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Used Sealant To Repair Flat, Permanent Fix?

C

Carbo

Diamond Member
Much rain here in Florida lately. Drove through a puddle, came out of the grocery store 10 minutes later and front tire was flat.
2025 Civic, no spare, just a compressor and bottle of sealant in the trunk. Never used sealant to repair a flat. Is this considered permanent, or a temp fix requiring a shop to inspect and plug/patch the tire?
I also read online that the sealant can do damage in the long run and needs to be flushed out. True, or more internet nonsense? The bottle of OEM sealant needs to be replaced. Honda quoted me $67! Are other brands sufficient?
 
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Temp.
AFAIK sealant supposedly messes up TPMS sensors. I haven't heard it being damaging to rubber or the wheel.
I doubt there is anything special about Honda branded sealant.
 
BoomerD said:
Get the tire repaired and the goop out as soon as possible.
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I second that motion. Here in So-Cal, the tire-repair people who have Latino employees call "Fix-a-Flat" "Leche" -- Milk.

It upsets tire balance. It works fine, if you just use it to get somewhere so they can remove the tire and fix the flat -- removing the "Leche" in the process.

And be sure that they do that -- remove the goo.
 
Greenman said:
Some shops won't touch a tire that has sealant in it.
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Three shops I contacted refused to repair the tire, claiming the patch won't adhere. Screw it. Bought a new tire. Sucks since the car has only 3600 miles on it. Bigger issues to concern myself with. . .it's Sunday. . .will the NY Giants ever win another football game?
 
I've never had a car with this stuff as a substitute for a real spare tire. But of I did get one, my first act would be to buy a real spare and ditch the "goop".
 
I wouldn't buy a car unless it had a full sized tire included. We went through this 15 years ago when my wife bought her last vehicle. I paid extra for the spare tire, but it was worth it.
 
A plug kit & pump is worth keeping in the car. Aside from catastrophic failure, most repairs can be finalized on the roadside. It isn't a fun job, especially on low slung modern cars, but it's a low skill task.
 
lxskllr said:
A plug kit & pump is worth keeping in the car. Aside from catastrophic failure, most repairs can be finalized on the roadside. It isn't a fun job, especially on low slung modern cars, but it's a low skill task.
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It's been my understanding that radial's shouldn't ever be plugged, has that changed?
 
Greenman said:
It's been my understanding that radial's shouldn't ever be plugged, has that changed?
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I've never heard that. Don't bias ply always use tubes? I /think/ it might be unlawful for a professional to plug a tire in MD. I was told that by someone a long time ago, but without looking it up, I can't confirm. I've plugged a lot of tires over the years, and aside from *ridiculous circumstances, I've never had a failure.

*Years ago, I hit something on the road, and it looked like a piece of rebar went through the tire. I put 6 plugs in it, and was able to get it 50mi home with one stop to top up the air. Most recently, I got another big hole, put three or four plugs in it, but it was still leaking fast. Got me 15mi to the shop to get the tire swapped out.
 
Back in the day I used screws in my tractor tires, and lags a couple of times when I drove half inch rebar into them. They were water filled so minor leaks weren't a problem.
 
Where I am (Ontario, Canada) I've never heard of a ban on plugs. Many small punctures I've had over the years have been repaired that way by my nearest garage, and they have never been a problem. In fact for most cases the have removed the tire from the rim to remove the item (nail, etc), clean the tire inside and out, install the plug with glue and trim it, then often add a patch inside to ensure no leakage. It's been a long time since it have had bias-ply, but i am sure the same techniques were used on those tires, too.
 
Plugs can work on parts of the tire...but, (obviously) not the sidewall, and should be avoided for the shoulder of the tread.

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However, if you're out in the middle of nowhere, a plug kit MIGHT get you into civilization where you can get the tire fixed properly...or replaced.
 
Reading through the posts here, I'm just going to continue carrying a can of Fix-a-Flat in my Trooper, and if I have to replace a tire, then -- so be it.
 
BonzaiDuck said:
Reading through the posts here, I'm just going to continue carrying a can of Fix-a-Flat in my Trooper, and if I have to replace a tire, then -- so be it.
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It's better than being stranded in some out of the way place, maybe with no cell signal.
 
I consider any sealant or plugs a temporary repair and you should have it properly patched from the inside. Sealants leave a mess inside the tire and creates extra work when you have the tire fixed or replaced at a shop.
 
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watdahel said:
I consider any sealant or plugs a temporary repair and you should have it properly patched from the inside. Sealants leave a mess inside the tire and creates extra work when you have the tire fixed or replaced at a shop.
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I'm with you here. I run 6 ply truck tires and they're to expensive to toss because of a simple puncture.
 
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Greenman said:
The Trooper doesn't have a spare tire?
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YES -- it does. It's never been on the road. It has been under the vinyl zip cover with the Trooper logo, which I have restored and repaired. It HAS to be 30 years old!! But it looks "brand new". Perhaps no damage from ozone or UV. It's a spare tire. But I use the fix-a-flat if I can -- because it's easier.. If I find that my repair shop will not remove "Leche" from a tire when I bring the car in for tire repair, I'll consider something else.

I think I may replace my tires -- the four on the road -- by next spring, even though I could probably "get by" another year. It seems like there's plenty of tread now, but these tires are at least 4 years old, with a CARFAX estimate of 20,000 remaining miles.

I"m old, cautious and willing to pay a little more for good rubber.
 
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