5 Responses to “Lighter + Fluid = Full Tire?”

1. Scott

   January 20th, 2009

   I’ve done this before. It is a tubeless tire and the heat allows it to reseal to the rim. My guess is the expanding hot air filled the tire enough to get it some place with a compressor to fill it completely. When I did it, we lit it and then started filling it with air. Not super safe.

2. Anon

   January 22nd, 2009

   For the love of Judas Priest! What did he use for the spray!!! Why is that such a fucking state secret!!

3. davelog http://www.davelog.com

   January 24th, 2009

   I would imagine it’s the same principle dragsters use to inflate their slicks by smoking the tires at the line – the heat causes the air within to expand, filling out the tire. In this case, there was enough inflation to re-seat the bead against the rim.

   What baffles me, though, is the flash is so brief I don’t see how it could have generated enough heat to expand the air enough to inflate that big ole tire. Could be a hoax.

4. An-D

   January 27th, 2009

   The spray is butane lighter fuel gas, spraying it inside a confined space (ie inside the tyre rim) then setting light to the gas causes a small explosion which inflates the tyre. Not a hoax, done all the time by offroaders in Iceland.

   The reason the tyres have low pressure in them to start with is to spread the load of the vehicle over a larger surface area and allow more grip. The pressures can be low enough somtimes for the tyre to detatch from the rim. You can get special offroading wheels that have a tyre within a tyre. The main tyre has low pressure in it and a special smaller tyre that runs around the rim contains high pressure that forces the wall of the main tyre against the wheel rim, stopping it from detaching.

5. DAVE

   February 8th, 2009

   Sometimes when I had a problem filling a tire that would not seat, I would spray it inside with starter fluid, stand back throw a match tire seated just add air.
   I would not do this on a used tire only new.

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