Spare Tire Questions

[carzes]

Not saying that either one of you would, but you would be surprised at how many people do, then call in and complain that we "ignored their emergency" because we put them on hold while we handled a life threatening emergency. Then to be called on the carpet and told that it is not up to us to decide what an emergency is.

I know where you're comin' from, I'm an EMT. We roll out on those 'emergencies' every day.

 

[Truett Collins]

I know where you're comin' from, I'm an EMT. We roll out on those 'emergencies' every day.

ahhhhh, someone who understands the frustration.....

 

[carzes]

ahhhhh, someone who understands the frustration.....

Then again, some of them are so HILARIOUS you'd hate to miss them.

 

[Truett Collins]

Then again, some of them are so HILARIOUS you'd hate to miss them.

Aint that the truth......

 

[hawg_ryder]

"The Tire Plugger" you say? Thanks! Will have to check into that one. Like you, I've always just used the "rope" from Wally-World. In fact, just today, only minutes after my wife left the driveway in her Honda, she was calling me to come change a flat for her.

Really love changing flats, don't you?

No worries MM... A Goldwing rider friend of mine put me on to it... Glad to help... I haven't changed a flat on a car tire in a very long time... Usually, I notice a low tire, find the foreign object in it, and run on down to Discount or another local tire shop and have them do the deed... Typically for no charge too!
I try not to sweat the petty little things... and... well ya know the rest...

 

[HHH]

I plugged a hole in a tire once with a self-tapping sheet metal screw, (all I had with me). years later when I had the tire replaced the guy asked; "did you know you had a screw in this tire?" I had forgotten all about it for YEARS and the tire held air fine the whole time. So just keep some screws handy.:

Different people with different experiences. I had a car tire partially delaminate at freeway speeds. Put on the spare and got home. Even got a tread wear adjustment on the replacements after 90,000 miles (Dunlops). Years before the Ford/Firestone debacle.

Just a couple months ago I got a 3/8" sheet metal screw screwed into the center of the tread on my bicycle tire while on a paved bicycle trail. Twice pumping up the tire got me the five miles back to the car. How such a screw wound up on the trail I don't know. But the next guy now won't have to worry about it.

I too carry the CO2 Tire Plugger on my scooter. Haven't needed it, but gives me peace of mind to explore without tire worries.

So I gather from this discussion that the motorized world is moving towards either using tire goop or a roadside tow when confronted with a flat. Used to be the roadside tow would put on the spare and you'd be on your way. I understand the space, weight and cost concerns regarding the Elio.

 

[BillZ]

Different people with different experiences. I had a car tire partially delaminate at freeway speeds. Put on the spare and got home. Even got a tread wear adjustment on the replacements after 90,000 miles (Dunlops). Years before the Ford/Firestone debacle.

Just a couple months ago I got a 3/8" sheet metal screw screwed into the center of the tread on my bicycle tire while on a paved bicycle trail. Twice pumping up the tire got me the five miles back to the car. How such a screw wound up on the trail I don't know. But the next guy now won't have to worry about it.

I too carry the CO2 Tire Plugger on my scooter. Haven't needed it, but gives me peace of mind to explore without tire worries.

So I gather from this discussion that the motorized world is moving towards either using tire goop or a roadside tow when confronted with a flat. Used to be the roadside tow would put on the spare and you'd be on your way. I understand the space, weight and cost concerns regarding the Elio.

Here's another concern that I hadn't thought about...having a tow truck driver show up and man handle your Elio trying to get it back to some type of service center. Hum....recipe for disaster? Makes preventive maintenance sound really good.

 

[Music Man]

No worries MM... A Goldwing rider friend of mine put me on to it... Glad to help... I haven't changed a flat on a car tire in a very long time... Usually, I notice a low tire, find the foreign object in it, and run on down to Discount or another local tire shop and have them do the deed... Typically for no charge too!
I try not to sweat the petty little things... and... well ya know the rest...

Geez, hawg. . . . . . Do Ya reckon that I get some credit for NOT noticing the tire was "low" before it went flat because it was on the "boss ladies" car and SHE was driving it at the time? o_O

 

[Lil4X]

I've been broken of shooting the apexes on local freeway exit ramps. For several years I'd entertained myself by taking them at high speed, using every available scrap of the pavement. Then I noticed I was having flats about every six months - sheet metal screws, mostly. After that I stayed out of the marbles near the curb and haven't experience more than a slow leak or two in the past few years. Thankfully, with all but a total tread failure, I can usually limp to the nearest tire shop. I don't trust the cheap OEM jacks that are supplied with today's cars.

 

[Music Man]

I've been broken of shooting the apexes on local freeway exit ramps. For several years I'd entertained myself by taking them at high speed, using every available scrap of the pavement. Then I noticed I was having flats about every six months - sheet metal screws, mostly. After that I stayed out of the marbles near the curb and haven't experience more than a slow leak or two in the past few years. Thankfully, with all but a total tread failure, I can usually limp to the nearest tire shop. I don't trust the cheap OEM jacks that are supplied with today's cars.

Over the years of riding cross country on my bicycle, Lil4X, I've learned the very same lesson: "No matter how wide and smooth the shoulder of the road way is, DO NOT RIDE ON IT!"

I ride just to the left of the "fog line," IN the traffic lane, WITH the flow of traffic. Why, you may ask?

Because I reason, that glass bottles and such, thrown from moving vehicles will crash and break on or near the "fog line" and then scatter forward and out onto the paved shoulder, (where most of my friends ride). They continue to get MORE flats riding there, than I do in my postion.

Safety concerns riding on the edge of traffic. No more than riding on the shoulder. Ride responsible, and predictable. DON't weave back and forth. Traffic can see you IF they want too, and can hit Ya, even on the shoulder. Stay visible.