Off to France tomorrow – not via Calais thankfully. Never thought about it before but have been wondering about what i’d do if I got a puncture. My SMax didn’t come with a spare wheel but came with a compressor and a bottle of gunk. I used it a while back and it didn’t work as the tyre sidewall had a 2 inch split in it. but though I replaced the bottle of gunk I didn’t replace the compressor hose and am now worried it will all be blocked with dried up gunk. I was in Halfords earlier looking at those cans of tyre weld and wondering if I should get one of those just in case. I realise it won’t help with a 2 inch split like I had before, but that is quite unlikely.

Cheers.

I used the compressor and gunk on my SO’s MB. The hose for the compressor seemed to clean out OK after use. I’ve used the hose since and it was fine.

The bottle of gunk seemed very expensive to replace so I bought 2 Tyreweld cans for the price of 1 from halfords on line. Ordered them at lunchtime and picked them up on the way home.

Thankfully haven’t had to use the tyre weld yet. Though the poor chap at Blackcircles commented on the gunk when he replaced the tyre.

I keep tire weld in both cars for the wife to use as i dont want her messing about with the car on a widowmaker jack.

It is a lie that you cannot repair tires with tire weld in.

I have both done and had repairs done at garages without issue on tires with genuine weldtite tire weld in.- ive only had one garage make a fuss about it.

How ever you need to keep a compressor in the car also as even the full can is not nearly enough pressure to drive pn with most tires!

The other benefit of a compressor is that it may be easier with a slow leak to reinflate and keep it topped up (repeatedly if necessary) on your way to a tyre place. Can be faster, is probably cleaner and will result in fewer problems at the tyre place due to gunk everywhere.

Not going to save the day in all cases, but it can work.

Widowmaker jack- thats a new one! 😀

I keep a proper aftermarket nut undo’er to give quick/easy leverage for any change. I tried tyreweld and it didnt work for me (partly because a compressor or pump was also needed I guess).

OP in future, buy a wheel off ebay/scrapper for a longtrip?

Thanks all. I’ve not got a lot of driving miles to do so not a huge risk. To be fair the instructions on the tire weld can says the tyre can be repaired – it was the instructions on the Ford OEM bottle of gunk that said if you use the stuff the tyre cannot be re-used. I’ll grab a can and a compressor this morning.

I know I should get a spare wheel and jack but then you’re into the issue of do you get a space saver that’s limited to 30mph or something and is really only a get you home/to the garage measure, or a full size wheel so if you do need to use it you don’t have to faff around getting the removed wheel repaired immediately. A full size spare will take up a lot of room in the back, where those long journeys when I would want to take the wheel with me are just the rare occasions I am actually able to completely ram the SMax to the brim, so there would be no room. Hopefully between my OEM compressor and bottle of gunk, a can of tyre weld and a compressor i’ll be covered.