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Flat Tire in your Eco?
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I Wish my ECO tire fix experience was good like yours was.... I was on the way to my friends wedding. The wedding was in an hour and i was 40 min away with a suit on in a completely gutted eco.... which btw felt really awkward... lol anyway, I was driving and got a bad flat from a piece of really hard plastic. I went to use the stuff and the second i plugged the thing into the cigarette lighter, the goop started leaking out all over my passenger seat, center console, and my dress pants, okay it was not latched correctly... im dumb my bad( watch out for this if you need to use it) BUTTT here is the worst part... the stuff would not hold the hole in my tire. Apparently it was a bad hole.... and a cop came because i was on the side of the road for like 15 minutes and He just looked at me and my cruze and shook his head probably thinking...this idiot is wearing a suit covered in this whiteish pasty slime, his interior is covered in this slime, he has a flat tire that will not fill at all, and a car that is totally gutted). I told the officer that i had to be at a friends wedding, and he asked if we wanted to tow the car. I told him that was not an option and he said he would follow me to the chevy dealership half a mile away. So i went 5 MPH with a cop behind me with his flashers on half a mile to the dealership.Where they told me they did not have any tires for the cruze eco. So they sent me to ntb another half mile away and i bought a new tire from them and missed the wedding ceremony, but i made the reception.
TL DR The fix a flat stuff does not work with bad holes
TL DR The fix a flat stuff does not work with bad holes
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24,131 Posts
I actually keep my air pump tube disconnected from the sealant canister. I also had my canister spray everywhere, but at least all mine ended up on my driveway. It's real easy for the pump's power switch to be switched on. I also have a spare now because my biggest fear is being in the back country with a sidewall blowout.
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246 Posts
Starchy, not really trying to be a smarta** here, but no kidding. It never was designed to plug everything. It wasn't the cars or the sealant's fault, it was the piece of plastic's fault.I Wish my ECO tire fix experience was good like yours was.... I was on the way to my friends wedding. The wedding was in an hour and i was 40 min away with a suit on in a completely gutted eco.... which btw felt really awkward... lol anyway, I was driving and got a bad flat from a piece of really hard plastic. I went to use the stuff and the second i plugged the thing into the cigarette lighter, the goop started leaking out all over my passenger seat, center console, and my dress pants, okay it was not latched correctly... im dumb my bad( watch out for this if you need to use it) BUTTT here is the worst part... the stuff would not hold the hole in my tire. Apparently it was a bad hole.... and a cop came because i was on the side of the road for like 15 minutes and He just looked at me and my cruze and shook his head probably thinking...this idiot is wearing a suit covered in this whiteish pasty slime, his interior is covered in this slime, he has a flat tire that will not fill at all, and a car that is totally gutted). I told the officer that i had to be at a friends wedding, and he asked if we wanted to tow the car. I told him that was not an option and he said he would follow me to the chevy dealership half a mile away. So i went 5 MPH with a cop behind me with his flashers on half a mile to the dealership.Where they told me they did not have any tires for the cruze eco. So they sent me to ntb another half mile away and i bought a new tire from them and missed the wedding ceremony, but i made the reception.
TL DR The fix a flat stuff does not work with bad holes
I do know what your saying, though. Worst case scenario at the worst time. Sometimes life sucks.
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Just asking because I don't know... is part of the procedure to hook the pump to the valve stem before plugging it in? If so, the mess could be avoided, no?
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909 Posts
My wife's Jeep has a knack for finding nails, broken wheel weights and other metal objects in the road and quickly inserting them into it's tires. Instead of the slime, I've just purchased the following kit from AutoZone.
Slime/Tire plug kit (1034-A) | Tire Plugger Kit | AutoZone.com
I've used the kit a couple of times and it's saved me some cash versus going to the dealer or local tire place for the repair. The hardest part is reaming out the hole, but luckily the kit has a nice "T" handle on it which helps out a lot.
Slime/Tire plug kit (1034-A) | Tire Plugger Kit | AutoZone.com
I've used the kit a couple of times and it's saved me some cash versus going to the dealer or local tire place for the repair. The hardest part is reaming out the hole, but luckily the kit has a nice "T" handle on it which helps out a lot.
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24,131 Posts
It's easier to keep the hose disconnected from the goo canister. Most of the time you'll never need the goo, just need to adjust the tire air pressure.
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438 Posts
I had to use my tire slime thing the first week we had our car. Drove with that stuff in the tire a couple weeks. It worked fine, held pressure once I put it in.
Finally got to the tire shop today. They dismounted the tire and to my surprise the stuff wasn't hardened at all in the tire. Was just a milky liquid in there.
They proceeded to hose the tire out, patch the hole and off I went.
No damage to the tire sensor and easy to hose out with water.
Finally got to the tire shop today. They dismounted the tire and to my surprise the stuff wasn't hardened at all in the tire. Was just a milky liquid in there.
They proceeded to hose the tire out, patch the hole and off I went.
No damage to the tire sensor and easy to hose out with water.
Love the kit!
I've got a different story regarding the tire slime. The week I took my Cruze Eco home, I ran over a cardboard box while passing a truck. The box evidently had something very sharp in it. Punctured my right front tire. I used the slime and pump to put in air, and went directly to the dealer and got the tire patched (they were just minutes away).
Just over a year later (April 2013), the patch evidently failed while on a road trip. The pressure monitor alerted me <YAY sensors!> to decreasing pressure. When I stopped, I could hear the air leaking. I used the slime and pump to fix the tire and went on my merry way. Stopped at the, local to my destination, dealer and got replacement slime. I kept watch on the tire pressure and didn't think much about it from then on. Didn't replace the tire. Didn't have it permanently repaired. Hot summer and very cold winter passed. The repaired tire behaved like the other three.
More than a year after that... about 2 weeks ago, I noticed a distinct vibration at 55+ mph (I'd forgotten about the slime fix). No pulling either direction, just a little shimmy in the steering wheel. Took the car to the dealer, where the techs had a doozy of a time trying to balance the wheels. . . Until they took the tire off the rim and found the source: The old failed patch, and the slime which had formed into a mass. Had to replace the tire because of the old patch.
I have to say the slime set up is SO much easier for me to deal with than changing a tire. I'm even thinking about getting the pump/slime thing for my daughter's car, even though she's got a full size spare tire on board. There's no way she would be able to change a tire. She hasn't got the body mass or strength to manage it.
I've got a different story regarding the tire slime. The week I took my Cruze Eco home, I ran over a cardboard box while passing a truck. The box evidently had something very sharp in it. Punctured my right front tire. I used the slime and pump to put in air, and went directly to the dealer and got the tire patched (they were just minutes away).
Just over a year later (April 2013), the patch evidently failed while on a road trip. The pressure monitor alerted me <YAY sensors!> to decreasing pressure. When I stopped, I could hear the air leaking. I used the slime and pump to fix the tire and went on my merry way. Stopped at the, local to my destination, dealer and got replacement slime. I kept watch on the tire pressure and didn't think much about it from then on. Didn't replace the tire. Didn't have it permanently repaired. Hot summer and very cold winter passed. The repaired tire behaved like the other three.
More than a year after that... about 2 weeks ago, I noticed a distinct vibration at 55+ mph (I'd forgotten about the slime fix). No pulling either direction, just a little shimmy in the steering wheel. Took the car to the dealer, where the techs had a doozy of a time trying to balance the wheels. . . Until they took the tire off the rim and found the source: The old failed patch, and the slime which had formed into a mass. Had to replace the tire because of the old patch.
I have to say the slime set up is SO much easier for me to deal with than changing a tire. I'm even thinking about getting the pump/slime thing for my daughter's car, even though she's got a full size spare tire on board. There's no way she would be able to change a tire. She hasn't got the body mass or strength to manage it.
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19 Posts
I just bought a Cruze a month ago, 1 year old and I love the car thus far. Mine didn't have the pump/slime kit included, someone must have nicked it before the car got to me. I stopped by costco and grabbed a decent tire pump, went to Autozone and got a patch kit.
I also decided it would be a good idea to keep a full size spare in the garage, my reasoning being that 99% of the time I'm within 100 miles of my house. I figure I'll call AAA for a tow in the event of a total blowout, if I cant secure a new tire in immediately then at least I can drive the car.
I picked up a matching wheel for the ECO from a local salvage yard for 110 Dollars (good shape, one minor scuff) and a new matching goodyear fuelsaver max tire mounted/balanced for another 130$.
I also decided it would be a good idea to keep a full size spare in the garage, my reasoning being that 99% of the time I'm within 100 miles of my house. I figure I'll call AAA for a tow in the event of a total blowout, if I cant secure a new tire in immediately then at least I can drive the car.
I picked up a matching wheel for the ECO from a local salvage yard for 110 Dollars (good shape, one minor scuff) and a new matching goodyear fuelsaver max tire mounted/balanced for another 130$.
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4,634 Posts
Had my first flat in years last week. Came out after work on Friday and the tire was almost flat. Good thing for the pump... got it pumped up and stopped by a tire place on the way home. They fixed my flat for free since I bought eight winter tires and a set of summer tires/wheels from them in the past year!
The offender was a 2" deck screw. Last time I had a flat it was a 2.5" deck screw. If I keep hitting shorter and shorter screws they will eventually get to the point they won't pierce through the tire anymore.
The offender was a 2" deck screw. Last time I had a flat it was a 2.5" deck screw. If I keep hitting shorter and shorter screws they will eventually get to the point they won't pierce through the tire anymore.
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6,727 Posts
I went to get my tires rotated at my local tire shop and found out that because I bought a set of 4 rotations are free for the life of the tires. The dealer wanted $25 to rotate the tires, at that rate I would have done it myself.
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6,727 Posts
Yes I'm serious, I already get my oil changed at the dealer so I figured why not have them do the tires while its already up in the air. No freakin way I would pay $25 extra dollars to do it though. I had surgery 8 weeks ago but am still on light duty, at that rate though I would take my ass out and do it myself.
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