A slow tire puncture can be annoying. You might not be willing to replace the tire just yet, but finding where the air is escaping so you can fix it can be a nightmare.
However, one woman has taken to TikTok to help road users out. She has made a video with 1.9 million views at the time of writing that shares a simple trick for finding a hole in the tire. TikTok user Kris (@kris103567) is the woman who has uploaded the video.
“Life hack: how to find the hole in your tire,” says the text overlay in her video. Kris wanted to help other road users who are perhaps frustrated by not being able to find a hole in a tire. And the great thing is, this life hack doesn’t require any specialist equipment.
All you need is soapy liquid and Dawn Powerwash, as used by Kris, which can help you find the leak in the tire. It is an incredibly easy way of working out how big a tire’s hole is and where it is coming from, which can help a mechanic out who can then potentially fix the tire.
How Kris Found the Leak in Her Tire
@kris103567 That’s a big hole #lifehack #tires #cars ♬ original sound – 𝕹𝖎𝖈𝖐 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖘𝖆𝖈𝖗𝖊
The video Kris uploaded shows a tire covered in a soapy liquid. We then see her spray a section of the tire with Dawn Powerwash, and just seconds later, a large bubble begins to form in one spot. The bubble grows bigger as air escapes from the tire, and that shows where the leak is coming from. The soap enabled the leaking air to become visible, rather than using the naked eye to find the hole.
“That’s a big hole,” Kris wrote in the caption. But this method can also be useful for finding smaller holes that create slower punctures. Leaks in tires can sometimes be obvious, but at other times they can also be a nightmare to find. We can spend weeks topping up a tire without realizing where the air escaped from. There are other ways in which we can find where air is escaping from in a tire when it comes to a slow leak.
AutoZone has said that a spray bottle filled with soap and water can find a slow leak. With the tire at the correct pressure, you spray the soapy mixture across the tread, sidewall, valve stem, and where the tire meets the wheel. If air is escaping, bubbles will begin forming around the leak, although it may take a few seconds if the leak is from a small hole. If you don’t see anything, then you can check for other problems.
Check for Things Stuck in Your Tire
If you don’t see any bubbles coming from the tire, another thing to do is to check for debris that is wedged inside. Nails, screws, and other objects can become embedded in the tread, and these are often the cause of punctures in tires. Another method is to remove the wheel, partially submerge it in water, and slowly rotate the tire. Air bubbles can reveal where a slow leak is coming from with this method.
Other things can indicate that you have a small leak in the tire. A tire pressure warning light, the car pulling to one side, or sluggish acceleration are all signs that there is a problem with one of the tires. Plus, a simple look can show a tire that is noticeably lower than all of the others fitted to your car.
So if you suspect a slow puncture, there are plenty of things you can do to check this.