How to Fix a Flat Tire EASY (Everything you need to know)

Hey guys ChrisFix here and today I'm gonna to show you how to fix a flat tire If you ever been in a situation like this? you go out to the store you come back you go look at your car and You notice hey look I got a flat tire well It's not a fun situation but it does give you a good opportunity to make a video to show you guys Exactly what you need to do so every step on how to fix that flat tire and the first step is you want to get Home or to the tire shop So we want to get some air in that tire So let's pop the trunk and check out our 3 options We have for situations like this first we could use an air pump second if your car has a spare tire you could use that and then third you could use one of these cans of Air and If you need to you could use one of these plug kits right now to plug the tire in the parking lot just in case You're far away from home or from a tire shop Back at our flat tire the first thing I like to do is try to pump up the tire with a portable 12-volt air compressor Because it's the quickest and easiest method all you do is screw it on to the valve stem and then you get your cigarette lighter adapter and it plugs right in and Sometimes the cigarette lighter isn't powered unless if you have the car in the run position So do that And then all you have to do is hit the little on button and then watch the gauge until it pumps it up to where you need it to be and For a tire like on the Mustang it only takes about five minutes to go from deflated to fully inflated It's supposed to be around 32 to 35 PSI, It pumped it up Just a little bit more just so that we have some extra air for the ride home And then all you have to do once you're pumped up shut it off Unscrew it from the valve stem and screw the cap back on and you can see how effortless that was I didn't have to jack the car up change tires or anything That's why I keep one of these 12-volt air compressors in my trunk right next to the spare tire It'll pay for itself the first time you use it and they're relatively inexpensive and I'll link one in the description So if you don't have one you could get one for yourself now You just want to wait a few minutes to make sure the tire doesn't go flat really quickly because then it's too dangerous to drive And in the meantime, I want to explain the two other methods real quick now if I didn't have an air compressor Or it didn't work my next method would be using the spare tire If you've never changed the spare tire even if you don't have a flat go change it in your driveway Just to see the whole process and make sure you have all the tools you need if you have a spare tire in your car Most cars will also come with a scissor Jack and a tire iron You want to make sure you have both of these as well as a key for if you have any locking lug nuts Since you rarely use or even check the spare until you finally need it one day when you have a flat Many times its deflated or you're missing the tools and if there's one thing that you learn from this video other than fixing a flat I want you guys to go out there and check the pressure in your spare tire Make sure you have all the tools you need to put on your spare tire and finally for emergencies I do keep a can of sealer in all my cars, but I only use this for emergencies All you have to do is take the cap off and then this attaches right to your valve stem And then inside this can is compressed air and a liquid and when the liquid in here comes in contact with the air it Solidifies and hopefully that will clog the leak and it does work for small leaks and it will fill your tire with air But the problem is this stuff that seals the leak also damages the tire So you have to replace the tire and it also makes a big m ess inside your tire so tire shops aren't going to want to Replace your tire Because they don't want to take that extra time to clean the wheel and get rid of all this stuff that solidifies That's why I use it only in emergencies it is good for a backup But it's the last thing on my list that I would use to pump up my tire to get home So those are the three main methods that you can rely on and in this case It's been a few minutes and the tire hasn't gone down in pressure If in the 5-10 minutes that you waited the pressure goes down and your tire gets flat again, I wouldn't drive home I'd use the spare that's what it's for. In this case, We're good to go It should be safe to drive home, and then I'm going to show you how to plug that tire So it doesn't leak air anymore All right safe and sound at home and as you can see the tire is still Inflated which means we probably have a pretty slow leak So now we want to remove the tire from the car and you can do that with the scissor Jack and tire iron that come with the car if you don't have a lot of tools But if you have a breaker bar jack and Jack stand it'll make this job that much easier and no matter what jack you use if you don't know how to jack your car up you could check out the owner's manual and flip to the Back where it'll show you exactly what you need to do to lift the car up safely So let's get started the first thing you're going to want to do is break those lug nuts loose because if you try to do this with the tire in the air It's just going to Spin with all the lug nuts broken loose now We could jack up the car But before that we want to block off our rear wheel so the car doesn't roll anywhere Then we could place the jack on the proper jacking point and lift the wheel all the way off the ground And it's always a good idea to support the vehicle with a jack stand and not just the Jack now We could finish removing our lug nuts and remove the wheel Once we have the wheel off you want to make sure it's fully inflated so that you have air pressure and now we're going to Search for the leak the Leak is most likely a nail that's in the tread area here so just spin the tire and keep an eye out for any nails and Sometimes it can be difficult to find the leak so I have a little trick, and that's using Soapy water all This is is dish soap and water mixed together and what you do is. You just spray down the wheel and you want to keep an eye out for any areas that are bubbling up because any air leaking out is going to cause bubbles and You can never use too much soapy water so don't be afraid to use a lot oh, and you can see it right there And that's a perfect example of how much easier it is when you spray some soapy water I mean look at that bubbles right up And that just makes it completely obvious to where your leak is So I'm going to spray down the rest of the tire and make sure we don't have any leaks I'm just making sure the whole tire is coated in Soapy water And then I'm looking for any bubbles forming The Soapy water also helps you know when you search the whole tire the dry parts still need to get sprayed down and checked So after checking the entire wheel it looks like we only have one screw right there That needs to be removed and plugged now This is most likely our only leak and I'll show you how to repair that but before we do that We want to check out where the rim and tire meet on some wheels there could be Corrosion which could cause air to leak out so just spray around the whole wheel and check for bubbles, and this side looks good So do the same thing on the other side That side looks good as well And then the last thing to check is Unscrew the valve stem cap and spray right in the valve stem and look for any bubbles And that's another common area that could leak and cause your tire to go flat. I don't see any bubbles So we're good, but if there's any leaking from the rim or valve stem you need to remove the tire from the wheel to fix it now one thing to be mindful of is if there's any damage to the sidewall or the shoulder of the tire you can't repair the tire it has to be replaced those areas are a structural part of the tire But with that being said this is the only damage to the tire so let me show you how to remove Screw and then plug it so it's leak free Now that we found the leak we're going to move on to our next step and plug the leak to do that I'm using one of these plug kits it only cost a few bucks and it comes with everything you need to plug the tire and Before we go and remove the screw and then air start shooting out We want to get our plug ready, so we want to grab our plug pusher and some plugs this plug pusher Tool is what we're going to use to slide one of these plugs into the tire So get your plug it should be sticky, and it should be malleable So flatten down the end and slide it through the slot in the plug push your tool And then once it starts coming through you want to pull it halfway through Just like that with our plug ready you can set that aside And you want to grab your reamer from the kit set that aside And then if your kit comes with rubber cement you want to set that aside as well But you don't need rubber cement to do this job This is just an extra piece if you have it you could use it if you don't have it You don't need it It's also a good idea to use some eye protection. So nothing shoots out into our face now We want to carefully remove the screw and this is actually a really tough screw to get to because it's worn down I'm trying to use my flat-head screwdriver to pry it up a bit good, and now hopefully I could get these side cutters in there and Now that got it out a little bit I think it's better if I use a pliers and just unscrew the screw there. We go alright So now I'm going to remove this quickly, and it's out and then I'm going to grab my reamer And then I'm going to force the reamer into the hole and this can be difficult so make sure you get a kit that has A reamer with a T-bar handle like this, so you could really push on it and get a lot of leverage I'm really pressing hard. I have most of my body weight on this and this isn't going up there we go That wasn't going in easily now. You're gonna remove the reamer up-And-down It's also a good idea to twist it side to side and then again move it up and down and what we're doing is we're Prepping the hole for our plug. We're removing any loose rubber that will cause air leaks with the plug in there We're also smoothing the hole so the plug seals it if your kit comes with rubber cement or you buy some extra rubber cement you want to add some to the reamer and the hole and You're just gonna work that rubber cement in there good, and if your kid doesn't have rubber cement don't worry it's not necessary to complete the job Now you're going to get your plug tool ready and again if you have the rubber cement you can apply some directly to the plug This is going to help lubricate it So it pushes in easier And it's also going to help seal the hole a little bit better now you The reamer and quickly insert the plug this can be a little bit tough Again that T-bar is going to help and use your body weight really push it down After you push the plug through the tire you want about a quarter of the plug sticking out And then you're going to give this tool a firm pull out the tool is going to come out But the plug material is going to remain in the hole to stop the leak and once this completely dries We're going to cut it but let's give it about ten minutes to dry and seal up Perfectly, and you can see how that works the plug sits right in the plug tool right there but then when you pull [on] it the plug slides out of that slot and the tool gets removed from the tire and After about five ten minutes. It's not tacky anymore. It's nice and dry you could grab your side cutters and cut off the end of the plug and I want to get it flat and even with the tire, so I'm going to use a razor blade good now add air to the tire to the recommended pressure and In this case my tires get filled at 35 PSI Alright, I got it on the first shot and before we go and mount the tire you could use your soapy water to make sure That's completely sealed and not leaking any air and I don't see any bubbles. So we're ready to mount this back on the car I like to use my feet to help me mount the tires and then snug up all the lug nuts remove the Jack stand drop down the Jack so the car goes on to the ground nice and smooth and Then tighten down all the lug nuts in a star pattern I like to use a torque wrench to make sure they're evenly tightened alright, and that is everything you need to know on how to plug a leaky tire for the next few days You want to keep an eye on the tire pressure make sure that plug stays leak free, and you're good to go real quick Technically plugs aren't permanent what you're supposed to do is go to a tire shop They take the tire off and they patch it from the inside. Now, I have driven on a plug tire for a while I'm sure people will comment below sharing their experience with plug tires But I just want to mention if you go to the tire shop That you got your tires put on a lot of times they'll patch it from the inside for free but for now you're good to go the tire is patched and leak free and you are back on the road as always any products I used in this video Will be linked in the description also. I hope the video was helpful, and if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing

Channel: ChrisFix

Views: 10,910,435

Keywords: flat tire, how to repair a flat tire, how to fix a flat tire, fix a flat tire, patch a flat tire, stop a tire from leaking, how to plug a tire, tire plug, flat tire fix, flat tire repair, fix a flat, tire sealer, how to find a leak in a tire, leaking tire fix, flat tyre, flat tyre repair, how to fix a flat tyre

Id: 3aQRO29ZzbE

Length: 10min 59sec (659 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 26 2016