DIY: Mending flat tyre

The nastiest misadventure you could ever have on the road is a tyre puncture. Nothing ruins the mood worse than having a flat tyre right in the middle of nowhere. Things turn to nightmare if you don’t have a spare tyre.
However, thanks to technology, gone are the days when you needed to fully deflate the tyre; pull the tube out of it and inflate and immerse in water to check for leakages and then attending to them, applying glue; and leaving it to dry and hold on to the puncture patch.
Today, almost in all cases, cars run on tubeless tyres, and the tyres in most cases don’t lose the air pressure much instantly. The tyre compound grips on to the object that pierces into the tyre avoiding air leakage. But if the cut is big enough you might have to replace the tyre or mend the puncture if you don’t have a spare wheel.
Anyhow you will still need to mend the tyre once you are back, and the good thing is mending a pierce on the tubeless is not at all that hectic. All it needs is a puncture repair kit (worry not, it is very small in size), and a bit of patience.
For repairing a tubeless tyre puncture, you will need the following equipment:
•Pliers – To extract the puncture causing object.
•Smoothening tool – To ensure that the sides are smoothened out for the puncture strip to be applied.
•Puncture repair strips.
•Puncture Strip Insertion Tool.
•Knife/Blade – To cut off excessive repair strip protruding out.
•Portable air-pump – To inflate the tyre post repair.
1. Dismount the tyre from the vehicle. Locate and pull out the puncture causing object (nail in most cases) from the tyre using pliers.
2. Insert the smoothening tool into the cavity (hole) caused by the object. Insert and extract a few times to make sure the puncture hole is smooth and big enough to accommodate the repair strip. Leave the tool half-inserted, so that the remaining air (if any left), does not escape.
3. Take one puncture repair strip and insert halfway through into the eye of the puncture strip insertion tool (Just like threading a needle).
4. Take out the smoothening tool and simultaneously insert the plug in the hole. When you pull the strip insertion tool out, the strip should be left in the hole. Insert to the extent that about 10mm of the strip is left outside.
5. Trim the excess strip protruding out of the tyre with knife/blade.
You are good to go. Drive safe.