after a change of owner because he thought it was too much hassle.

Reply to
SteveG

Thats what i meant... They would not fix the tyre because it was to messy inside.

Reply to
Mark Solesbury

"Ian Rawlings" wrote after , Mark Solesbury wrote: ((snip))

That sort of service is why I use them for my 330i and previous, so different from the local kwickfitup and so much cheaper too. It's not a bad drive down there and certainly worth it for expensive tyres, we combine it with a day out.

Reply to
Bob Hobden

I used to live about 5 minutes away so could get there dead early to beat the queues, or I'd take the wheels I needed tyres fitting to over in another car, roll them to the front of the queue and leave them with them and pick them up later. That's the only problem with them, the large queues.

I did have some minor hassle with them when I tried to get the Lotus tracking done on the rear wheels, I knew they'd do it the wrong way so did it myself, just using them for the actual measuring so the main chap said I'd get two measurements instead of one measurement and an adjustment, but when I came back for the second one he'd gone and the chap running the machine was pointlessly rude when I told him that I was back for the second one. Once I'd showed him the note from his boss he was fine. Quite why he came out with "No you bloody well aren't" when I told him I was back for the second measurement I don't know. He told me afterwards I'd done it wrong and told me how to do it right, and described the method Lotus state must not be used.

I also put one chap's nose out of joint a little when I told him how to jack up my Lotus and made sure he did it right, he was going to do it under the suspension arm joints and claimed he'd done loads of Esprits like that (the model spans 25 years -- which esprits, they're all different).

The problem with tyre fitters etc is that they do lots of cars and think they know what they're doing, despite never having read the workshop manuals for those individual cars and seen the dire warnings that under no circumstances should the usual method of doing something be used on this car, they never know which cars are the exceptions.

One of the perils of owning specialist cars is that you quickly find out how complicated something apparently quite simple can get!

Reply to
Ian Rawlings

My local independent told me they measure tyre pressures in Bar now because it's more accurate than psi. I nearly wet myself. TonyB

Reply to
TonyB

It's about 32% less accurate, as I am sure you know, but it's metric, and therefore must be more accurate, at least to someone with the brain of a lobotomised cockroach.

Reply to
Rich B

"> It's about 32% less accurate, as I am sure you know, but it's metric, and

I am sorry but accuracy has nothing to do with whether the measurement is in psi, bar or kiloPascals!!!

Accuracy is totally dependant on the device that is being used to do the measurement.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

Apparantly it is not intended for tyres with inner tubes.

Maybe not all landies have inner tubes in the tyres, how would I know, I am not sure what happened after about 1984 :)

Reply to
Larry

I knew that. Perhaps my use of "accurate" should have been more accurate.

Reply to
Rich B

According to Land Rover Monthly (October) "MNany new vehicles, including some models of the Freelander 2, "

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Reply to
4x4v6

Dhoooo Been at the LPG again ))

should read "Many new vehicles including some models of the Freelander 2"

No spare wheel just a tyre inflater. !

Reply to
4x4v6

True enough but bar measurements tend to be to only one decimal place particularly on digital gauges. How do you set a pressure of 28psi with a measuring instrument working in bar to one decimal place?

1.9bar = 27.6psi 2.0bar = 29.0psi 28psi = 1.93bar
Reply to
Dave Liquorice

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