Mercedes Tyre Foam Canister

[malagabob]

The garage informed me after a service the tyre foam canister had been used and quoted me £50 for a replacement.
On getting home I inspected the canister thinking it was a sealed one use unit, but on gripping and turning the nozzles,the top came of and seems to reseal on replacing.
Is it possible to refill with sealant I buy elsewhere, assuming sealant is available to decanter. TIA

[Zacs-Master]

You can buy kits from Halfords.

[Prudie]

My garage told me to never ever use the tyre sealant supplied with my Mercedes. Which makes them a bit pointless.

[malagabob]

Zac the car has the Mercedes compresser It's only the foam canister that needs replacing. I understand it a requirement of the MOT that all is complete.
So one of the aerosol type sealers is not acceptable

[malagabob]

So do you know why they are factory supplied with the car Prudie

[Prudie]

I think for emergencies in place of a spare tyre - but if you use it the tyre is guaranteed ruined.

[malagabob]

But the tyre if punctured is not serviceable anyway Prudie

[bhg481]

malagabob - the spare tyre and/or re-inflation kit is NOT part of the MoT.

Punctures in the tread of the tyre can be repaired (unless a re-inflation kit has been used) - only sidewall punctures render the tyre irrepairable and re-inflation kits will not cope with these anyway.

[tonyav]

malagabob
Question Author
But the tyre if punctured is not serviceable anyway Prudie


A puncture can usually be repaired, if you use that foam the tyre will be scrap.

[malagabob]

Apparently water based sealers do not render the tyre useless

[EDDIE51]

Just remove the compressor and any other bits associated with it from the car when you take it for MOT.
A spare tyre or a repair kit is NOT compulsory and if there is not one in the car it can not be included in the MOT. But, if there is one it has to work, so the best idea is just to remove the entire repair kit, what's not there can not be tested.

[mikey4444]

Yet another reason for every car to come with a spare. Even a space-saver is better than these daft tyresealents.

[TWR]

Mikey, every car should come with a proper spare not these stupid things that save the Manufacturer money, in the end it cost the Motorist money, some of these tyres are used once then discard the dam things, if I was thinking of buying a New car and one of these things was in the boot, I would walk away, Yes, I know the boot well has been redesigned to get these stupid thing in.

[mikey4444]

100% agree TWR. My nephew works for a tyre fitting company, and they have never made so much money since cars started coming without a spare !

Lots of tyres are effectively ruined by these daft canister kits. And they are no use whatsoever if you have a serious puncture in the wall of the tyre.
Another thing my nephew said is that that a lot of people can't used the canister thing, on the side of the road after a puncture, making more money for the AA, RAC, etc

There is no reason whatsoever that all cars shouldn't come with a space-saver wheel. When I had my new Fiesta in May 2014, I insisted that I put the space-saver wheel from my old Fiesta, into the wheel well of the new car.

And I had to use it 3 weeks ago, so thank goodness it was there !

[mrblear]

@ TWR
Perhaps you would inform us about the new models that supply a full size spare wheel stowed in the wheel well?

[mikey4444]

A full-sized spare wheel isn't really needed. A space-saver will do just as well.
All you need to do is get the tyre changed as soon as its possible.

OK....you might not be able to streak up the fast lane on the Motorway at 95mph, but what's wrong with that !

[mrblear]

I agree, Mikey but TWR insists that he would not accept a space saver wheel so I ' m asking him to say what new car supplies a full size spare

[Prudie]

If I had a full size spare I'd have no boot space at all.

[mrblear]

Exactly, prudie, but TWR will not accept that .

[mikey4444]

mrblear....I am not sure of the answer to that question, but the spare which I carry in my Fiesta isn't one of those super-skinny space-savers....its more like 80% the size of the wheels that are on the car.

Anyway, even if those skinny space-savers look a bit odd, my nephew assures me that they are still perfectly drivable, if used for the purpose for which they designed....essentially t get you home and/or to tyre depot.

When I did some side-wall damage to my front tyre 3 weeks ago ( coming down one of those ramps in a multi-story car park ! ) the tyre was ruined, and had to be replaced anyway.

I personally wouldn't want to go far without a spare wheel. I have had some bad luck recently, and have had 2 other punctures in the last 6 months (!)......both with nails/screws in the tread and both repairable.

[mikey4444]

Prudie...we may be crossing in the post here !

A space saver will go into the spare wheel well....supposing you have a spare wheel well of course !

My advice for anybody that can get a space-saver spare wheel is to get one straight away.