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Slime a good "investment" for AWD cars?

fuzzybabybunny

fuzzybabybunny

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I have a Subaru. A single tire blew at 30k miles and I ended up having to replace all 4 due to the AWD since that one tire was not repairable. I wasn't able to get a shaved tire due to logistical issues.

So this got me thinking - is it a wise idea to put Slime in all of my tires? I don't want a nail on the highway to end up tearing up the tire beyond repair. I want the tire to give the driver enough time to swap it out before it goes beyond repair, so I can avoid paying for 4 brand new tires.

Anyone have any experience with the effectiveness of Slime, Slime with TPMS sensors, and Slime maybe throwing wheels off balance?

Also, Slime doesn't spray out when you're manually deflating the tire, right? Since the Slime should be all concentrated at the bottom of the tire.
 
jlee said:
Why not just use your spare tire and then get the punctured tire repaired?
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My thoughts are to use Slime to prevent the quick destruction of the tire when it gets punctured. Sometimes you're driving on the highway, the TPMS sensor goes off, you pull over, put on the spare, and take the punctured tire to the shop only to learn that it is still too late to be saved because the punctured tire ran too long at highway speeds despite getting immediate attention.

So you've got the punctured tire that you have to scrap as unrepairable, which means you have to replace all 4 tires at once on an AWD car.

I'm hoping that using Slime will allow the punctured tire to more gradually lose pressure, increasing the chances of me pulling over before the tire has suffered irreparable damage.

I've had two tires get punctured and even with immediate attention they were still too late to be saved. Apparently it only takes like 30 seconds of driving on a flattening tire to render it unrepairable.
 
fuzzybabybunny said:
Not the same circumference as the other three tires. You'll still have to get all 4 tires replaced on an AWD car.
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You could always add it into your rotation constantly. Gets more complicated if you have directional tires (needing two). I don't think the tire sealant is much of a solution for your problem. It will mess with the balance and I think it is merely a temporary solution to get you to safety. I know some tire shops won't fix tires with goo in them. Mass tire replacement is just the price we pay for AWD. Considering you said you couldn't get something shaved because of logistics, I'm assuming you couldn't just save your other three good tires and get another one shaved later as a spare/next set.
 
My Subaru Crosstrek doesn't have an easy way to carry around a full sized spare anyway, and having a single spare in rotation would mean that at least one tire is always not the same size as the rest, placing constant strain on the tranny and diffs.

0 miles: five tires @ 100%

6k miles: rotate, three tires at 90%, one at 100%, and a 90% tire as the spare.

12k miles: three tires at 80%, one at 90%, and a 90% tire as a spare.

Etc, etc.

Nope, no place to store the other three tires.
 
I'd never put that crap in my tires, but it's your car. The times I had a punctured tire, they were easily repared. A punctured tire doesn't get damaged from driving around with a few less PSI in it, you'd have to drive with it being pretty flat.

I'm sure you could get away with replacing 2 tires at a time (fronts together, rears together), unless they were too worn down. Yours had 30K miles, it's not like they were new.
 
Maybe consider run flats if this is a major issue for you. Your TPMS sensors should go off in plenty of time for you not to have an issue with run flats (you still should have it towed if you need to salvage them for repair).

The downside is that they typically produce more road noise and are always more expensive than the equivalent non RF tire.
 
Does this apply to you? If so, it would allow you to drive for a while on the spare, until you can get a tire shaved to fit.
NOTE: If your vehicle is an AWD type with an automatic transmission but is neither a Turbo model nor a 3.0 or 3.6-liter model, deactivate its all- wheel-drive capability as follows: Before driving your vehicle with the temporary spare tire, put a spare fuse inside the FWD connector located in the engine compartment and confirm that the AWD warning light comes on. The all wheel drive capability of the vehicle has now been deactivated. After re-installing the conventional tire, remove the spare fuse from the FWD connector in order to reactivate all wheel drive.

For more information on tires and temporary spare tire usage, always consult your Subaru Owner's Manual since the above information may vary slightly from model to model.
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Worked at a tire shop in Highschool, do NOT use slime with aluminum wheels! We actually charged 25$ per tire extra if the customer had slime in them and the inside surface of aluminum wheels got really nasty black corroded junk on them. No TPMS sensors back then so I don't know the damage it would do to those. I like it in Bike tires and Offroad swampers as it helps balance the tires though.
 
Most reputable tire shops I know of will not repair a tire if fix a flat or tire slime has been used; even if the nail was in a repairable spot.

I would be careful with runflats as well. They will get you where you're going but from what I've seen running them low on pressure will still cause structural damage in the tire and you'll have to buy a new one anyway.
 
senseamp said:
I would just change the one tire and move on.
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Repairing your AWD transmission isn't cheap. They all have different tolerances regarding what sort of different they can take in overall wheel diameter. If the tires are really close to new, just swapping one isn't a big deal. Shaving is also always an option, but most local places don't do that (you have to order from tire rack). So you do have some downtime.

I wouldn't even drive my AWD car (Evo) with a spare on it. In the event that I have a flat I'll have it flat-bedded to my home and put an alternate set of wheels/tires on it until I can get a matching diameter tire shaved.
 
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Glad I got an extended warranty on my Outback.
Interesting info. Looks like there are a lot of used tires of various wear on ebay though, so I'd go that route.
 
Spicedaddy said:
I'd never put that crap in my tires, but it's your car. The times I had a punctured tire, they were easily repared. A punctured tire doesn't get damaged from driving around with a few less PSI in it, you'd have to drive with it being pretty flat.

I'm sure you could get away with replacing 2 tires at a time (fronts together, rears together), unless they were too worn down. Yours had 30K miles, it's not like they were new.
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You can't replace only two at a time on a Subaru.
 
Why does fuzzy have to make everything complicated? Putting slime in your tires is a bad idea.
 
do they have a spare? If so, you can drive it on that spare. The manufacturer is not going to sell a car that will harm itself short term. Go to a used tire store and they will find you a good match. Might take a couple of stores and a little time, but you will get a very close match.
1% of a 26 inch tire is .26. you could reasonably get to .05% with a little looking.
 
Jumpem said:
You can't replace only two at a time on a Subaru.
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If the 2 pairs are close enough in wear, why not?

It's not like a tiny difference in wear is going to screw up your AWD system. Of course, if you're running 2 shot tires and 2 new ones, then that's a bad idea even on a 2WD car.
 
OP states he has 30k on the odo.

Also, doesn't the current Impreza fit a full-size spare under the cargo floor if you remove the foam tray? They used to....
 
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