Got talking with a guy about this video.
I wasn’t sure if it was a real video. I get the physics behind it, but I wondered if it really worked.
But then I found more videos, like this one.
Still this one really makes me think its legit.
(Sorry, can’t embed that video) But look at how the tire collapses as the hot gasses created by the fire cool. So it also shows that its not all that useful.
This is a GREAT trick and I have used it a few times. The lighter fluid is not used to inflate the tire – only to get the tire to fit snugly on the rim. When a tire is loose, it is impossible to put air into it, since it just leaks out between the rim and tire. One push with the starter fluid to get the tire in place and then a rapid inflation with an air line will get the job done.
The less dramatic version of the same fix is to wrap a tie-down or winch cable around the circumference of the tire and pull snug. This too will cause the sidewalls to bow out, perfect for filling with an air hose.
You haven’t seen the Top Gear Polar Special? They use this trick in the second video (1:30).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNkvASxfEWQ&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9MfnKoTM6c&
Yeah, I was thinking that I saw that trick on Top Gear once.
The purpose is to seat the bead of the tire on the rim so you can add air to inflate it. Inflating a tire without the bead seated is a pain in the ass with a small air compressor, and almost impossible without one.
Makes me pine of the days when you could work on your own car.
Alan, you just need to buy an older car!
Or just knowledge of scan tools.
Our IT guy was a mechanic in his former life. He can do anything to a fuel injected car that the carburator hot-rodders can do, plus things like reprogram the shift-points on his automatic transmission.
I’ve seen this done, I will not do it, and if I see some is going to try it I get a long way away, seating a bead with air pressure is dangerous enough using starting fluid like that means you have no control over how high the pressure in the tire gets and over pressured tires can explode. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9D0UjGaTIs&feature=related
Also every time I try and post a comment here I forget to type in the #@% captcha.
On the one hand, given how the flash fire would suck the air out of the space and cause the bead to seat itself by some crazy atmospheric pressure changes, I can see how that would work
On the other hand, I am with Joat – aint’ no way I am being anywhere near that tire as it is being inflated…
It works. It’s real.
The starting fluid creates a small explosion to seat the bead. But this should be done in an emergency only. Too big a boom could damage the tire.
The last video was full of idiots. They had a source of compressed air, so they should have used a ratchet strap method. I searched a few years ago and no one seems to make videos of the boring old ratchet strap method, but here’s a photo:
http://www.instructables.com/id/50-Handy-Tricks/step38/How-to-Inflate-a-Tire-that-Wont-Grip-the-Rim/
This is of course not as much fun as playing with fire.
The second thing the idiots in the last vid forgot to do was to remove the valve stem. You do that with a valve stem tool.
http://www.amazon.com/s?field-keywords=valve%20stem%20tool
The explosion mounted the tire, but then the hot gasses cooled down, sucking in the tire. Removing the valve stem will prevent this. Then you screw the stem back in and add air up to pressure.
I need to do a post on this. I pop beads with a few 2x4s and some soapy water. I mount and unmount tires with a few cheap tire levers from Harbor Freight. I replace the need for wheel weights by using about 4 oz of airsoft beads. It’s a bigger PITA than a tire machine, but most people have to hire out the tire machine, and I can dismount a tire faster than you can drive to the gas station.
All I have to say is “That’s pretty redneck.” The only thing missing was someone saying. “Hey, someone hold my beer – y’all gotta watch this.”
Looks like fun, though.