Roadside Safety: Slime’s Flat Tire Repair Kit Is Easier Than A Spare

The average driver will experience five flat tires in their lifetime. While some unlucky individuals may experience more and others fewer, getting a flat tire appears to be something that will happen to everyone who climbs behind the wheel.

To prepare for the inevitable, Slime – a company obsessed with solving flat tire problems for more than 30 years – has come up with a handy digital Flat Tire Repair Kit that offers peace of mind, additional safety, and a way to get most motorists back on the road in just minutes without the traditional pain and hassle.

The Flat Tire Repair Kit (about $50 on Amazon) is entirely self-contained in a pouch about the size of a fat cereal box – it’s compact enough to fit under the rear cargo floor in most crossovers. In a miracle of packaging, the Flat Tire Repair Kit is both a tire sealant and a compressor. And, when used correctly, it can get most drivers back on the road in fewer than 10 minutes.

The Flat Tire Repair Kit is designed to repair flats from nails and screws, which are the leading cause of a perfect tire going flat (other leading flat tire causes are leaky valve stems, bead leaks, and tire separation, which are all caused by age or poor maintenance).

In most cases, late-model vehicles will alert the driver to a flat tire via the TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System). Once alerted, the driver should pull safely off the road and come to a stop.

Traditionally, the next step was to pull out a rickety jack, remove the tire with undersized tools, and then hope the spare tire was inflated – more often than not, it was flat. The process would take about 30 minutes, even under ideal conditions. It was miserable in the rain, and downright dangerous if the ground was soft, or sloped.

The Flat Tire Repair Kit, on the other hand, dramatically simplifies the process and is much safer. Regardless of the weather, ground, or slope, all the driver has to do is remove the kit from its plastic pouch and follow some easy steps:

1. Turn the dial to select “Air + Sealant”

2. Connect the hose to the valve stem

3. Plug the inflator into the vehicle’s 12-volt outlet

4. Push the green button to turn it ON (wait until the tire is filled to pressure)

The built-in compressor will automatically force air and tire sealant into the tire through the valve stem. The sealant contains a coagulant (it works on punctures up to ¼” across) that finds and seals the hole while the compressor brings the tire up to operating pressure. In most cases, the vehicle is back on the road within 10 minutes!

The vehicle is safe to drive to the destination, but the driver should take it to a tire shop within the next day or two to have the tire professionally inspected and patched (let the technician know that Slime tire sealant has been used).

Putting Slime’s Flat Tire Repair Kit to the ultimate test, I pulled a van into a parking lot and used a drill to drive a screw into one of its tires – almost sacrilegious. Of course, it went flat within a minute. I followed the kit’s instructions, and it worked perfectly. It took about 10 minutes to bring the tire up to pressure. The only unexpected part was watching the tire ‘bleed’ white sealant until it coagulated – everything else was exactly as advertised. (Later, I learned that Slime sells refill kits for the tire sealant, so it’s not a one-time-use product.)

Slime sells a version for Cars and one for Trucks/SUVs/Vans (it has more sealant). Although slightly different sizes, both work identically. They provide a quick, safe, and nearly effortless way to get a vehicle with a flat tire back on the road, without the inconvenience and danger of using a spare.