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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When Did You Last Have A Flat Tire?

I can't even remember... Maybe 30 years ago.

About 2 years ago, I walked out front and found my work truck on its rim. Picked up a nail on a construction site.

Inflated it, yanked the nail, punched in a plug, inflated to correct pressure and went on my way to work about 10 minutes later than usual.

It was about 2 years before that, wife picked up a screw in the FJ going to the beach, it went flat in the drive way, so same routine as above.

After the 2 hurricanes in 2004 where we had widespread destruction, everyone was getting flats. I was picking up a screw or nail in a tire every other day.

My last flat was this Spring. When doing my yearly spare tire check, I found that the valve stem had dry rotted on the compact spare I bought 11 years ago for my E46 M3. That’s been my only tire problems in that car 🤞🏻

A few weeks ago...the rear tire of my R nine T (motorcycle). Picked up a nail which normally wouldn’t be a big deal, but it’s got wire wheels with tubes. Completely screwed. Fortunately only a few miles from home and had my wife bring the trailer. PITA.

Had a flat on my mountain bike this summer and it was tire sealant in the stem that was responsible.
Good thing is that it was only flat on the bottom...

My last flat tyre (actually a slow leak) was in late 2020, cased by a nail in the tread near the sidewall. Luckily, it was able to be fixed.

This has happened several times over the past few years to either my wife's car or mine. The plug kit I bought a a local auto parts store has proven quite worthwhile.

My son had two flats in a remote part of Idaho with his family aboard. He was doing 60mph and hit a board with nails in it that was obscured on the edge of the road.

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Last one I had to change, 2016 on my F350. I arrived back after a business dinner to a flat tire. Can't remember what was wrong.

Mrs. Beard's BMW was a magnet for nails, etc. in our industrial complex. That place seemed to be a tire dealers dream! After buying a few too many non-repairable run-flat tires, I bought a spare tire kit for it and switched to standard tires.

Even later, as things became better, I was always finding a screw in the a tire about every 6-12 months. I was happy I bought the special warranty for the tires for our vehicles.

I forgot. I also had on about 10-years ago, so three in the last 20 years.

On the way to a Ron White show in Amarillo. We ate at the Big Texan and when we came out we had a flat.

It was pouring down rain. My lady friend said, as she snuggled down in the passenger seat, "Get after it.".

A few years ago, on the dirt road to my Armadillo Ranch on a cold rainy day. Pulled over in front of the gate to another ranch to change it in the miserable mud. By the time that I got her jacked up, I had an audience of cattle mocking me through the fence. The flimsy stamped tube lug wrench provided with the car kept slipping of the lug bolts. The shop who last rotated the tires really torqued them down tight. Got out my pump and managed to get enough air in to make it to my property where I had a regulation X lug wrench in the shop. Still was a bear to break the nuts loose.

Last one I had was on my wife's CR-V. Found it one morning while checking the air pressure during my monthly rounds on the car. One tire was low, which was unusual so I investigated. Found a small screw going into the middle of the tread. Pissed me off as they were relatively new tires. Screwed it in tight and pumped it up to 40 psi. Called the tire shop to set up an appointment to get it patched. Drove it down to the shop and they plugged it with a patch on the inside and re-balanced it. All for free.
Last time I got flat where I had to make use of the spare tire and jack was back when I was still working. I remember having run over something on the overpass just before I got off the freeway that morning at o'dark thirty. It had made a big 'WHAP' on the right side of the car but all felt fine as I pulled into the parking garage so I didn't think anything of it. Came out after work to find the front tire completely deflated. After jacking up the car and putting the spare on I found a 3/8" dia sheet metal bolt square in the middle of the tread. Lucky for me it stayed in as it would have been a catastrophic deflation of the tire on a very fast turn. I used to carry that bolt with me as a reminder of how lucky I was that day. Only thing I can think of that I might have run over was a mud flap off a truck as there was a big black mark on the side of the car.

Yikes.

Knock wood (my forehead) it has been more than a while.

I did catch a screw a few months ago on the LC but it had no impact...I saw it winking at me when I was walking into my garage to go run a errand. The tires were all 10k new.

I took it to the local guy I use, Big Ed's Tire, to get it fixed...order new tire, plug the screw and move that tire to the spare since the spare may have voted for Perot.

He calls an hour later and asks me if I have the lug "key"?

Uh, what? Nothing.

I call Toyota and they have a set for sale with all of the lug keys, more than a few dollars.

Big Ed goes: "Get me four new lug nuts, I'll do the rest."

Love me some Big Ed and his counter guy, Merle.

Lots of nails and screws in the last several years but those just resulted in slow leaks.

The last true flat I had was about 5 years ago. It was pouring rain and I hit something in the road that I never saw that resulted in a near instant flat.

My ex-wife’s bmw with run flats got flats every time she hit something. I can’t believe they can still sell those stupid tires.

Why I have a breaker bar and a proper sized deep socket in everything I drive. Yes, I learned to do so the same hard way as your experience....only no cattle audience for me. Damn factories and their bean counters, cheap out on spares, jacks, lug wrenches..
now they've "solved" the problem by giving you a can of goo and a cheap air pump.

We got a "near" flat 3 years ago in Ireland on a back-back road (lane) way down south. We had a Renault (a 6 speed diesel, nice car) and the low pressure light for one tire came on. Of course I ignored it, as I have replaced a bunch of those sensors over the years (light comes on when the sensor dies). Later I check on it and naturally, it's almost down. Crap! We were near a little hamlet with a convenience store. I stopped and asked the clerk about a repair shop and it turns out just down the road her brother had a little shop, she called him and he fixed it, no problem and 10 Euros. It had just about completely deflated so it was just in time. Other than that, no flats in many years.

About 2 months ago but that doesn’t count, it was a result of someone speeding out the entrance lane to the gas station without stopping, forced me over the curb to avoid an accident. That cost me 2 new tires.

Before that, it was about 6 years ago. I hit a nasty pothole that instantly deflated a front tire. I tried changing it myself roadside but the craptastic OEM VW jack kept falling over when ever a truck drove by in the right lane.

Fortunately, I place the spare under the car whenever I’m removing a tire, just in case but after the 3rd or 4th time, I called AAA.

I've had a couple in the last year or so. One was completely my fault when I hit a curb with my left rear foot turning onto a freeway ramp, very strange lapse in attention for me. Just totally apexed it. The other was a screw. I've also had a couple of other screws removed that did not result in flats.

Tire patches work fine if the hole is small. I've also had good luck w plugs, even did a couple myself with the cheap kit they sell.

That is funny. One more reason why it's ok for men to make $2 more per hour.

Bill Burr needs to put this one in his why men get paid more routine. First place is women and kids get to get in the lifeboats while men go down with the ships.