How To Use Tire Repair Kit

Prevention is better than a cure, everyone knows that, only sometimes things just happen. In the world of off-roading, tyre punctures are a definite possibility. You might be the most vigilant commuter around – checking your tyres' condition, inspecting them for clothing and tear, cracks, splits, cuts but your tyres may still cop an errant smash, spiral or stick in the tread or sidewall; and that's puncture time.

Your tyres are your points of contact with the ground, so never drive for whatever great distance when you know one or more of your vehicle's tyres are punctured. The unproblematic solution is to fix the puncture, so you can drive the, hopefully, brusk distance to reach a tyre professional person who will so properly set the tyre or replace it.

Be prepared with a good tyre-puncture repair kit, know how to use information technology and then y'all'll be ready for activeness when the time comes.

Annotation: Just use a tyre-puncture repair kit on tubeless-blazon tyres. Likewise, and this is a corking tip from aftermarket supplier ARB: "Never try a repair on a tyre that shows signs of internal or external structural harm such as exposed belts, sidewall bulging, ply separation, cracks etc."

A tyre-puncture repair kit.

What is in a tyre-puncture repair kit?

A tyre-puncture repair kit should include a carry case and all of the gear you need to achieve a temporary fix of a puncture, which will requite yous enough leeway on that repaired tyre to safely attain a tyre-repair professional in order to have it properly fixed.
As with any gear, y'all get what you pay for so when it comes time to purchase a tyre-puncture repair kit, spend as much equally you can afford considering that way you'll ensure you take the all-time quality equipment onboard. In this yarn, nosotros're using an ARB Speedy Seal Mk2 kit ($49).

The tools and materials in a tyre-puncture repair kit include:
A pair of pliers: Use these to remove the cause of the puncture (i.due east. the boom, stick etc).
Lubricant: Use this on the reamer to ease its way into the hole.
The reamer: It looks like a cross betwixt a short ice option and a drill chip with a handle. The reamer is used to probe the puncture, clear away any remaining debris and temporarily separate the tyre's steel belts without damage, helping to smoothen the style for the repair cords/plugs.
The cord-insertion tool: Looks like a cross between a sewing needle and an water ice pick. You employ this to, you guessed it, insert the repair cord into the puncture.
Repair cords: Thick strings of spongy cord that y'all insert into the puncture to make full the hole and make the tyre temporarily rubber to drive on.
Some kits, like this one, include valve accessories, a blade (to trim the repair cords) and more.

How to use a tyre-puncture repair kit – step by pace:

Remove the object that has caused the puncture.

Pull out the object that caused the puncture

Make certain your vehicle is on equally apartment ground as possible, is switched off, in gear and the handbrake is engaged. If possible, do all of your repair piece of work while the tyre is still on the vehicle, that mode its weight will help you maintain a stable working surface area while you gear up the puncture.

Find the punctured spot, and pull the offending object (stick, nail etc) out of the hole with a pair of pliers, as provided in the ARB Speedy Seal Mk2 kit.

Use the reamer tool to clear out the puncture hole.

Clear the puncture hole

And so you lot need to clean the hole as best y'all can so no left-over fabric can cause any further issues and your repair cord has a clear pigsty in which to attach.

Smear the kit'south lubricant on the reamer – this is the tool with the spiral, drill-flake-like shaft – and so insert the reamer into the puncture to articulate the hole. Movement the reamer around in the hole, in circles, in lodge to make the hole a bit bigger, separate the steel belts, then pull the reamer out. Now'southward the time to reinflate the damaged tyre to help wth insertion of the string.

Thread a length of repair cord through the eye of your insertion tool.

Thread repair cord into your insertion tool

Next, thread a length of repair string through the eye of the insertion tool and so there are equal lengths of cord protruding from either side of the tool. Then smear a bit of lubricant on the insertion tool if necessary and push it into the hole until only a fiddling bit of the repair cord is visible.

Extract the insertion tool and trim the repair cord

Concord the tool'due south metallic hilt against the tyre, and pull the insertion tool out. Do not twist the insertion tool'due south handle. Trim the ends of the repair cord so they aren't protruding as well much, inflate your tyre back to the suitable pressure and abroad you lot become.

Brand certain you take the fixed tyre repaired by a professional person as soon as y'all possibly tin can.

Get to a tyre-repair professional as soon equally possible

I've been on desert trips where some beau travellers have been forced to drive for hundreds of kilometres over sand dunes and corrugated dirt tracks on tyres repaired with a kit such equally this, just it's better if you avoid doing that if yous can.

Our recommendation is to have the stock-still tyre repaired by a professional every bit soon as you perchance tin.