4x4Review Off Road Magazine
Death, taxes…and flats on your ATV—there’s no escaping the inevitable. Particularly when you and your ATV venture off into the wild. Most ATV’s don’t carry a spare, which means you’re left with two options when the tire deflates: you can ride back to camp on the flat—not recommended if you value your tire or your rim; or you can fix the flat right on the spot. We recommend the second option.
While some riders have the foresight to pack a cheap tire plug kit, the dilemma plaguing ATV riders is how to get air back INTO the tire. Most ATV’s simply don’t have room in their storage lockers for portable air compressors.
Our friends at Safety Seal have the answer to this problem. Their ATV Tire Repair Kit manages to pack a repair kit and two small CO2 cartridges into a water-resistant container that fits into the smallest storage containers on most ATV’s. The kit includes two CO2 inflator cartridges, six repair plugs, an inflation adapter, and an ingenious plug insertion tool that uses the CO2 cartridge as a handle.
Since we didn’t have the luxury to wait for a flat tire, our cruel, slave-driving editor insisted we make our own flat. One thing we learned, ATV tires are extremely tough. We tried pounding a nail through the tire, then we tried ramming a screwdriver through it. This just doesn’t work like it does in the movies! We failed on both attempts and had to pull out the drill to get through the tire
Once we made our hole, we found that the repair process was very simple. It actually took us longer to make the hole than it did to plug it! The only thing we found lacking with the ATV Tire Repair Kit was a tool to cut off the end of the plug, so make sure you pack a set of side-cutters.
 The handy dandy Safety Seal kit |
 If at first you dont succeed… |
 …Try |
 ...Try again |
 Excellent space saving idea |
 Plug the leak |
 Inflate |
 Stow the kit |
A single CO2 cartridge was able to deliver about 2 PSI of pressure to our stock tires. We usually run our tires at 3-4 PSI, but on the trail, this would be plenty of pressure to get us back to base camp so we could finish airing up the tire. Alternatively, we could have simply added the second CO2 cartridge.
At $24.95, you really can’t go wrong with the Safety Seal Kit. We have tested other Safety Seal products before, and have never had a problem with a repair. This little kits takes up a small space, but fills a big need.
| Safety Seal |
| North Shore Laboratories Corporation 40-44 Endicott St. PO Box 568 Peabody, MA 01960 phone: 978-531-3044 toll free: 800-888-9021 fax: 978-531-5954 email: nslc@erols.com website: www.safetyseal.com |
