If you have a punctured tire on your hands right now, you might be under the impression that replacing it is your only option. And this may be bumming you out since most all-season tires can cost anywhere from $50 all the way up to $200.
But you’ll be happy to hear that you can actually repair a punctured tire rather than replacing it altogether. Tire repair is an excellent option for those who accidentally ran over a nail, a screw, or something else and put a hole into their tire.
At some point in time, there is a decent chance that you’re going to find yourself with a punctured tire on your vehicle. It’s one of the many things that comes along with vehicle ownership, regardless of whether you’re driving your first car or your tenth one.
Here are the steps that you can take to bring a punctured tire back to life in no time at all.
Begin by Identifying a Punctured Tire on Your Vehicle
Before you can think about fixing a punctured tire, you need to identify a punctured tire in the first place. As part of car ownership, it’s going to be your job to monitor your tires at all times.
You might have a punctured tire if you see that one of your tires is getting way lower on air than others. You might also have a punctured tire if you can hear air coming out of one of your tires.
Either way, you should spring into action right away to do something about your tire. You don’t ever want to knowingly drive around on a tire that is low on air for any reason at all.
Look for the Place Where Your Tire Was Punctured
If you suspect that you have a punctured tire on your car, you should inspect the tire closely to see where it may have been punctured. You should use both your eyes and your ears to pinpoint the source of the problem.
Ideally, you’ll be able to spot a nail or a screw sticking out of your tire, as that will indicate where your tire was punctured. But even if a nail or screw punctured your tire and then fell out, you should still be able to get to the bottom of your tire troubles after a thorough inspection.
Remove Your Punctured Tire From Your Vehicle
Once you identify a punctured tire and see where it was punctured, you can remove that tire from your vehicle. This will take a little bit of work on your part, so you’ll typically want to make sure that your tire was actually punctured before taking it off your car.
You can go here if you’re not sure how to remove a tire from a car. You should be able to remove it from your car within about 15 minutes or so as long as everything goes according to plan.
Take Out Whatever It Was That Punctured Your Vehicle
After you take a punctured tire off your car, you should look for the nail or screw in it again. At that point, you should remove the nail or screw from it and possibly mark the part of the tire that was punctured.
This will help you keep an eye on that specific part of the tire throughout the course of your tire repair. You won’t have to worry about losing the puncture hole and struggling to find it later on.
Buffer the Part of Your Tire That Was Punctured
To fix a punctured tire, you’re going to need to place a patch over the part of your tire with a hole in it. But prior to doing this, you’ll need to buffer the area surrounding the hole so that the patch adheres to it with ease.
You should use a special buffering solution on your tire and then use a buffering machine to create a nice smooth surface on the inside of your tire. If the surface isn’t smooth enough, it could cause complications with the patch that you put on it. So it’ll be imperative that your buffer the surface enough.
Place a Patch Over the Punctured Portion of Your Tire
When you’re all done buffering the inside of your tire, you should obtain a tire radial patch and use it to patch up your punctured tire. This patch will have an aluminum side that will go up through the hole in your tire and leave the flat part of the patch flush up against the interior wall of your tire.
You should pull the aluminum side up through the hole in your tire and then trim it down once the patch is stuck to the wall of your tire. You should then run a tire retreat and repair tool over the patch to keep it in place for the foreseeable future. Your punctured tire won’t be punctured anymore!
Consider Replacing a Punctured Tire If It’s Beyond Repair
Most punctured tires can be fixed with a simple tire radial patch. But in the event that a patch isn’t going to do the trick, you may want to kick around the idea of replacing your tire.
If you choose to go in this direction, you should really consider replacing all your tires at once so that you don’t have tires with uneven wear on them. Click here to see some of the best tires in the automotive industry.
You Don’t Have to Let a Punctured Tire Slow You Down
Getting a punctured tire can be annoying. But you don’t have to let it stick your car on the sidelines for too long.
By following the steps listed here, you can repair a punctured tire in a matter of just an hour or so and get your car back out on the road. It’ll save you money and ensure that you’re safe when you’re behind the wheel.
Browse through the other auto-related articles on our blog for additional car ownership tips and tricks.
