I've been researching alternatives to carrying a factory donut:

This would be useful for people who:
* Have a Big brake kit, i.e: Fieroaddictions 13" Wilwood kit, WCF 13" Corvette brake kit, Held's 13" Big brake kit, Bubbajoe's 12" Corvette big brake kit, and countless others...
* Want more storage space in their car by having a bigger front trunk (i.e. Porsche Boxter, Cayman style)
* Don't want to rely on 20 year old factory Donuts
* Don't want to wait for AAA to come rescue them (where I live it takes them 45+ minutes to get to you, one time I ordered Pizza roadside and it got there before AAA did. )
* Don't want to change a spare tire at night on the side of the freeway in the rain, while worried about drunk drivers noticing the flashing emergency blinkers and plotting an intercept course

I tried fix-a-flat aerosol cans in the past and I'm 0-for-4 for them actually holding the tire pressure long enough to actually get to a gas station or a safe place.
(Murphy's law says: flats happen mostly when the trunk if filled to the rim with stuff and it's raining, or the vehicle manufacturer buries the tire iron in such a safe spot it can't even be found in the factory manual, let alone in the factory location. :rolleyes)

Many modern cars (i.e. 2007+ MINI Cooper S, some Audi's, etc.) now have a compressor with some "goo" instead for the braindead idea of factory "runflats".
(runflats arehard-as-a-rock for driving comfort, last less than 15k miles on a MINI Cooper S, cost a fortune, offer no choices, and when they actually do get a flat, the tires are toast as "runflats" cannot be patched in most cases. )

Of course, being a new factory part, they are freaking $$$ at the Stealer-ships, and too new to show up at bone-yards.

Last time I was at Kragen I found a possible alternative near the checkout counter:
A product called Slime



http://www.slime.com/
http://www.safetyspair.com/ <-- "as seen on TV" stuff is usually so confidence inspiring

It comes in different versions:
(not sure which one would work best for a Fiero)



or

[IMG]https://secure.slime.com/images/uploads/2007090510573981841_med.jpg[/IMG]
^ That's the one I saw at Kragen, which got me into researching this a bit more.

And of course there is an "overkill" product as well:



What do you guys think of this?
Are there any competing products?
Anybody here use this?

Reviews I found so far:
http://vodpod.com/watch/125...world-shared-passion

[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 03-14-2009).]

all slime does is make your mechanic charg you an extra $20 for dealing with it whan he changes your tires.

[This message has been edited by pontiackid86 (edited 03-13-2009).]

.

[This message has been edited by JazzMan (edited 04-21-2009).]

i use to work at a tire shop and most of the time if it had fix a flat stuff in it we wouldnt deal with it but there was occasions where we would do it and just charge extra to do it but that fix a flat stuff doesnt really work.....the only way it works is if its like a tiny hole and not a gash. but if you have a hole in your tire your best bet would to be plug it or have a patch put on....but sadly if its in the wall or in the margin where the wall meets the tread it cant be fixed. the tire has to be replaced

Using slime in a tire to slow down a leak only means that it will have to be completely removed when they attempt to plug the leak in the tire. If's left in the tire over time it will rot the rim and destroy the balance of the tire making it very dangerous to run at highway speeds.. I saw this in an old truck that I was purchased where the former owner loved that stuff. Not only was the rim nearly rusted though and required replacement, the slime stuff needed to be flushed and powerwashed from the tire with soap and solvent. Then the tire had to compeltely dry out before it could be plugged. If you don't want to carry a spare, then carry tire plugs, an installation tool, a spray bottle of soapy water and a small air compressor that will operate on battery power. First pray that it isn't a blow out. If it is towing time, If not then Inflate the tire, jack the wheel off the ground, rotate tire by hand, spray the soapy water on the treads, locate the leak, drain air from tire, pull out the nail or foreign object, put a plug into the hole (or self sealing tire rope) reinflate and you should be back on the road. IMO it is foolish to travel without a spare but many guys do. Without a spare you stand the risk of being stranded on a back road at 3AM where there is no cell service and no street lamps.

------------------
" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE WILDCAT"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

quote Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua: Using slime in a tire to slow down a leak only means that it will have to be completely removed when they attempt to plug the leak in the tire. If's left in the tire over time it will rot the rim and destroy the balance of the tire making it very dangerous to run at highway speeds.. I saw this in an old truck that I was purchased where the former owner loved that stuff. Not only was the rim nearly rusted though and required replacement, the slime stuff needed to be flushed and powerwashed from the tire with soap and solvent. Then the tire had to compeltely dry out before it could be plugged. If you don't want to carry a spare, then carry tire plugs, an installation tool, a spray bottle of soapy water and a small air compressor that will operate on battery power. First pray that it isn't a blow out. If it is towing time, If not then Inflate the tire, jack the wheel off the ground, rotate tire by hand, spray the soapy water on the treads, locate the leak, drain air from tire, pull out the nail or foreign object, put a plug into the hole (or self sealing tire rope) reinflate and you should be back on the road. IMO it is foolish to travel without a spare but many guys do. Without a spare you stand the risk of being stranded on a back road at 3AM where there is no cell service and no street lamps.

With my 3800sc swap, I have no trunk and my front compartment has a hefty Air compressor for my Air horns, so I cannot carry a spare tire, maybe if I found a rim small enough to fit in the trunk, using my air compressor I could inflate it if I developed a flat, but in the meantime I bought tire plugs, and the install tool and i'm hooking up a coiled compressed air line to the compressor so if I do end up in a situation, I should be able to fix/get somewhere to get it fixed.

I charge $100 per tire for that stuff. If I have to clean it up, you'll pay for it. Stuff is nasty to deal with and a safety hazard; and a few are toxic (depends on the brand, I've gotten some nasty burns from a few...)
In my truck I carry 2 to 4 spares (off road a lot) and in my car 1 spare and in both everything to fix a puncture. Remember to keep your spare tire pressure up, I see A LOT of cars come into my shop with a flat spare, and I get a lot towed here because their spare is flat!

The best of course is a spare,,next best you have one of the plug repair kits,,a very small compressor ,a can of fix a flat AND a small half jack out of a 90,s mazda 626 or similar car ,,WHY the jack ? if you lift the weight of the car off the tire it is easier to fill with fix a flat ,, or plug tire and inflate ..the weight of the car makes it much more difficult to inflate the tire ,,
the small compressor available from harbour freight for about $7.00 will work ..I can not find an american made one any more..
Test !! if your car tires need air,, inflate a tire with small compressor,, the next tire lift car partially with jack and notice how much faster the tire fills ,, this is where the light weight jack comes in,, the one from the Mazda will lift the fiero at the stock lift point ,, I have not used this style jack yet ..just eyeballed it ,,I have this set up in a small round bag ,, the half jack is very compact ,,it is compact and light,, the kit probably weighs about the same as the stock fiero jack..,,I also add a few tools in case I see dolly parton broke down..I"ll try to get the brand name
sorry no photo but easy to imagine in even my feeble complex brain

quote Originally posted by Back On Holiday: With my 3800sc swap, I have no trunk and my front compartment has a hefty Air compressor for my Air horns, so I cannot carry a spare tire, maybe if I found a rim small enough to fit in the trunk, using my air compressor I could inflate it if I developed a flat, but in the meantime I bought tire plugs, and the install tool and i'm hooking up a coiled compressed air line to the compressor so if I do end up in a situation, I should be able to fix/get somewhere to get it fixed.

Its reasonable to believe that you should be able to get road worthy with flat fix tools onboard. My 3800SC carries a compact spare but that poses another problem. On overnight trips to say Carlisle we have two pieces of luggage in the trunk. Get a flat and where do you put the flat tire. Probably have to carry a large garbage bag, put the tire in it and bungee it to the deck lid since a full size tire won't fit where the compact spare was.

------------------
" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, 3.4" Pulley, N* TB, LS1 MAF, Flotech Exhaust Autolite 104's Custom CAI 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE WILDCAT"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

quote Originally posted by Austrian Import: I've been researching alternatives to carrying a factory donut:

[This message has been edited by ALLTRBO (edited 03-14-2009).]

You guys must not have a lot of repeat customers. Our tire shop has repaired or replaced several tires that have had fix a flat in them. They didn't charge us any extra. They also know us by first name as our entire family uses them for new and used tires.

Its always a good idea to have a spare that will fit your car and not rely on temporary fixes but its getting harder to find a spare that will fit for what ever reason. Sometimes sitting along side of the road isn't an option so I do have a couple cans of the stuff in my wifes car. I do everything I can to not use them but I have had to in the past.
If you can find a spare tire then you should carry it and leave the slime for Halloween.

So you guys are saying that Slime is the exact same thing as fix-a-flat then?
Cause it seemed to me that it's easier to remove, since it's not an aerosol.

Good to know.

[This message has been edited by Austrian Import (edited 03-14-2009).]

Oh. I missed it, sorry about that! I read it all though, my mind has been 'skipping' lately.

Relating only to the big-brake concerns, I was thinking that another possibility would be to keep the factory spare, but buy a bolt-on adapter (5x100 to 5x100) of a good quality and an appropriate thickness (which I don't know) to space the spare out to clear the bigger brake setups, along with another set of lugs, then keep those all with the spare.

I'm just going to keep all of it out, it's too insane around here to try to swap to the spare on the side of the road anyway. Fortunately AAA hasn't taken quite that long for us.

As someone who used to work at a tire shop, I also hated dealing with the Fix-A-Flat (and the like) 'repairs'. I'm 0 for 1 in that stuff working for me (previously) as well.

In the absence of a spare tire, I'd recommend a tire plug kit and small compressor. If the plug can't fix it, chances are the fix a flat or slime can't either.
In either case, it's good insurance to have a AAA card and cell phone with you.

And if you have a spare tire - when was the last time you checked the AIR in your spare?
I had a flat tire in my TA last year, and had never bothered to check the spare. Sure enough it was flat. Luckily I was near a gas station so I could pump it up and be on my way.

Thanks to OT, I found a solution that leaves no residue..
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum6/HTML/063752.html

I just keep these in all of my vehicles:

*anti archive bump*

quote Originally posted by Formula88: In the absence of a spare tire, I'd recommend a tire plug kit and small compressor. If the plug can't fix it, chances are the fix a flat or slime can't either. In either case, it's good insurance to have a AAA card and cell phone with you.

Having had three flats in the last two months this topic is dear to my heart.

The roads around where I live are in terrible condition as there is a lot of construction and the recent freezes that we had did not make it any better.

In December I hit a massive pot hole and destroyed the tire. It went flat immediately and no Fix-a-flat, or slime or compressor was going to fix it. I put on the spare.

Less than two months later I hit the EXACT SAME POT HOLE, (yeah I know I should have missed it but it was dark and raining). But I got TWO simultaneous flats. I tried to pump either one of them back up with a compressor but no go. So I put on one spare and drove on the other one.

Moral of the story, carry the slime and compressor, but also carry a spare and the credit and AAA card.

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 02-09-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Rainman: I just keep these in all of my vehicles:

I don't have a compressor to put in the car so i carry 2 cans of fix of flat to stick in after i seal the hole with the fix kit.. May not be well liked at the tire shop but at least id get there...

I suppose a cheap compressor from HF would be ok, but id have to get 2 ( one for each car )

Wife has a phone...

also a good way to kill yourself...just an fyi.

------------------

quote Originally posted by Rainman: I just keep these in all of my vehicles:

So do i it is the only option this stuff pure and simple doesn't work as a fix it works only as a get you home and them a mess to deal with.

Well, there are run-flat tires. I don't know if you can buy the rims to fit the Fiero, but just another thought... if money is no object. As for slime, it is not the same as Fix-a-Flat.... I have used slime on non-automotive tires with great success. Would I used it on a car... if I had to, yes.

J.

Don't buy runflats. We have them on the MINI Cooper..

They're really a bad idea, even on a car with a suspension designed for them. They're very stiff and the benefits aren't worth it. Not to mention that you can't patch them once flat.

I can go into more details if necessary.

Agreed - we have a 2007 Mini Cooper S and it came with the first set of run flats we've ever owned. They lasted almost 20K, which I hear is fantastic, but the road noise near the end of thier life was like driving a tank... Just rediculous. Plus, due totheir hard compound, the traction went down consistently more and more after about 10K. We put some decent regular BFGoodrich tires on it and the car is 1000% quieter and drives SOOOO much smoother.

I keep a plug kit and an air compressor in each daily use car, still have the original spare in the Fiero. Difference is that I never drive it when I need to be anywhere in a hurry, so I'll just call AAA and have thm get it to safety before I deal with it.

------------------

quote Originally posted by Australian: Subaru spare tyre 5 x100 x 17' just wondering about the off set on these whether brakes clear etc.

All you wanted to know about the Subaru Spare

https://www.fiero.nl/forum/F...HTML/065950.html#p13

[This message has been edited by jscott1 (edited 02-18-2010).]

quote Originally posted by Austrian Import: Don't buy runflats. We have them on the MINI Cooper.. They're really a bad idea, even on a car with a suspension designed for them. They're very stiff and the benefits aren't worth it. Not to mention that you can't patch them once flat. I can go into more details if necessary.

Not true, you can patch them, not all places will do this. And yes, they are stiff, but when you have a short sidewall, then they have to be stiff. Benefits are subjective. If you don't want to carry a spare, or try to fix a flat on the side of the road, then run-flats work. I have them on my car.

J.

Even if the goos worked, they only stop something like a nail hole. If you have a blowout, your stuck anyway. I always have a spare after I learned my lesson years ago. We were out cruising some back roads wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy out in the country and got a flat without one. To get to the nearest town without destroying the fender, we took off the wheel, pryed open one bead and packed it with grass as hard as we could and used the jack to press the bead back on. It looked about the same as a tire with 15 pnds of air, but it got us going. Also took us a couple of hours. Spare wheel and tire is SOOOOOOOO much easier.