Project S-20: Fix flat tires
When I went to Steve last time for the alignment, he found that my passenger rear tire was 28psi, way below 32psi I set months ago. I did not drive the car a lot since then so I thought it might be leaking somewhere.
I did a search on the tire tread and found this:
I was still not sure if it was due to this nail. I used some dish cleaner plus water and sprayed it on the whole tire surface. Only this spot was bubbling!
Then I wanted to fix this on my own. I bought the repair kit:
A plier and the plug kit!
The process was 'easy': first get the nail out, then use the rasp to clean the inner of the hole and then use the plug to put that plastic stuff in! Pull it out rapidly and we are done! Rubber cement could be applied to the rasp and the plug for lubricating and better seal.
Well it was not that easy at all. It definitely doesn't need some professional knowledge of the car or parts. Just brute force needed! I literally used all my body weight on the rasp and it still couldn't not penetrate through the rubber. It was not even at its half depth for my first 15 mins! The trick was to try slightly different angles and also turn the rasp as you push. I finally pushed it through after almost 25 mins! The plug afterwards was much easier to be pushed in..
As I said it is not easy job! Most of the car work needs either your understanding of the car, your knowledge, or brute force! Glad I made it!
3/13/17
I did a search on the tire tread and found this:
I was still not sure if it was due to this nail. I used some dish cleaner plus water and sprayed it on the whole tire surface. Only this spot was bubbling!
Then I wanted to fix this on my own. I bought the repair kit:
A plier and the plug kit!
The process was 'easy': first get the nail out, then use the rasp to clean the inner of the hole and then use the plug to put that plastic stuff in! Pull it out rapidly and we are done! Rubber cement could be applied to the rasp and the plug for lubricating and better seal.
Well it was not that easy at all. It definitely doesn't need some professional knowledge of the car or parts. Just brute force needed! I literally used all my body weight on the rasp and it still couldn't not penetrate through the rubber. It was not even at its half depth for my first 15 mins! The trick was to try slightly different angles and also turn the rasp as you push. I finally pushed it through after almost 25 mins! The plug afterwards was much easier to be pushed in..
3/13/17
Comments
Post a Comment