Are You Ready for a Flat? Tire Repair, Jack, Puck, Air Compressor Recommendations

[Rividiculous]

Are you ready for a flat? I’m not. But I want to be so I’m seeking guidance and recommendations for tire repair kits and air compressors.

First, does it make sense to carry a tire repair kit in the R1S in case of a flat? (At least until I’m able to get my hands on a compact spare, that is.)

If so, what has worked for others?

Second, I wasn’t able to get an R1S with an air compressor built in. Does anyone have a recommendation for a plug-in compressor that will allow me to reach each tire and that I can stash in the R1S? (I don’t want to carry around a battery operated one since then I have to recharge it, etc.

Oh, and if I can’t get a Rivian compact spare soon, are there any non-Rivian options that would fit (and be strong enough)?

Any other thoughts regarding best practices to be prepared for a flat?

Thank you for any guidance. I haven’t gotten a flat in decades but I don’t want to tempt fate by driving around unprepared!

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[Mathme]

My old car only had a donut spare which was a basic waste when having anything resembling a heavier load so I bought a plug repair kit. I never had to use it on the car, but did on the boat trailer. Speaking of boat trailer, I also ordered a cheap 12vDC air compressor and surprisingly it worked flawlessly (although somewhat slow) for the 10 years I had the boat trailer - and I still use it to air the tires on the Rivian when needed.

Here's the Amazon links to the ones I purchased. Total cost is <$75
Tire repair kit

I don't see the specific pump I ordered (Not surprised) however, here's a couple of highly rated ones on Amazon.
Pump one - Top Pick on Amazon
Pump two - Best Seller (Mine was closer to this design)

These won't help you if you catch a nail out in the last treat bead or sidewall, but will get you back on the road in less than 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

[mmcool]

I got the rivian spare recently, it was easy to get it. It took 15 min to install. Since it fits underneath, my preference was getting that.

For air - amazon has it too. https://www.costco.com/fanttik-s100...ith-power-bank,-black.product.4000230430.html

For pucks - jackpucks.com

Jack -
https://a.co/d/08SCq23

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

I got the rivian spare recently, it was easy to get it. It took 15 min to install. Since it fits underneath, my preference was getting that.

For air - amazon has it too. https://www.costco.com/fanttik-s100-apex-powerful-portable-air-pump-%26-tire-inflator-with-power-bank,-black.product.4000230430.html

For pucks - jackpucks.com

Jack -
https://a.co/d/08SCq23

Thanks for the recommendation for our jack pucks! We've put over 6000 pucks in Rivian owners hands and they are now at over 100 commercial tire centers.

 

[Bruins06]

The Costco portable air compressor seems like a good deal for only $40. I haven't tried it myself though.

https://www.costco.com/fanttik-s100...=androidapp_deeplink_24.7.1.1&sh=true&nf=true

 

[RivianRiverRat]

I’ve used this slime kit (Slime 50122 Flat Tire Puncture Emergency Kit) twice on flat tires and it worked well. Will work great to get to a tire shop. I actually drove about another 20,000 miles on one of the repairs with no issues.

 

[Killer95Stang]

I've never gotten a flat until recently in my truck. I park my City car at a fire station near my house and ran over a huge screw. Thankfully I remembered I bought a plug kit by the register at Harbor Freight before a trip 6 months prior. 10 minutes later I was on my way and drove for a couple days until I had a chance to properly patch the tire at tire shop. I would say, a patch kit is a good investment.

 

[HaveBlue]

I got a plug kit and have plugged many tires over the years included the rivian recently. I plan to buy a glue tread 4x4 sidewall repair to avoid that possibly too.

I looked at a used compact spare that might fit including Rover, Porsche, masseratti but none of those vredestein models fit properly and have the load capability. There is only one that fits apparently.

 

[Rividiculous]

Thank you, everyone. These are useful comments and suggestions. I’ll invest in a repair kit AND get the compact spare once it’s available again.

 

[iansriv]

Eric-I can't remember the last time I got a flat before I got the R1. Then within a couple of weeks, I got two flats. The first one was so bad I had to get a new tyre. Same one caught a nail a few weeks later and was patched. I got a warranty from Discount Tire, bought the Rivian spare tyre kit and bought a repair kit.

I wish we could get run-flats for our cars.

 

[MidnightRivian]

Yes, I am ready but it wasn’t overnight.

First I got the replacement certificates from Discount Tire when there was no availability for compact spare. I believe it was like $75 each tire.

After that I picked up a 20” All Terrain wheel / tire used as an off-road spare from a FB member who upgraded their current wheel / Tire setup for $450 hand delivered.

Finally I got my compact spare for on-road use at the pre-order price of $450 from Rivian.

The last item was the first item I ever got with my car the tire sealant / air compressor hose.

 

[usulio]

Just to be sure, you're aware that new Rivians without a built-in compressor ship with a portable compressor and sealant? I think it's probably battery-powered, which you said you don't want, but just checking.

 

[RivianRunner]

After seeing the low capacity on many of the recommended air compressors, I'm curious how you guys air back up after off-roading? I mean, the off-road tires are not exactly small and adding 15 or 20 psi to every tire takes a long time with an undersized inflator.

I bring this up because, before deciding what compressor to get for flat repair, one has to decide if they will also use it for airing all four tires back up to road pressure (or not). Because most of the small inflators I see are not suitable (would probably thermally overload) filling up every tire consecutively without waiting for the inflator to cool down. And it would take longer than most people would find acceptable.

So, what do you all do?

 

[agame32]

Just to be sure, you're aware that new Rivians without a built-in compressor ship with a portable compressor and sealant? I think it's probably battery-powered, which you said you don't want, but just checking.

Pure speculation here and I’m not aware of Rivian portable compressor news. But… I’d think if Rivian was shipping portable compressors they would ship 12v models so folks aren’t stranded for the exact reason of nobody would ever keep the battery charged.

 

[caiudalmau]

Are you ready for a flat? I’m not. But I want to be so I’m seeking guidance and recommendations for tire repair kits and air compressors.

First, does it make sense to carry a tire repair kit in the R1S in case of a flat? (At least until I’m able to get my hands on a compact spare, that is.)

If so, what has worked for others?

Second, I wasn’t able to get an R1S with an air compressor built in. Does anyone have a recommendation for a plug-in compressor that will allow me to reach each tire and that I can stash in the R1S? (I don’t want to carry around a battery operated one since then I have to recharge it, etc.

Oh, and if I can’t get a Rivian compact spare soon, are there any non-Rivian options that would fit (and be strong enough)?

Any other thoughts regarding best practices to be prepared for a flat?

Thank you for any guidance. I haven’t gotten a flat in decades but I don’t want to tempt fate by driving around unprepared!

I got my R1S with my compact tire set last year, and I sold it right away since I wanted to use that storage space. I don't do off road and in the last 25 years I've had one flat tire that wasn't allowing me to get to a tire place. I have the compressor, the tire plug repair kit as well as the foam repair. I also bought the 4 pugs to rotate or replace tires.

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