# What's causing my flat tires? Need answer fast **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2013, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255 "2013-07-22T21:32:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/21 "2013-07-23T04:42:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > **What’s causing my flat tires? Need answer fast** that should be What’s causing my flat tires? Need answer about a flat. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/22 "2013-07-23T08:53:19Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] It turns out that there was a staple-like object embedded in the tire… I highly doubt it could have been in there without causing an _immediate_ flat… [/QUOTE] I’ve had slow punctures where the offending object was still stuck in the tyre. While it’s still there it is (mostly) plugging the hole. It’s only when it comes out that the tyre goes blurg. Hint, if you can see a thorn poking into your tyre, don’t pull it out until you get home. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/23 "2013-07-23T14:16:06Z")
a foreign object in a tubeless tire might hold air, while removing it might cause a faster leak. replacing or patching a tubed tire without removing the foreign object might hold air for a day or two until the foreign object has caused a new puncture of the tube. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/24 "2013-07-23T14:51:01Z")
My tires have steel mesh in them (steel belted?) When the tire was punctured the steel threads rubbed the new tubes, causing more flats. Took me a few tubes to figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![austerity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@austerity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/austerity)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/25 "2013-07-23T16:17:59Z")
Here is a tip to make your own flat resistant tire/tube without paying big bucks for those heavy duty tubes and kevlar tires. Take old tubes and cut out the stem. Then make a cut down the inner circumference. Then stuff a new tube inside like a hot dog. Wrap as many tubes around the new tube as you want. Then take an old tire and cut off the bead, then stick the old tire inside the new tire. Then put in the tube wrapped like a hot dog. Now you have the most flat resistant tire imaginable. The only thing that can flat it would be a nail that would have flat a truck tire as well. Yes, the new tire is really heavy with massive rolling resistance but when commuting, reliability is more important than speed. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/26 "2013-07-23T17:36:24Z")
I can’t quite picture that… How do you air it up enough? (Not snarking, really curious) ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/27 "2013-07-23T17:49:42Z")
> [@austerity](#): > > Here is a tip to make your own flat resistant tire/tube without paying big bucks for those heavy duty tubes and kevlar tires. > > Take old tubes and cut out the stem. Then make a cut down the inner circumference. Then stuff a new tube inside like a hot dog. Wrap as many tubes around the new tube as you want. > > Then take an old tire and cut off the bead, then stick the old tire inside the new tire. Then put in the tube wrapped like a hot dog. > > Now you have the most flat resistant tire imaginable. The only thing that can flat it would be a nail that would have flat a truck tire as well. > > Yes, the new tire is really heavy with massive rolling resistance but when commuting, reliability is more important than speed. Where’s the not-sure-if-serious smiley? Most reliable way of avoiding flats is to run a tubeless set-up on a mountain bike - extremely reliable nowadays. Go years between flats and that’s riding on rocky trails, let alone tarmac. It’s not a general solution, though, as the financial outlay for a tubeless rim and tyre is not worth it for the type of bike most people commute on (although it can be done on the cheap). Plus not everyone wants to commute on a mountain bike. Tubeless clincher tyres for road or hybrid wheels is a bit hit and miss AFAIK. I would love to run a reliable tubeless set-up on the cyclocross bike I commute on, but tubeless clinchers at 60 psi, on a non-tubeless rim, isn’t a good recipe for reliability from what I hear. ---
**Author:** ![Carlarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Carlarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlarm)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/28 "2013-07-23T18:46:07Z")
Don’t disagree with any of the above. Several years ago my son was constantly getting flat tires from thorns. Installed slime in the tubes and no flats since then. Slime is a green gooey concoction that you put into the tube. When a small puncture occurs some leaks out, hardens and seals the hole. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/29 "2013-07-24T01:49:26Z")
I am actually commuting on a mountain bike, but that’s only because I don’t want a bike I can’t cross a grassy field with, and the used bike shop didn’t have any hybrids. Once I can afford a new bike, I’ll get a hybrid. But rolling resistance is not something I’m willing to ignore entirely in favor of reliability: I might try the nested-tubes thing, but nesting the tires as well would make the resistance absolutely terrible. ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/30 "2013-07-24T15:44:29Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > The recommended PSI is usually printed on the tire sidewalls, just like for car tires. For car tires, the sidewall of the tire usually indicates the maximum safe inflation pressure for that particular tire, but that’s NOT the same as the recommended pressure for the tires on a given car, which is commonly listed on a sticker in the door jamb and/or in the owner’s manual. A given tire could end up on any number of cars, and there’s no way for a tire manufacturer to know how the tire should be inflated on a Ford sedan vs. a Honda coupe, for instance. Basically, always inflate to the pressure listed by your CAR manufacturer, not the one on the sidewall – that’s just a max pressure for the tire that you should not exceed. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/31 "2013-07-24T16:36:53Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > Bad valve stem. Or bad valve. > > Although a run of bad valves would be pretty epic bad luck. Granted that the problem is already solved, but just as another data point: I had a wheel rim that was cutting into the base of the valve stem. I never figured out why it started doing that–the wheel was several years old–but I wound up using a Dremel smooth grinder and buffer to ensure that the edge of the hole for the valve stem was free of sharp edges and burrs and that fixed a problem that had bugged me for a week or so. (As a daily commuter, problems that last more than one day are insufferable.) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255/32 "2013-07-24T18:42:16Z")
> [@SpeedwayRyan](#): > > For car tires, the sidewall of the tire usually indicates the maximum safe inflation pressure for that particular tire, but that’s NOT the same as the recommended pressure for the tires on a given car, which is commonly listed on a sticker in the door jamb and/or in the owner’s manual. A given tire could end up on any number of cars, and there’s no way for a tire manufacturer to know how the tire should be inflated on a Ford sedan vs. a Honda coupe, for instance. > > Basically, always inflate to the pressure listed by your CAR manufacturer, not the one on the sidewall – that’s just a max pressure for the tire that you should not exceed. Whoops, thanks for the correction! My mistake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-causing-my-flat-tires-need-answer-fast/664255.md?page=1)