What do you do if you have a flat tire

[Nexus6]

It is not 100%. Have you ever tried to remove Tesla wheel bolts? Or torque them to 129 ft-lbs.? I have done so multiple times to install accessories like a tow hitch on an MS. Cannot be done under normal roadside circumstances by a normal driver.

And what will you use for a jack? At home I have a lift and hydraulic jacks, but how many people have such roadside?

Spares on Cybertrucks are only for posers. Some owners are showing interesting and gnarly kit, but they couldn’t take one off or use the spare if their life depended on it without an impact wrench or a 2-ft breaker bar. And a good hydraulic jacks.

This is true too. That’s why I posted my kit for my CyberBeast and what I carry on my other Trucks. Everyone has their own use case. Prepare as needed.

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[Nexus6]

You CANNOT fix 99% of Tesla flats on the roadside. Impossible. Maybe 20-25% are susceptible to pug/slime/inflate kits. The rest are beyond self-help unless you carry a tire repair shop system and a huge unwieldy spare.

We will simply have to agree to disagree.

 

[Nexus6]

You CANNOT fix 99% of Tesla flats on the roadside. Impossible. Maybe 20-25% are susceptible to pug/slime/inflate kits. The rest are beyond self-help unless you carry a tire repair shop system and a huge unwieldy spare. I know how to turn a wrench, have self-supported around the world by motorcycle twice, and Alaska to Argentina twice. I wrench my antique cars, change lots of tires, have a lift and a tire changer.

The world has shifted as I explained above and most tire repairs are no longer self-service, no matter who you are nor what skills you have, unless you carry far more kit than is justified by the actual risk, and is self-defeating from a range perspective. You have a MUCH higher chance of needing a backup 12-volt battery for your Tesla than for a spare tire. Do you carry one?

100% of all the flats I have had, I have been able to self repair.
BTW-I do carry a 12v A23 battery to access the Frunk and a spare 12v battery bank in the Frunk in the event the Tesla 12v battery dies.
Having experienced the “Red Screen of Death” in my CyberBeast and completely dying on the side of the road, I recommend that as well.

 

[PungoteagueDave]

100% of all the flats I have had, I have been able to self repair.
BTW-I do carry a 12v A23 battery to access the Frunk and a spare 12v battery bank in the Frunk in the event the Tesla 12v battery dies.
Having experienced the “Red Screen of Death” in my CyberBeast and completely dying on the side of the road, I recommend that as well.

Impressive but why not just take along a Ford F-150 PowerBoost so you can recharge when empty (as the first Out-of Spec Alaska adventure did to span the wilderness areas without chargers)?

As I pointed out, the diminishing returns of carrying spares, including 12-volt batteries, is obvious, especially in the EV world where weight is the enemy. Your experience with flats is anecdotal and does not apply to 80% of flats, including on-road tire hazards. For off-road air loss, which usually involves sidewalls or large gashes,m inflation and repair kits are useless.

I’ve self-repaired a lot of motorcycle tires by the side of the road in places like the Andes, Rwanda, Iceland, New Zeland and Siberia. I once repaired a punctured tube at the North Pole (literally) after the screws that were installed in Murmansk Russia to ride on the ice became dislodged inside the tire casing and split the tube. I know how to do tire repair and am capable - but I could not do it with reasonable kit on my Cybertruck in 80% of normal flat cases.

We need a real strategy, and we have one. It is called roadside assistance, which is effective and fast. Cybertrucks are not driven on African mud roads, Peru’s high Andes or Saharan deserts, places where I have had flats - CTs are the purest form of first world vehicle and have first world support. When I leave the first world, I become self-supporting. That isn’t required or even rational in the U.S.

How do you remove and reinstall 129-ft-lb lug bolts? How do you get the truck off the ground? If you say you have a hydraulic jack and an impact wrench, it only further proves my point. Diminishing returns plus inapplicable to most owners on this forum.

 

[Nexus6]

Impressive but why not just take along a Ford F-150 PowerBoost so you can recharge when empty (as the first Out-of Spec Alaska adventure did to span the wilderness areas without chargers)?

As I pointed out, the diminishing returns of carrying spares, including 12-volt batteries, is obvious, especially in the EV world where weight is the enemy. Your experience with flats is anecdotal and does not apply to 80% of flats, including on-road tire hazards. For off-road air loss, which usually involves sidewalls or large gashes,m inflation and repair kits are useless.

I’ve self-repaired a lot of motorcycle tires by the side of the road in places like the Andes, Rwanda, Iceland, New Zeland and Siberia. I once repaired a punctured tube at the North Pole (literally) after the screws that were installed in Murmansk Russia to ride on the ice became dislodged inside the tire casing and split the tube. I know how to do tire repair and am capable - but I could not do it with reasonable kit on my Cybertruck in 80% of normal flat cases.

We need a real strategy, and we have one. It is called roadside assistance, which is effective and fast. Cybertrucks are not driven on African mud roads, Peru’s high Andes or Saharan deserts, places where I have had flats - CTs are the purest form of first world vehicle and have first world support. When I leave the first world, I become self-supporting. That isn’t required or even rational in the U.S.

How do you remove and reinstall 129-ft-lb lug bolts? How do you get the truck off the ground? If you say you have a hydraulic jack and an impact wrench, it only further proves my point. Diminishing returns plus inapplicable to most owners on this forum.

Dude, I’m really impressed with your “resume” I’m not arguing with you.
This is my Kit.
Pretty minimal in lieu of carrying a Full Size Spare and Jack. This would take care of 100% of the flats that I have experienced without having to call Roadside Assistance.. Like I said before, everyone's use case is different. Prepare accordingly.

If you want to continue on your rant, please do. Frankly it’s not constructive input and no one is listening at this point.

 

[CyberGus]

I've never removed a wheel to patch a tire. I roll until the puncture is exposed.

 

[REM]

I’d rather be self reliant and save time by just fixing 99.99% of flats and get on my way instead of waiting forever, looking like an idiot on the side of the road that doesn’t know how to turn a wrench.

I hear ya, but I value my life more than that. An insane amount of people die each year getting flattened by highway drivers texting instead of paying attention.

I'd rather have it towed to a shop.

 

[Nexus6]

I hear ya, but I value my life more than that. An insane amount of people die each year getting flattened by highway drivers texting instead of paying attention.

I'd rather have it towed to a shop.

I hope everyone driving a CyberTruck has the intelligence and situational awareness to notice a low tire pressure warning and pull off the highway to inspect and repair as necessary. If it’s that .01% of a catastrophic failure, then you’re SOL and you’re going to have to get it towed.. unless you’re in the camp of some of these guys that do carry a Full Size spare and jack.

 

[jimbaum]

I ran over a roofing nail and discovered it with the low-pressure indicator, which came on around 36 psi or so. Luckily, I do carry a Dewalt compressor so I inflated the tire back up to 50 psi and have driven it several hundred miles until I could take it into Discount Tire. I needed the tires to be rotated so the timing was perfect....so I thought.

After they removed the tire, they brought it in the lobby where I was waiting and showed me the nail through the tire, right in the center. However, it was a couple of inches from this box-looking sensor (sorry, should've taken a picture) on the inside of the tire. They told me that the nail was too close to the sensor for their repair method, and thus, the tire could not be repaired.

I suppose my best (cost-effective) method would be to use the plug kit. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a new tire just for one nail. The leak is slow enough atm so I continue to roll with it.

 

[65SoYoLO]

This thread has made me seriously consider getting a patch kit and carrying my Fantek air compressor ($50 from Costco) in the truck. I know the compressor wouldn't be able to inflate a totally flat tire but it'd at least be something.

For the tire sludge stuff (like the Tesla one), I remember reading how it makes cleaning up the wheel a pain.

you also don't want to use that with the PSI sensors inside the wheel.

 

[Jhodgesatmb]

New Cybertruck owner of only a week. I hadn't really thought about this until I picked up the Cybertruck and noticed there is no spare.
It's not like you can carry a donut . What does one do if you have a flat? Will AAA do anything? Would you have to get a tow?

Many new cars these days don’t come with a spare :-(

you can call Tesla service and they’ll come fix you up if you are urban/suburban but they may take a while

You can get a bottle jack as others have reported here, and maybe a patch kit.

 

[65SoYoLO]

If you want to continue on your rant, please do. Frankly it’s not constructive input and no one is listening at this point.

Try the ignore button. It works. I have the same compressor, might have even bought it due to your post, don't remember. But I use it a lot, going out on the beaches here on long island. I have had a 12v compressor that was no where near as fast as this one but it was quick enough if I needed it on my road trips. I have two jacks, air hose, blocks of wood to raise the jacks so I am out of room in the trunk. I keep the compressor in the back seat.

 

[riggster]

It is not 100%. Have you ever tried to remove Tesla wheel bolts? Or torque them to 129 ft-lbs.? I have done so multiple times to install accessories like a tow hitch on an MS. Cannot be done under normal roadside circumstances by a normal driver.

And what will you use for a jack? At home I have a lift and hydraulic jacks, but how many people have such roadside?

Spares on Cybertrucks are only for posers. Some owners are showing interesting and gnarly kit, but they couldn’t take one off or use the spare if their life depended on it without an impact wrench or a 2-ft breaker bar. And a good hydraulic jack.

I change my wheels every winter, and I don't think the lug nuts are hard to change at all. I use a 26-inch torque wrench to break the nuts, and of course, to do the final torque. Less than 70 pounds of force required. I wish I had a lift, but I'm slumming it with a hydraulic jack.

 

[Docedward]

I ran over a roofing nail and discovered it with the low-pressure indicator, which came on around 36 psi or so. Luckily, I do carry a Dewalt compressor so I inflated the tire back up to 50 psi and have driven it several hundred miles until I could take it into Discount Tire. I needed the tires to be rotated so the timing was perfect....so I thought.

After they removed the tire, they brought it in the lobby where I was waiting and showed me the nail through the tire, right in the center. However, it was a couple of inches from this box-looking sensor (sorry, should've taken a picture) on the inside of the tire. They told me that the nail was too close to the sensor for their repair method, and thus, the tire could not be repaired.

I suppose my best (cost-effective) method would be to use the plug kit. I certainly wouldn't want to buy a new tire just for one nail. The leak is slow enough atm so I continue to roll with it.

This made me scratch my head and go down the rabbit hole with Grok!

“The “mysterious box” described in the story is most likely the Cerebrum Smart Tire Tread Sensor used in the Tesla Cybertruck’s OEM tires. This sensor is distinct from the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) sensor, which is mounted on the wheel’s valve stem. The Cerebrum sensor is embedded inside the tire, typically within a rubber sleeve underneath the acoustic-dampening foam, and is designed to monitor tire tread wear and road conditions in real-time. Its box-like appearance can sometimes be mistaken for debris or a nail when tires are inspected after being unmounted.

The video below by an expert car mechanic explains it thoroughly.



…the more you know…

 

[PungoteagueDave]

I've never removed a wheel to patch a tire. I roll until the puncture is exposed.

Of course. But most flats aren’t punctures.

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