road trip

[2late4u]

well just got back from our 40 day trip to vegas and back from alabama, 4540 miles round trip used 193.4 gal of gas, for a total of $384.99. avg price of gas was $1.99 gallon with the cheapest in oklahoma city for $1.75 a gallon. avg mpg 23.47 for the whole trip, worst mpg about 17 mpg in vegas due to lights and traffic and best about 30.2 on the way back for 2 tanks of non stop freeway driving with the elevation going down hill all the way.. journey loaded up with luggage and my wife's 3 wheel medical scooter so i was quite happy with the mpg we averaged on the trip. Wife got sick after about a week after we got there with strep throat so we had to find a dr and just about the time she started feeling better my sinuses started acting up so i was messed up for a week or so, but we managed to get thur it till the end. only one small problem after leaving Albuquerque  in New Mexico the temp dropped that nite so the next moring the low air tire pressure start going off showing about 29lbs so i hunt up a gas station for air and fill them up to about 38 psi and off we go heading out on I-40 heading home and so i am keeping an eye on the tire pressure and they increase to about 40 psi after warming up so about after about 30 minutes way out in no mans land i check the pressure and the right front is showing about 33 psi so i starting wondering what was wrong and after about another mile down the road it drops to 32 then a little later 31 so about that time i see the next exit which was Clines Corner so i pull over and pull up to their air pump and i am showing 29 psi and low and behold a big old screw towards the outer edge of the tire. so not wanting to have to unload the rear to get the tools and lower the spare i go inside and ask if they have any tire plugs or boots and she says if  we do they would be hind you on that self and of course their are none, so i head back out and their are about 20 cars and trucks with horse trailers so i start asking everyone if they had any tire plugs and after about 10 vehicles one of the cowboys pulling their horse trailers says sure do here it is.MAN i was so happy so i go over and put some more air in the tire and pull the screw and put in the plug and pump the tire back up to 38 psi and took the kit back to the cowboy and thanked him so much and offered to pay him and he wouldnt take nothing for letting me use the kit. Now i have a plug kit at home but it wasn't nothing like his kit his plugs were golden brown and sticky as hell and looked twice as large as the kits you buy around here. he said that plug wont come out on you. so we thanked him again and wished them well on their travels to their next rodeo, didnt have any more problems with the journey on the way home. boy that 3.6 with the 6 spd trans sure is a pleasure to drive thur the mountains at freeway speeds. sure wouldn't want to go back to the 3.3 engine with the 4 sp trans that i had in my caravans yrs ago. didnt lose that much gambling that we thought we would but didnt win that much either so we still spent less on our trip then we would have if we had went to florida or hawaii for just a week or two.  of course our hotels were all comped so we just had to pay for our meals and gifts for the kids.well done two loads of dirty clothes and cleaned up the car so guess ill call it a night and hit the hay.....

[rolly]

Thanks for the great report. I'm glad you had a good time!!

[redtomatoman]

I didn't know there was such a thing as tire plugs.  I mean, I knew that there were plugs for tires, but I thought the tire had to be deflated and the plug inserted into the tire only after the tire was deflated and off of the vehicle.  I never realized there was a DIY kit to use with air in the tire for roadside emergency situations.  Seems easier than getting the spare for a nail or screw puncture.  

 

Peace.

Edited October 22, 2016 by redtomatoman
typo

[2late4u]

every auto stores or walmart sells them, of course you still need air after you plug the tire, i went to my local gas station and asked if i should have them remove the plug and put in the kind that is a plug with a patch over the back of it and of course you have to remove the tire to do that and he said he wouldn't bother to do that since he heard what kind of plug i used. amazon sells a kit for about $ 35 -40  for the good model with the oversize plugs, they are about 7 inches long instead of the smaller 4 inch ones you buy from walmart or the local auto parts store....i am going to go buy me a small travle air compressor and a good plug kit just in case this happens again out on the road... it sure saved us a lot of time and extra work.

[BrianS]

Tire shops here used to plug tires, but now they are not allowed to. They must remove the tire and install a patch/plug combination from the inside. I've used plugs for years and never had an issue, but I guess there was enough cases of the plug coming out that Big Brother decided they weren't safe any longer.

 

 

[probak118]

Just about to note that same thing BrianS, I am also from Windsor area. But, when we did use those sticky plugs they worked great! Even when you had to use two in the same hole. Maybe that was where the issue came from, using multiple plugs to seal a hole ?

Edited October 29, 2016 by probak118

[BerkoB]

On 10/22/2016 at 10:36 AM, redtomatoman said:

I didn't know there was such a thing as tire plugs.  I mean, I knew that there were plugs for tires, but I thought the tire had to be deflated and the plug inserted into the tire only after the tire was deflated and off of the vehicle.  I never realized there was a DIY kit to use with air in the tire for roadside emergency situations.  Seems easier than getting the spare for a nail or screw puncture.  

 

Peace.

That's probably the BEST reaction to tire plugs that I've ever read. Well done Sir!