Flat tire rant

WELL took my new taco up skiing in vermont yesterday for the first 30+ mile trip (vermont round trip ~250) ive made since ive had it. Left with 450 miles, ride up to the mountain went fine. On the way back I took a shortcut/alternate route that consists of ~3 miles of unpaved (but well kept and level) road. Truck handled it well, especially considering there was a fine layer of snow covering. About 20 minutes down the road after the dirt road, noticed tire pressure gauge. Pulled over to find right rear tire hissing. Not what youd expect from some brand new fuckin tires (yes TRD OR OEM)!!!
So i change tire, meanwhile the OEM jack stand practically slips out from under due to very fine layer of snow. crisis averted. That thing is a piece of shit with no stability and the base is probably only about 4 sq inches. Im going to buy a REAL jack with a stable base asap to use is this ever happens again. I would reccomend the same to everyone else.
More about the popped tire: no nails or screws sticking out, simply just a decent size slice right in the middle of it next to one of the treads. i know that i didnt hit any big rocks or anything obvious. Pretty sure this is not covered by my tire warranty. Im worried that this will not be repairable and i will end up having to buy a whole new tire..... i havent even made my first payment on it yet!!! (aside from the deposit)

side note: as a previous non truck owner, i thought that the spare tire drop-down system was very clever, originally i thought i would have to get under it and unbolt it somehow.

 

Gotta pay to play, brotha!

 

Ugh what a pain..hope your trip was fun all in all. Come visit us: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/new-england-b-s-thread.204874/page-4719

 

Stock tires are garbage. Get a hold of yourself

 

It could always be worse!
And you will always be buying stuff for your truck so mark down..
-One Tire (Check)

 

Ive gotta say it was actually a perfect ski day too, this just had to knock me down a notch i guess

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Bs4pq5OyRQ

 

yeah ill be buying one of those i was looking at those on my phone at work earlier today....

yeah the plan was to eventually get some real tires, but i figured i could live off these for a bit first. who knows though maybe this is the type of flat that could have killed some aftermarket tires too?!

 

If you find a good deal on one let us know

 

Time for ko2s?

 

If you were driving in the snow, you don't know what you may have ran over. The factory tires are not crap, they handle lava rocks pretty damn good out here in HI

 

No lava rocks here haha. You would think snow would at least reduce friction over everything too. I know I didn't go over anything large. I wasn't even spinning tires at all, cruising 25-40mph in 4hi.

 

My stock OR tires have held up just fine off-road in a rocky canyons this fall/winter while hunting. It's a place that should eat cheap tires. No issues. I'll keep 'em for 60,000.

You probably picked up a nail on that road.

As far as your jack... I think it hasn't changed from any of the other two generations of Tacomas I've had and I'm fine with it. Never failed me yet.

If you replace it with a hydraulic jack, make sure you figure out how to secure it in the vehicle so it doesn't bust your head or someone else's in a wreck. Just envision that thing in a rollover.

SB

 

Yeah I have a large Plano trunk in my bed I'm slowing adding survival and recovery gear to, I'll prob throw it in there. I have plans for the under seat storage anyways. Held down by some carabiner bungee cords. Hard tri fold cover on top.

 

You drove over something sharp on the road. This is not the fault of the tire. This is what can happen when you choose to drive. May not even have happened on the dirt road. Could have been something on the PAVED road that fell off of someone's car. No reason to think that it would stick around with you after you run it over.

As for the jack slipping out (its not a jack stand, its a jack. A jack STAND doesn't lift -- it just holds. You use a jack to lift, then you may stick a jack stand under the axle, and use the jack to lower the car onto the jack stand), that too, is on YOU. You don't need a huge base for stability. You just need it to be set properly. If you aren't in a spot where you can stand it safely, then move the truck a little until you are. If the vehicle is sliding around while you're playing with the jack, then you need to chock the rest of your wheels. Also make sure that you loosen the nuts BEFORE lifting the vehicle, and set the emergency brake.

 

The jacks provided by these auto companies are pretty bad, actually dangerous in my opinion. They are okay if you are jacking up your truck on a flat, concrete driveway, but in any other conditions... forget it. I guess they are better than nothing, but not by far.

 

Yea, pretty much any factory jacks is a compromised bare-minumum tool, built to a price and designed for a "best case" flat tire scenario. It's nothing unique to Toyota or to Tacomas, but still its a disappointment. As a general rule of thumb it's always best to be prepared for for the worst case situation and err on the side of safety. Being on a dirt road and in snow definitely calls for being prepared above and beyond what comes with the truck. The OP's post is a good warning and thankfully it worked out OK.

 

Does anyone here have any experience with this type of jack???

https://www.pepboys.com/product/details/633527/00647

 

Had a total of 13 flats in 3 of my OEM tires on my TRDOR in 7 months ~20,000 miles. about 80% of my driving is on gravel forestry roads though so wasnt expecting them to hold up long. Been running general grabber at2s for 15,000 miles now with no flats.

 

wow thats alot of flats.

Good news! brought the tire to Goodyear, they were able to repair. i am going to get it put back on tomorrow morning before work.

as far as bottle jacks go, i was looking at some harbor freight ones, but i do like the idea of that "safe jack" one with the safe baseplate.