I have to share this with you, guys: one of my tires got punctured last summer when I was headed to San Antonio for a business trip. I was driving on a regular road, low speed around 30 mph and felt the car was leaning left. I’ve immediately pulled over and inspected the front-left tire and realized what happened: my tire rolled over a screw and got punctured. I then tried to find an online tutorial on how to fix a flat tire but everything I found was intimidating and long so I had to call AAA to get me towed and solve my problem.
However, I promised myself this will be the last time: I needed to learn how to fix a flat tire by myself and save money from both towing and spending on new tires as well – especially because we love camping! So what I’ve done is I invested a bit of time to research and share my findings with you.
Why you’ll love this hack on how to fix a flat tire
It’s cheap: you’ll be able to fix a flat tire with less than $10. Plus, it takes 5 minutes and this can be performed anywhere in the proximity of a gas station where you can fill your tire back with air. If you’re not close to a gas station or a free airpump, then always make sure you’ve got yours in the trunk. We recommend this inexpensive $12 pump but you are free to choose yours.
What you will need to fix a flat tire
In searching for how to fix a flat tire, you’ve probably heard or see the repair kits at Walmart that contain both the sticky tar “worms” and the puncture tool which looks more like a screwdriver. These kits go for like 8 or 9 bucks at Walmart but you can find equivalents anywhere within the same price range.
You’ll also need to be in the proximity of a gas station that can provide compressed air to fill back your repaired flat tire. Here’s a map that shows all free airpumps in the US.
How you will do it
Start by identifying the puncture source – it may be a nail, screw, some broken glass or wire. Make sure you take that thing out so that no obstructions are in the way.
Next step is to clean the hole created by one of the items I’ve enumerated above: clean thoroughly by inserting the tool in the package as deep as possible and give it a good pump up and down to ensure the walls of that puncture are clean. This will ensure good contact between the tar “worms” and the actual flat tire you’re trying to fix.
Next step is to insert the tar “worm” into the hole, by using the same tool you’ve used to clean the punctured flat tire. Press hard and ensure you’ve done this until only half of an inch of that “worm” is still visible outside of the tire. Extract the tool making sure you’re leaving that tar worm inside the flat tire. You can try trimming the tip left outside the flat tire, however leaving it like this doesn’t hurt.
You should end up with something like this:
Last step is to pump air into the tire and continue your ride.
That’s it! No need to replace your tire and ruin your vacation plans for such a minor detail! Next time you’re looking for how to fix a flat tire, make sure you have this link bookmarked and refer to it.
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