Garage flat fixer?

You could invest something like this. Just go to your local welding store and get a tank of nitrogen and the correct regulator so you can hook up an air hose on there and regulated to 100 psi. I use this to fill my tires with all nitrogen in all my cars, in case anyone wonder, you can fill, release, fill, release to exchange the current air in your tires to nitrogen. In the long run your tires will maintain air pressure a lot longer than just regular air, there are much less air pressure flectuations due to temperature as there are no moisture in nitrogen. etc......
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Buy a compressor!!! The small ones aren't that expensive. If you don't want to anty up for a compressor, buy a portable air tank and fill it up at the service station and keep it in the garage. You've probably got a small pinhole leak somewhere in the tire. The valve stem itself might need to be tightened with a valve stem tool. Fix-a-flat does work on small leaks. I've used it before on a nagging tire that would leak down after a few days. It wasn't convenient to go to the tire store for a few days so I used a can of fix-a-flat. A friend of mine told me that he drove 20,000 miles on a tire that was repaired with fix-a-flat back in the days when 10 bucks for a used tire was not available.

 

Sell the Ferrari
Rgds,
Vince

 

I wouldn't use fix-a-flat if you're someplace you can fix it properly. IMO f-a-f's are for emergency roadside situations.

Get yourself a plug kit from auto store or WalMart and keep that on hand. They're not hard to use and are very effective. Get a compressor from Sears for $169 or so and keep it in your garage so you can manage your tire pressures year round much more conveniently.

 

I would never use a fix a flat in any of my cars unless I was stranded in middle of no where. Wait, actually even when stranded in middle of no where I would not use fix a flat. It will take forever when you change your tires to get all the glue stuff out from the rims, or when you actually get the chance to repair the puncture. The gluey stuff in the little can of fix a flat is so nasty it does not come off! Especially if you ever get any on the paint.

I keep a set of the old school flat repair tool in the trunk of all my cars, t-handle sticky rubber rope insert tool, and a small 12v air compressor. Pretty much fixes any flat you get on the fly and gets you back on the road again even without removing the wheel. And when you can get to a tire shop.... maybe 3000 miles later they can remove the plug and patch it from the inside, if you are anal about fixing a puncture properly.


I know most Ferrari owners wouldn't bother getting their hands dirty, but trust me when there is no one to help.....

Here is an example of the tools, you can get them almost anywhere. Pep Boys, Walmart... etc...

http://www.safetyseal.com/store/autokits.htm

 

You can buy a air tank from Pep Boys for $25, fill it up at the gas station and then fill the flat tire. Easiest and the cheapest method. DO NOT use those aerosal fix a flat in a can. They will ruin the tire and the tire will never be in balance again. And then when you go to replace the tire, you will have quite a mess on your hands. Those cans are like when your in the middle of the dessert with no water kind of emergencys. As far as using a plug to repair the tire, this is also a last resort option. Plugs will not last and are in fact against the law to use in some states. Addiditionally, you have to enlarge the hole when using the plug method. Again, not what I would want to do to my tire. The prefered method is to dismount the tire and apply a hot patch to the inside of the tire. If the hole is on the shoulder or into the sidewall, the tire is junk and will need to be replaced. Hope this helps.

 

Take the wheel/tire to your tire man and have it tanked. My slow leak was porous wheel (mag) and the occasional bubble pin pointed the location. At this point you 'think' it may be valve stem...find out for certain.

 

A couple cheap options:

If you have a Harbor Frieght store nearby they sell a coiled up 20 ft hose with a screw on fitting on one end and a regular air chuck on the other. I keep one in all my vehicles since they are $4 along with a plug kit. The idea being if you come out and your tire is flat you just screw one end on the tire of the car parked next to you and fill your tire with the air chuck on the other end. I guess you could use a little air out of the other 3 tires on your car but doesn't make as good a story.

Then theres always the old reliable bicycle pump.

Buy a cheap 12volt compressor that plugs in a cigarette lighter for $20

Take the tire off and bring it somewhere.

Buy a cheap compressor. You can get a decent compressor and cheap air tools for under $100 and you will be surprized how handy it is. Even if you have nothing but an air chuck to fill tires and a blow gun to blow things off.

 

Call the dealer immediately!
Do not take a chance by jacking the car up and taking the wheel off to get repaired.
Do not fill the tire with non-factory authorized gasses.
Ricambi sells some factory authorized air packs I think.
The factory recommends changing all the gasses every two years now since the ozone layer is always changing.

BT

 

I bought a cheap ($20) compresser and it's the best investment I've made in a while. I use it for the 4 cars, kid's bikes and assorted inflatable toys (no, not THOSE kind!). It works off the cigarette lighter which is a PITA to some extent, so you might want to avoid that.

I checked the dial gauge on it against about 5 of the cheapo pencil types I had lying around, and amazingly enough 4 of them agreed with the dial to 1 pound! I didn't think the pencil ones were any good, but 4 out of 5 were.

Ken

 

ROFL!!

It's a flat tire, put some air in it and go!