When Did You Last Have A Flat Tire
 

A comment on the random transportation thread about full size spares in the old days got me thinking. It took a while to remember, but I believe my last flat tire happened in 1986. Since then I have had a number of vehicles which only had their spare wheel removed when the car was being cleaned.
If I recall correctly, we only used to get a couple of years from a set of tires 60 years ago. A spare was something which got used, not forgotten.
In all fairness, I spoke with a lady the other day who flattened the tire on her Mini after hitting a bad pot hole. But the leak was slow enough that she got home with a bent rim. I attribute that to having sidewalls too low for the condition of the roads.
What has your experience been? Are you a magnet for tire destroying debris or have you forgotten where your jack is stowed?

Best
Les

A slow leak maybe once a year or every two years - this is among the five cars in the family “fleet”. Last one was on a little road trip, I put in a can of FixAFlat and it’s been fine for months.

Never...on the road
A few times...in the garage setting.

60 years ago...a person couldn't drive 30 miles without seeing someone on the side of the road with a flat.

I've never had to change a flat tire on any of my vehicles. Changed a flat bass boat trailer tire once on the side of the road ... decades ago.

I'm going to regret posting this .... I just know it :D

Twice in the last 20 years.

1. Ran over a Craftsman open end wrench that stuck in the tire. Still have, and use, the wrench.
2. At highway speed when a tire disintegrated and was literally smoking hot. The prior night a severe thunderstorm came through and there was a huge amount of debris on the road. My guess is the road debris punctured the rear tire and it slowly leaked down until it came apart.

shhhh! Tempt not the road gods.

It's been decades...despite that, the first "mod" I did to the '09 Mustang was to add a jack & spare. Ford claimed the 18" wheels wouldn't allow a spare, sp they gave you an air pump and a car of goo. My fix was to go to a wrecked 'em yard and buy a 17" donut spare and jack. The goo is great stuff for making you buy new tire pressure sensors..

The polite way of saying "Don't get cocky".

Just a few months ago. Leaving a friends house around 10 pm on a long dirt road. Heard a weird sound so I stopped and discovered right rear was going flat. Pitch black with just our iPhone lights. Never used the jack on my Tundra so it was trial and error. Lowering the spare and in the course of sliding the spare out from under the truck it slid across my big toe( I had sandals on) and ripped the toenail 90% off. I hollered in pain but we were so isolated it didn’t matter. Took maybe an hour to change. Got home and screamed like a girly man removing the last 10% of my toenail. My wife called me a hero and took very good care of me. If you know what I mean.

when I was working and commutting in LA, a couple times a year

I still keep a bicycle pump and plug kit in my car and motorcycle

one time I got two nails in one day

I get them from time to time, but I'm a cyclist. They usually come in batches.

But in my car? The last one I had was in my 911. Probably 8 or nine years ago. Pretty new Michelin Pilots, a chunk of mystery steel put a pretty big hole in one of the rears (tread, not sidewall).
T'was then I learned that paying extra for Tire Rack's "flat protection" insurance was money poorly spent.

Thursday night on the way home from work. Light on the dash alerted me. The car never drove funny and the tire looked fully inflated. The tire has a 1/4" bolt in the tread.

It's like tempting fate to answer this question.

I had one last summer, I had just purchased a really hammered Acura TL, one tire had a slow leak, which I found was from a cracked rim . I loaded that sucker up with bead sealant, and had been driving it for 3 days while I was waiting for a few replacement wheels to show up .
One mile from my house, I hit a pothole, and poof! No jack either , luckily , I was anticipating the flat, and put my small floor jack , and a 19 mm breaker bar in the trunk.
Other than that, Its been a while for me, I cannot even remember , but my wife has tagged a few potholes with low profile tires, ko'ing the wheel and tire over her years commuting to the city .

Last summer. Sudden deflation on the left rear of the minivan while in the fast lane of the highway at 70 mph. We were coming back from Big Bear. Fortunately no traffic, so I was able to ease off the highway, but not before the tire was shredded. Post-mortem showed a hole and imprint in the middle of the tread consistent with a screw.

Wife and I did a North East Fall Foliage trip a few weeks ago. 10 day trip from Kansas City through Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont. 2500 miles on our ‘14 991.
Picked up a nail in the dead center of the right rear tire on a Friday afternoon in Buffalo. Put enough air to make it to the Porsche dealership, which was only 3 miles from where we picked it up. They wanted to replace the tire, which had less than 1500 miles on it. Said no way and went across the street to a tire dealer. Less than 1/2hr later we were on the road and have had no problems since. Oh, we were about 2 weeks to early for the majority of the colors. Still had an awesome time.

Many times over the years. Working in construction, I see nails and screws all the time. I keep a plug kit in my truck and have used it multiple times.

My new to me E46 M3 has an air pump and fix a flat. I’ll probably get another pump, some more fix a flat but more importantly, a spare tire of some kind. I don’t carry anything in the trunk, so there is plenty of room.

In Phoenix if i can make it from east valley to the west valley without picking up a self taping screw; i would be happy. Same with rocks and chipping my windshield.

First flat on the road in nine years last February. Eighty mph on I-5 at Camp Pendleton the dash warning came on in the '15 911. Getting dark, cold, wifey riding shotgun and no spare. Pulled off at the next ramp, measured the LR tire pressure at 12lbs. & falling.

I put in a jar of the Porsche tire soup, hooked up the compressor & got 51 lbs. & drove away home 100 miles.

Cleaning the soup out of the tire was a pain, it mostly peeled out like dry latex paint. Did not seem to bother the TPS gizmo on the valve stem.

All in all, about the same distress/aggravato as changing a spare.

A few years ago in my Subaru Legacy wagon with practically brand new Hankook tires driving out of my subdivision on a freshly paved street. Shadows on the road from the trees and I never saw this stick.





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