Flat Tire - Prevention

Prevention

The best way to avoid a flat tire is to avoid situations favorable to tire punctures. These involve driving through construction sites, or areas with heavy construction activity (new housing developments, for example), driving unnecessarily on roads with rough surfaces, as well as driving over debris, to list a few. There are, however, other methods one can use to avoid getting stuck with a flat.

One highly important preventative measure in avoiding a flat is to ensure your spare tire is properly inflated and in good, undamaged condition. If the spare tire has an irregular sidewall (bumps, dents, or other deformities) the spare tire needs to be replaced. Also check for dry rot (which looks like small cracks in the sidewall) as well as good tread depth. New spare tires can be purchased at tire repair shops, automotive dealerships, even over the internet. If for any reason, the process of checking the inflation pressure of your spare is too arduous of a task for you to perform (on some vehicles this requires removing the spare tire or sliding underneath the vehicle ); when getting an oil change done or other routine maintenance one can (and should) request that the technician working on their car checks the spare tire pressure. If one chooses this route, it will help the technician if you remove items that may block access to the spare tire. Most auto technicians will only check the pressures of the tires already on the vehicle, and will ignore the spare tire unless one requests it be checked.

Of course, it is always a good idea to have a can of fix-a-flat should your car not have a spare; or use of a spare is inconvenient (most compact spares have a safe maximum speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) and a limited distance), as well as in case the vehicle's spare is damaged, missing, or severely under-inflated. It is also a good idea to have a roadside safety kit, which usually includes a reflective triangle to be placed further down the road to let other motorists know a hazard lies ahead.

Items that can help while changing a flat include an "emergency impact wrench", an impact wrench that plugs into your car's cigarette lighter, or on cars without a cigarette lighter, the car's 12-volt accessory outlet. This item can greatly decrease the amount of effort required to remove the lug nuts from the tire to be removed, also decreasing the amount of time required to change a flat. Also available are portable air compressors that are very compact and affordable, and can also be plugged into the cigarette lighter/accessory outlet to inflate an under-inflated tire. In the event of a slow leak, this may greatly help extend the driving range of the affected tire, allowing the driver to reach a location where the driver can properly attend to the affected tire.

A much more active approach to monitoring tire pressures involves retrofitting a tire pressure monitor to your vehicle. Vehicles manufactured after model year 2007 are required to have tire pressure monitoring systems built-in, although many older vehicles might not have it. Tire Rack, for example, offers aftermarket tire pressure monitors from various companies, including one that notifies the driver of the tire pressure in each wheel, as well as exactly which tire the system is displaying the pressure of. A much less expensive way to monitor tire pressures is to install valve stem caps that alert the driver to low tire pressure. These work by first setting the pressure on the cap matching the pressure you desire your tires to be at. Once installed on the tire's valve stem, the tip of these caps will change color (from green, to yellow, to red) when the tire becomes under-inflated. The benefit of this system is its low initial cost, but its disadvantages include questionable accuracy (even more so if the caps aren't tightened down enough) and that the only way to monitor them is from outside of the vehicle, looking directly at the cap. It's always a good idea to have a quality, reliable tire gauge on hand regardless of what system is installed in your vehicle, and to either check tire pressures yourself of by having someone else do it, as most tire pressure monitor systems will not alert the driver until the tire pressure falls below a certain amount, usually 20% below the recommended pressure.

Also important is knowing the condition of the spare tire, jack and lug wrench upon purchase of a used car. This, among other things, is one very important item many used car buyers overlook when inspecting a potential purchase. If the vehicle is missing any of the items that go with a spare tire, it's possible to purchase them again from the manufacturer's dealership. It's also possible to buy the tools used, or from a junkyard, though if one chooses this route it is of utmost importance that the condition of the items be inspected thoroughly before storing them in your car. It's also possible to purchase a jack and a universal lug nut wrench (usually shaped like a + sign) from an auto parts store or the automotive section of a department store, though these items will likely not fit in the vehicles designated spare tire tool storage location and will likely require that the items remain loose in the cargo area. It is worth bearing in mind that, in an attempt to decrease theft, numerous cars on the road today (especially those with alloy wheels) may use one or more security caps or nuts on a wheel. These can only be removed with a specific tool which should be present in the car's tool kit. Without this tool it will be difficult to remove a wheel.

If you happen to be stuck with a flat tire and are unable to change the spare tire yourself, or encounter other problems with your vehicle that leave you stuck at the side of the road, it's always a good idea to have a membership to, and carry a card for an auto club, or a roadside assistance agency. In the United States, the American Automobile Association, or AAA (pronounced "triple-A") and in Australia National Roads and Motorists' Association or NRMA are the most well known roadside assistance programs and will gladly change a flat tire for you. Lesser known programs include those that are a feature of your auto insurance coverage, as well as manufacturer roadside assistance (which comes with most new cars), and even plans offered by cellular phone providers.