I've been keeping one of these in all of our vehicles along with plugs and tools for tire repair for years. I've lost count of the times it has come in handy and today was one of those.

I had been hunting on some public land about 2 hours from home. Came out of the woods and started driving home just before dark. The TPMS light came on so I stopped. The left rear was about 10 lbs low and it took several minutes to find a small hole. Pulled out the repair kit and compressor and was on my way in about 15 minutes. I have only used a spare once in the last 20 years and that was because the hole was too big.

On a related topic, I really like the TPMS system. I know a lot of guys don't, but I'd have been back on pavement driving 50-60 mph before this got low enough to notice without the TPMS system. And it would have been pure luck to happen at a good spot to stop.

In 2011 I was driving my Tacoma across Oklahoma at about 75 mph when my light came on. My right rear was completely flat by the time I got stopped. I hit something that made a big hole, I'd not like to think what would have happened had it gone completely flat at 75 mph.

A storm was just minutes away as was sundown, so I stuck 3 plugs in it and got enough air to get me to the next exit. We had planned on driving about 2 more hours before stopping but decided to get a room. A trip to a tire store the next AM proved it couldn't be saved. They put my spare on for me for $10. I gave the guy a $20 and told him to keep the change, it was worth it.

 

I'm 31 and have had to change a flat tire less than 5 times in my lifetime. Maybe I'm lucky? I prefer to just change out the spare and take the tire somewhere to have it plugged. I don't do a ton of driving yearly, so if you put a ton of miles on your truck it may be useful but I don't think a compressor is a must have for everyone. Knowing how to change a flat is a must know for everyone IMO.

 

I am 50, driven over 750k miles and have only had to change 3.

 

Going on 38...been driving on and off road since 16. Only had two accidental flats in my life.

 

I average 20,000 per year on my trucks, not counting the car which is driven around town. About 2000/year on unimproved roads or off road. A decent compressor is about $20, a good one $50-$60. Even if you don't need to plug the tire you can usually air it up enough to get to a tire store and have it fixed there. Cheap insurance.

It'll cost $2 to air up at most service stations today. I can do it at home with one of these and pay for the compressor in a short time. I CAN change a flat, but I plugged this tire and aired it back up yesterday in less time than I could have gotten out the jack. It is a lot easier than crawling under the truck in the mud.

 

"accidental" made me laugh.
What's the story on the intentional ones?

 

I've never had a flat tire in my life.......



until I bought my F150 back in '13. I've had 3 flats with it, and had to replace a tire 2/3 of those.. Wtf.

 

I've not kept track of the number of times I've had to put on a spare or plug a tire but it has been a handful of each. I found these (Stop & Go) a few years back and they make the old sticky rope tire plugs obsolete as far as I'm concerned. I've used them on my motorcycles and my trucks with no issues.

 

I'm 59 and have never had to change tires on the side of the road. I have plugged plenty though without ever having to remove them. Probably most for other drivers during or after Boy Scout campouts. I have found plugging is faster and safer than putting on a spare.
FWIW most plugs outlast the tire.
Once we had a leader knock a tire off the rim and we could not loosen the lugnuts. Boy did we try. I was able to remove the valve stem and use my compressor to reseat the tire and got him home. Considering where we were and the weather and out timetable (Sunday trying to return home) waiting for a tow truck would have been inconvenient and expensive.
Wife and I travel a lot now. Sometimes to remote places. I like to be as self sufficient as possible.

 

I am 60, and couldn't count all of the tires changed over my lifetime, but I had a lot of tires (farm wagons, trucks, grain augers, lawn mowers, tractors, pickup trucks, cars, 1-ton dump trucks, 2 1/2 ton dump trucks, farm implements, etc.) Locust tree and osage orange tree thorns will puncture a tire, corn stalks are sharp and will wear or puncture a tire, lots of beer bottles thrown into a farm pasture will cut the tire, nails and fencing wire cause punctures .


No plugs were used on the majority of the flats I used to have to change, as they were mostly tube-type tires.


Thankfully, however, the frequency of flat tires has diminished, as I am no longer driving off-road on the farm as much, and tires seem to be better at resisting the punctures. My last flat to change was on my 1993 F150, just off of a busy state highway. I found that the jack (stored on the inner fender during these year's models) had rusted solid, and wasn't going to jack anything up. Fortunately, my flat tire was within short walking distance of a farm store where I purchased an inexpensive hydraulic bottle jack and was able to change the tire quickly. That tire had a large cut/blow out (I suspect damage had just occurred at the steel recycling yard where I had just taken a load of scrap steel siding). There was absolutely nothing to salvage in that old tire, so an air compressor and plug would have been of no use.