this happened right down the road from me..... so far, they have had around 70 people report tire damage to the company responsible, who is going to be replacing tires damaged.... im sure there were probably many more people who ended up with flays and changed them, or got somewhere else before they went flat.. and didnt contact anyone about it....

also sure scammers will be trying to get new tires as this gets out to more people...


this was a 30 mile section of highway btw.... with about 5 miles a two lane road, due to construction, so it shut the whole thing down for who knows how long...

the big sweeper trucks i was told suffered multiple flats while they were trying to clean up the mess / sweet that crap off the road.... im also sure the road sides are full of this crap, and will continue to provide flat tires to people who pull off the road for years to come...

also.. it was all aluminum.... so no joy for using magnets to pick it up.


http://www.courierpress.com/gleaner/metal-debris-closes-portion-of-audubon-parkway_48489251




you can see the metal on the highway here...

That will let the air out of your plans.

KILLDOZER LAUGHS AT YOUR PATHETIC METAL SHARDS!!!!

Note to self:
Update the tire repair kit in the truck.

SHTF side of the road tire repair service?
1 gold eagle for a tire plug?


Getting robbed and killed for my gold on side of road..

I got zero miles to bunker. about 30 feet.

I see the formation of an underground industry making caltrops to deny access to your location

Elector magnet on the front of lead BOV???


PITA45

Having an alternate way to get around this would be needed, not everyone knows their area very well to manage that.



I would plug my tires and run em best I could but I bet you are looking at multiple plugs and still going to have questionable tires when all is said and done.



In some cases I do have a spare set of rims with old cracked tires on them still, better than nothing I figure but not something to trust long term.



Expect more issues as economy gets worse and you really have to watch folks hurting your vehicle and then showing up to be paid to help repair it.



Some folks make their living just trolling the highway for stranded motorists and will offer to tow and repair your vehicle for you.  They generally own an old tow truck and are not operating as a full business, but dang can they look shady.  And I can look shady and they still look a lot shadier than me.



This is where going into the median to turn around or get around would require a bit of ground clearance and those with campers or trailers would need spare tires for the flats and clearance if playing in the median and 4x4 if it is wet.



And if people run searches this happens a few times a year across the country usually.  I remember one when I was a kid and luckily the police had shut the road down and set up a turn around so parents did not have damaged tires but dad did mention that pulling off in the breakdown lane for years to come would cause flats most likely.



Wonder if anyone has a test on car tires/passenger tires/ e rated truck tires for puncture resistance?



One thing I like about new tires with thick tread is I might get stuff in a tread block but it won't always go through.

I have had the best luck with BFG AT TA KOs driving over a lot of mesquite and cactus every week.
I had monthly flats with wranglers and toyos NONE with the BFGs.
I also have 2 spare sets of tires on rims at the BOL. And two spare BOVs.

My vette has runflats

How many 'Preppers' have done it or even could, use a plug kit to repair a tire along the road???





"That's what AAA is for"

The last set of tires I changed off my truck I brought one home and punched full of holes. Wife, kids and myself spent an afternoon plugging it. Reseating a bead with starter fluid is waaaay more exciting though

I can do that.

Yep...

I was changing a tire on the ATV and sprayed some inside and told my SO ---Watch this!

Set the tire on fire...

Call AAA or plug?

Carry plugs and compressor.

 

Was fueling up my old (now sold to China for paper clips) F150 and heard that telltale nail in tire sound. Plugged it, and pumped it up w/o leaving that spot at the pump. Plug was GTG until the truck was scrapped.

We were attempting to seat a huge stubborn tractor tire. Starter fluid didn't work, actually we consumed all the air in the tire and the fluid wouldn't light! We were at this for hours. Used all the tricks, but we were hell bent we weren't calling out a tire guy.

 

We ended up flooding the tire with oxygen from the cutting torch, gave a shot of starter fluid, and ran like hell. A pre-positioned guy with a lit road flare tossed it as soon as we were all clear.



The tire seated , but some shorts needed changing

Should have drove the street sweepers in reverse! Vaccum portion is on the rear of the truck....

Tire plugs can get you through it...

Bridgestone DriveGuard run-flat tire are one option (50 miles on a flat), although they are pricey.

In a pinch....if you really had to get moving again during a SHTF/EOTWAWKI scenario a few cans of expanding foam insulation would get you down the road......farmers use a similar concept to fill tires with foam.



Remove the valve stem and filler'er up!

Will that really work???

Does it matter which kind?

We use this foam all the time and it doesn't seem to have the strength to support a vehicle without 'crushing'.

I can compress this cured foam by hand easily.


I've got foamed tires on some manlifts and they are solid as a rock.

Its a special tire foam and if I remember correctly you couldn't drive over 45 MPH after treatment or adjust you pressure.
FYI the one time I used ether to seat a bead it blew a hole in the side wall!
I have found a ratchet strap to be much safer.

Plug kits and compressor in the bov.

 

You're all set!

Keep an eye on the glue, sometimes it leaks and goes bad.  I like the stuff from Walmart.



A couple months ago, I had to plug the left rear, then it leaked last week down to 20psi.

The plug from 2 months ago was leaking.

Looks like I didn't get glue inside the tire [didn't deflate it all the way], this time I did.


Be careful pushing the 'reamers' thru the steel belts.

The plastic handles can break and cause a bad day no Crazy Glue is going to fix.

We actually carry a few large magnetic sweepers on our heavy rescue to help clean stuff like that up.

lol

That's only one of a million things that will surely spoil the plans of the the "bug out" fantasy.

I have news for you... when the real SHTF if you aren't already at your BOL, then you aren't getting there or at least not with all the shit you bought at the Army/Navy Surplus store.

They must be fancy arfcom magnets to work on that debris.

According to the article, it was aluminum.



 

So if I understand you correctly....you are asking me to:

fill an old dry rotted trailer tire with great stuff and put it on a small 5x8 trailer with a couple hundred pounds on the trailer and drive it around to test this Redneck tire theory?



I have never tested this theory, but I do keep a can of great stuff foam in my trucks tool box, right next to the can of fix a flat, 12v compressor tire plugs and ratchet straps.

I dont see why it wouldn't work, I hear ya on the whole compression strength argument.....but the foam will be "contained" inside a tire with a seated bead; so at the very worse, the foam acts as a cushing effect (very similar to the Bridgestone drive flat tires design).

Shit...I was a head tire tech for around 8 years, I got this.
keep in mind...fix a flat shit will void most tire warranties. And to make sure you stuff gets done right...let the shop know you have fix a flat in the tire. Shit is real messy.

BFGs are good tires for this. They are run on desert racing truck for a reason. They are known for having more "plys" than other tires. I run Interco Super Swampers. They are bias ply and have 8 on the side wall. A Volvo suv clipped my rear tire and it tweaked the whole front clip of his volvo. His fenders had gaps that weren't there before. I had a hole int the side wall....9 plugs later I drove home and put my spare on.

you have magnets that work for non-ferrous metals?  interdasting...

ar-jedi  

Some good tips here.

Interesting I plug them on the truck while they're full of air. I never let them deflate all the way down. I have had some plugs start leaking and just replace them later.
If you let them deflate all the way down While driving  that's when you can Lose your bead and damage  your rim.
Be aware of your vehicle and don't wait until it's too late and it's gonna be a 20 minute roadside repair. If you feel a tire acting funky pull over and check it if you see something sticking out grab your kit pull it out of the tire jam a plug in their air it up and get back on the road it's a five-minute deal.
You can always redo it properly at your BOL.
Also guard your spare. I remember a time down in central Mexico working and coming up on a truck full of people who had a flat tire and they instantly jumped out and surrounded my jeep trying to figure out how to get my spare tire off the back it was uncomfortable few minutes explaining to them that it would not fit their truck.

Surprised nobody posted this yet.



ETA: Not sure if they are available yet but I will be looking into them.

They don't have those at my local Walmart.

My day got delayed by a bolt...Unrepairable or Unpatchable...punched a half inch hole through the steel belts...I am grateful that the wheel was not destroyed....


If I was in the area of that OP event:  Each time a kid bitched about not having an Ipahg87 I would take them to the start of the debris field and pay them ten cents a pound for the aluminum that they gathered.

Do today's tires and wheels completely preclude the use of inner tubes?
Are tubes even made for common tire sizes any more?
Obviously I haven't kept up with automotive repair stuff since I worked it as a kid.
(I imagine tire pressure monitor systems might interfere?)
I was thinking of the long range desert patrols in North Africa in WWII. They would carry a couple of tire/wheel combos but a bunch of tubes.
In the 70's my friend took his 4x4 to the end of Baja, Mexico with the same - couple of wheels with tires and several tubes.
Certainly patching and plugging (and a second set of tires) would still be the primary method of repair - just wondering.

This is definitely a problem in some other places.  Haven't heard of it happening here very often... yet.

I always keep an ample supply of plugs and patches on hand for all tires and tubes I use on everything I drive.

Keep a plug kit in my Jeep to.  I have used plugs many times.  Mostly on ATVs.

Inner tubes are from a different time.



To some extent I would say they could be fine for off road and very low speed use.



And I would not expect them to be used with tire pressure monitoring or anything else.  Not going to work.



I am also going to go ahead and say I would use em on old school tire sizes more than new school stuff.



If you have a very short sidewall like a lot of the new trucks ship with, doubt a tube is going to really work in that shape very well.  It will do something, not sure what.



But get into the old school stuff where you have a decent sidewall and size and that is more what some of it should function on.



Keep in mind if the tube does not fit right and winds up with any movement it can rub a hole in itself and now you get to plug it.



Before even thinking about tubes I think about some of the military rims from humvees and what not that people are putting on one ton trucks.  Some have run flat inserts.  Lots and lots and lots of posts about things not balancing well or not staying in balance well.



A runflat setup lets you have more choice in where you stop to fix things.



Runflat tires on cars are something where you need to read up on the tires and understand they can sacrifice their lifespan to get you down the road a few dozen miles.  Then you get into replacing em as well.



Runflat tire is different than runflat insert.



As far as expanding foam home insulation in a tire, I really don't see it working at all and I would expect the tire to develop hot spots and while it might not blow out without any air pressure I would expect it to fail in a spectacular fashion.



As far as the fix a flat stuff, does not work on larger holes or sidewalls from what I recall.  Put it in tire, then drive vehicle to distribute the stuff so it can find hole and work on filling it.



It makes future work on the inside of the tire a royal pain and it can throw off the balance if you let it sit in a puddle instead of driving the vehicle and distributing it around the tire.



It is not as big a deal if you start just tossing plugs in a tire.



Note that these days tire shops are to patch and plug a hole in a tire, not just plug it.  Sure plugs can work all by themselves and not every shop does thepatch and plug thing, but it is being pushed anyplace I asked.



Surprised no one said they run a snow plow 24/7/365 for instances when the road needs plowed of debris.  With a decent plastic bottom piece I don't know if it would work or not for this stuff, dad had a plow on a grand wagoneer when I was a kid so that is all I know about snow plows.



And this is just one rubber thing that can sideline your truck.  A serpentine belt letting go and taking out some radiator hoses can make a heck of a mess on the side of the road, and yeah the serpentine belt should have been replaced by dude a decade previous but it was still interesting to see it took out the hoses partially.  

Done and done ...............

The shards in the news were aluminum (non magnetic)

We call it cactus and mesquite

The problem is that this stuff expands and spreads force over a large area. It also starts to cure before it fills things like car tires evenly. Much like it will warp a door or window frame, it will sometimes blow the bead off the rim due to the small but distributed force of expansion. It is VERY useful for drive wheels that carry very little weight and don't flex like snowblower tires, but I have blown the tires off the rims with it. Also, in a vehicle application, it would greatly alter the balance and be limited to low speed use/short distance.

used to have to change tyres all the time. Part was the poorly kept roads in Argentina,  but most of all it was that small tyre repair shops all over the city would spike the roads themselves so as to get more business, so yes it was economic crisis related. With practice I got to change tyres pretty fast, but yes, it was a pain in the butt and you would pray you didn't bust another before getting the spare fixed. eventually you learned which roads and parts to avoid, but there were always suprises.  it was also a very common tactic used by criminals, forced you to stop kidnap/rob you. You also learned not to stop in certain areas, even with a flat tyre keep driving until you find a gas station or more people. Haven't had to repair a tyre since I left though
FerFAL

I have several 5 gallon buckets full of Caltrops of a rather innovative design. Very lightweight and cheap to make. They can be easily be handed out to several parties to quickly deny wheeled access to certain areas.

Sounds like a lot of towns in the US and muffler shops pushing for the installation of large speed bumps.  The street my office is on has about eight of them between the office and I-90.  Several coworkers have lost mufflers on them.z

I had about 5 flats with my BFGs in 20k miles. Was not impressed. Got my first flat with a real mud tire about 6 months ago after having them for about 5 sets.

WOW! what caused the flats?