4x4Review Off Road Magazine
Flat tires suck. But, there’s no reason to fret the problem if you have the right tools. Safety Seal’s tire repair kits are quite different from most other’s in the market and here’s what sets them apart. Aside from their quality tools, the sturdy carrying case and the abundance of extra sealing cords (plugs), the manufacturing process of the cords themselves is what makes them great. Their cords employ 24 plies of a custom-made, high tensile strength (350 lb break strength) chemical resistant nylon yarn. Each yarn is immersed in their unique, proprietary rubber sealant system, which gives each cord 250% rubber-to-yarn mixture. Their patented manufacturing process also assures the final Safety Seal repair has an equal amount of rubber sealant throughout the Safety Seal repair.
This brings us to the part of the story of how we actually repair the flat tire. While we removed our tire from the truck, this can easily be done on the side of the road or on the trail too.
Step 1 |
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First, find the little (or big) culprit that is causing you your troubles. If you feel there might be multiple leaks, use some soapy water in a spray bottle and spray the tire tread liberally. If there’s any leaky air, it will be obvious (see picture), by frothing little bubbles. Clean the area, if needed, by removing any large amounts of dirt, mud or the likes so that you don’t push a bunch of crud into the hole.|
Step 2 |
  Next, remove the nail from the tire as seen in the picture. If the nail is relatively small, use the supplied Safety Seal spiral reaming tool to open the whole large enough to accept the Safety Seal plug cord. Trust us on this one, it’s a step you don’t want to forget, lest you enjoy hernia operations. Insert the reaming tool at least ¾ of the way into the tire tread and pull it out in the opposite direction of the spirals to scuff the sides. You may need to apply a bit of the Safety Seal lubricant to get the reamer in and out, we did. |
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Step 3 |
  You’ll now pull the plug cord through the eyelet of the plug cord “needle” (inserter tool). You may also want to apply a bit of lube to the eye of the needle and a tiny amount to half of the cord. Pulling the cord through the needle can be a bit of a chore and sometimes a pair of pliers will help you get it through, but it’s not necessary. |
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Step 4 |
  With the plug cord inserted into the plug needle tool, push the plug cord about ¾ of the way into the tire (imagine about one half of an inch or so sticking through into the tire). To remove the needle tool without pulling the cord out (here’s another feature that sets Safety Seal apart), firmly push down on the plug retainer ring until it’s sitting securely on the plug. Now pull the needle tool away from the tire and the plug will stay seated inside the hole, while the tool comes out of the tire. |
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Step 5 |
 To prevent the plug from getting caught on another obstacle while driving or wheeling your rig, we recommend that you clip the cord with a pair of side cutters (see picture) so that there’s about ¼” of cord plug showing. At this point you can now adjust your tire’s air pressure and be on your way. |
The whole process of fixing your tire only takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you’re going to do some serious off- roading, you may want to let the plug sit (without driving) for about 15 minutes for the vulcanization process to complete, and lessen the chance that you’ll rip the plug out of the tire.
Safety Seal insists that you shouldn’t plug the sidewall of a tire for safety reasons, and we agree. However, if you’re off-road and need to keep going, they do work wonders. In fact, we’ve had a Safety Seal plug in what is now our spare tire’s sidewall for more than 8 years! The plug cord is still supple and sealed completely.
| North Shore Laboratories Corp – Safety Seal® |
| 40-44 ENDICOTT STREET P.O. BOX 568 PEABODY, MA 01960 Phone: (800) 888-9021 Email: nslc@erols.com web site: www.safetyseal.com |
