Driving after your tire is flat is never a great idea. Sometimes it may be a necessity if you have no other options. You have to weigh your options and also consider the chances for body damage.

This Volvo owner was just finishing up a long drive from Texas and didn’t have a lug wrench or a jack. This tire damage was a result of a nail that punctured the tire and then driving it the half mile to his house. As you can see, the tire ate into the inner fender. What you can’t see is the damage it did to the plastic fender behind the tire. This tire could have been saved with a simple tire plug, had the owner simply pulled over.

This Ford got a flat while doing 75 on the highway and then driving to the closest exit before pulling over. Luckily for the owner the tire only rubbed slightly on the inner fender, with no significant damage.

Both of these vehicles had the whole tread come off of the wheel, which can be very dangerous. Although both owners got lucky and didn’t damage the wheel.

Low profile tires have very little sidewall and are prone to doing this if driven flat. Always pull over as soon as safely possible.

I know that some people carry sand or kitty litter to use as a traction enhancer when in the snow.

And the idea is simple, the sand gives more traction for the tires to grip.

But…. You must remove the sand from the bag for it to perform as expected…

In this instance, I’m not quite sure that would of helped either. But on the bright side, they still have a bag of sand for the next time they get stuck …