How to Fix a Flat Tire Yourself

This is too easy to do. When the stores are closed or you don’t have the $25.00 to get a flat fixed today, what can you do? Fix it yourself. Over the last 25 years I’ve had only two flats, not blowouts but nails in them that left one flat in the morning and the other time half flat. In good times it was no problem to have them repaired, but what about the bad times or when you have no extra cash or no easy place to go to get it fixed?

This morning I found a roofing nail in my tire, so I went to the auto parts store and bought this kit, the same type of kit (below) my dad used in the 50’s. After getting back from the auto parts store it took about three minutes to repair the tire. I didn’t even have to take the wheel off the car. And yes, I do have a very small air compressor but a bicycle tire pump will work also.

“This kit should be in every Survivalist’s or Self-Reliant persons tool box” and it only costs $10.00 to be able to take care of yourself. Shame on me for not having one there already. The kit has enough plugs for five flats and the overall quality of the tools in the kit is very good.

Here’s the kit I bought:

http://www.bellautomotive.net/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=868&category_id=54&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=41

Here’s a video showing how easy it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoZbHfuuvck&feature=related

Here’s the kit.

And here’s the nail that made the car useless!

Here’s the plug after it was installed

The gray color is because I used a quick shot of gray primer spray paint to mark the spot where the nail was after I pulled it out. It wore off after a couple minutes of driving.