Tire Repair Kit

When I bought my Ford Escape in August 2020, it did not include a spare tire, not even one of the miniature tires. Instead it included an electric air pump that you plug into the lighter socket, called the “Tire Sealant and Inflator Kit” or “temporary mobility kit”. It includes a switch that can activate a canister of latex to repair a tire if it had a leak, but this would be ineffective if the hole was too large or if you had a blowout. The latex fix was temporary and ideally would get you someplace that could do a better fix. It seems like I read somewhere that once you used the latex, the tire would never be good again and would have to be replaced, but the owner’s manual doesn’t say that, just that you have to replace the valve stem and tire pressure monitor for that tire. The advantage of this system is it is lightweight, compact, and cheap, reducing weight of the vehicle, increasing mileage, and increasing space in the car. For the hybrid the tire well is also where they decided to put the 12V car battery, so no way to just get a tire. It is also easier to operate than using a jack, removing lug nuts, and replacing a tire. However, the latex canister expires in 4 years and has to be replaced. The disadvantage of this system is you can’t go that far or fast once you do the repair (like with the mini tires) and doesn’t work if damage is severe. The mini tire was a compromise compared to having a full size tire, and this inflator is a further compromise.

In the previous couple of weeks I had driven the car to Washington, DC without any incident, but I was driving a few miles to Jeb’s house when the car alerted me about low tire pressure in my right front tire. The car has a display for pressure in the tires and the other tires were all okay, so this wasn’t just a seasonal thing. The pressure was 25 psi and the other tires were around 30-32 psi. Very quickly as I continued to drive it dropped to 21 psi and I thought I might not make it to Jeb’s. As I found a place to pull over it was down to 18. As I parked it was 16 psi. I got out and could hear air escaping the tire and could even feel the air coming out of the tread. Time to try out the kit!

There are instructions on the inflator, but one of the instructions is read the owner’s manual. So I pulled that out and there were 5 pages of instructions. One thing is to make sure the engine is on so that the lighter jack will provide power. I had been using the inflator periodically in the winter as the tire pressure would naturally go down (switched to air only), but apparently that small amount of use had damaged the threads that firmly attach the inflator tube to the valve. So the first thing was I had to hold the hose in place firmly against the tire valve. Then I turned it to latex and started inflating. Nothing. It turns out it just takes a long time, like 7-10 minutes (printed on the instructions) to inflate a flat tire. I stuck with it and a little bit of watery white liquid leaked out of the inflator, but very little. The gauge on the inflator said the pressure was 30 psi right off the bat and went up to 40 psi, which seems too high. But the tire was still obviously kind of flat, so I think the reading was just off. I kept inflating until it looked pretty good by eye. When I checked the dashboard, it said pressure was 28 psi, but it could also be the monitor wasn’t working correctly. Close enough. I continued on to Jeb’s house, which turned out to be good, because the rest of the instructions that I didn’t read said I had only completed phase 1 and that phase 2 is to drive 4 miles so the latex distributes evenly and seals the hole. One of the problems is if the latex all dries up in one place, the tire will be out of balance. Anyway, it seemed to hold pressure pretty well over to Jeb’s and on the way back home. The next day I added a little more air.

On Monday I called the dealer to see if they could fix it. I figured the tire was shot and I would need a new latex canister. I looked up the kind of tire that came with the Escape and a new one was about $300. But the dealer didn’t answer so I left a voicemail. After a few hours and a couple of more attempts to call them, I called a nearby tire place instead. They said it could possibly be fixed if the hole was in the tread. I took it over there and they were able to clean out the latex, find the hole, and patch it. And the tire pressure monitoring system didn’t seem affected, so the grand total was $20, which was astounding. I can’t even get half a tank of gas for that.

I still need a new latex canister and the tube that connects to the tire is stripped, but new canisters seem to come with a tube, which is nice. I called the dealer to see how much a new canister of latex would cost and it is $62. However for $28 I can get a pump and latex canister from Amazon, so I ordered that kit by Slime which includes a separate pump and canister. Slime makes an all-in-one kit for SUV’s and trucks, but it is almost twice as much. Oddly the refills (22 oz) for that kit are less than the refills (15.2 oz) for the standard car all-in-one kit. The stand alone canister can be used with any inflator, too, so you aren’t getting into some kind of proprietary system, but that canister only has 14 oz. of fluid and they don’t make a bigger one.

My car probably needs 16.2 oz according to Slime’s calculator, though it may not be that exact of a science (the kit that came with the car had half a liter or 16.9 oz. The pump included in the kit I bought has what looks like the kind of attachment that a bicycle pump has, which hopefully will last longer than the plastic screw-on type, which stripped after only a few uses, mostly routine topping off of tire pressure.

After ordering the Slime kit, I found a review from Consumer Reports that tested a similar Slime kit that didn’t do well with 5.8mm size holes, but did well with 2.4mm holes. They recommended AirMan ResQ Pro+ kit which was able to fix bigger holes, which at the moment is only $60, so I cancelled my Slime order and got the AirMan. The nozzle on the AirMan is screw-on, but has brass threads, which should last a long time. The problem with it is replacing the latex cartridge (15.2 oz) is only $5 cheaper than the kit, which is ridiculous, but may be temporary. If I ever use the AirMan tube, I could still buy a Slime stand-alone canister for $15, with lesser performance. Unfortunately replacing the repair kit was 3 times as much as fixing the tire. And while the AirMan kit is about the same price as the dealer wanted to charge for a latex refill only, I do think this inflator will last longer on the usual fill-ups.