During my Help the Earth - Silver Giveaway, I mentioned that my car tire had a slow leak in it (in this article), and instead of replacing the tire, I planned to ride on it for a long while, while occasionally refilling it with air. Since I thought the leak was coming from sidewall damage to my tire, I assumed I would be forced to replace it at some point once the side wall busted completely. Even still, I planned on replacing it with a used tire.
Today turned out to be the day where the slow leak turned into a fast leak, and forced me to pit stop and get air on the way back from garden #2. By the time I got home it was flat again, so I knew it was time to take action.
When I looked down at the tire this time however, I noticed something new I had not seen before. At first I thought it was a nail, but it turned out to be a tiny screw my tire picked up that was on the tire TREAD! At this point, I could hear hissing coming from the area where this foreign object had penetrated, and knew immediately that was the source of the air leak.
Photo of the actual screw pulled out of my tire today
Fortunately I have some experience repairing punctures in tire holes that are on the TREAD side of the tire - that I would like to share with you. If you ever have a leak from either sidewall of your tire, ALWAYS replace the tire for safety reasons. Plugging a puncture on you side wall will likely lead to your tire exploding. If this happens at high speeds, it is almost always disastrous.
Being thrifty and using your resourcefulness by re-using things that you think may be broken beyond repair, can not only save you money, but can also minimize your personal pollution (carbon footprint) on the Earth. Even if an item can never function again, you can occasionally dissect that item and use its parts/materials for other things (up-cycling).
Sometimes it is necessary to replace an item with a new or used one, however it is our responsibility as custodians of the earth, to do everything in our power to minimize our negative environmental impact, by using what we already have around us, instead of buying new things, that in turn creates more production of those items, and more waste from you.
In this video I demonstrate the proper way to patch a tire hole using minimal hand tools and zero electricity (start to finish), show off some tools I have saved from being throw away by others (acquired either for free or $1), and even go as far as hand pumping the air to help reduce my environmental impact even more. Some things take dedication... like churning butter. Click pic below to play:
Do not be so quick to replace your tire next time it goes flat, and PLEASE, DO NOT use Fix-A-Flat. That stuff only works maybe 50% of the time, puts weird green liquid in your tire that is a mess for the next person who takes your tire off the rim, is MORE EXPENSIVE than a complete tire repair kit, and probably creates more pollution by manufacturing those chemicals, than the rubber for a brand new tire...
P.S. - On the way home from the farm today, we were driving north on I-5 and I sh*t you not, this Lay's chip bag came flying strait at my car and stuck between my side mirror exactly as shown in the photo below.
As soon as that happened, I pulled the piece of garbage into my vehicle, and placed it in our recycling bin when I got back. Just one more little hit I stopped from hurting the Earth today.
Blessings everyone & stay tuned - into the right frequencies
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