I was able to do that 3 out of 4 times. Once, I used the included repair liquid and pumped it into the tire. The next day, I went to get it repaired. Still on original tires with 30k miles.
All the flats I've had(4 or 5) in the past ten years have all been from nails or such. Only used a spare on two of them. With the Ranger, what fence post that caused it didn't stay in the puncture, and I didn't have a plug kit at the time. The second was because I still didn't have a plug kit, and it was simpler to take off the tire with the nail off the wife's car, and just drop it off on my way to work at the local tire shop. I may not have put the spare on, and just left it jacked up, wheelless. The TPMS warned me about the slow leaks from nails on the Sonic, and I have carried a little compressor around for years. And I now have a plug kit. I recommend everyone to carry one and a compressor with them. Weather aside, it is easier to jack up a wheel and plug a hole than put on the spare. It will also be less costly than using the slime spareless cars have too; since the slime might damage the TPMS in there.
Here's an unusual update. Went to a plugin breakfast this morning & spoke w/ a couple EE's that were there. They both own Tesla Model S's. One of them built his own home brew 25kW chademo for the Leaf he used to own. That build required him to figure out how the units talk with the cars that use them ... ie; neither of these two engineers are slouches. With Tesla now supposedly open source, they sought to get all the protocols/info on the Chademo/Tesla adapter (one has just acquired the unit already, the other has one on order). After multiple attempts - they've hit a stone wall. They're not even getting a return comment/reply Tesla ... not even so much as a, "we'll have to get back with you on that". I'm hoping Tesla's open-source announcement isn't/wasn't just a PR stunt. Maybe these 2 are moving to fast for Tesla's taste? .
Tesla never actually announced open source. Although, they did say "in the spirit of open source". The press release said they would not pursue patent lawsuits if their patents were used "in good faith". They also mentioned Tesla would typically expect that any other company interested in one of their parents would similarly share theirs.
I had not considered that, also a possibility. In any event, aren't the patents filed and available to anyone to see?
