Ever wondered what would happen if you made an expanding foam tire?
No, us neither.
But that didn’t stop Supercar Blondie’s Nathan Bain from trying it out, and the results were messy to say the least.
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Nathan started by making holes in the outer wall of the tire using a drill.
As soon as the drill bit broke through the rubber, a whoosh of air escaped and the tire quickly deflated.
With the holes evenly spaced apart, Nathan then used a hose pipe to flush the tire out.
It was at this point he used the hose pipe to clear each of the holes of debris and sharp edges.
Nathan then removed the tire from the Suzuki Jimny to give it a good shake to ensure any excess water was drained.
He had to do this before the next step: pumping a can of ‘Big Gap Filler’ through the holes and into the tire.
This turned out to be harder than expected because it actually took three – yes three – cans of the filler to fill the entire tire.
It was very time consuming, too, as Nathan had to pump the filler into each of the holes before waiting 24 hours for it to set.
Much to his surprise, after waiting 24 hours the tire had set hard and also messy, as the filler continued to expand even on the outside.
Next up, Nathan had to fix the wheel back on the vehicle before he could test out his handiwork.
Moving the Jimny back and forth on the drive, in Nathan’s professional opinion it had worked, but he was keen to see what the inside of the tire looked like.
Using a knife, he carefully cut a strip out of the sidewall of the tire to reveal what was inside.
Again, Nathan hopped back into the Jimny to reverse it back and forth on the drive and the expanding foam tire coped well.
That was until the filler started crumbling and falling out of the tire.
So, there you have it – although it’s an incredibly messy job, it’s actually possible to create an expanding foam tire.
Although, we wouldn’t recommend heading out onto the open road for safety reasons!
