Recently, on a nasty, rainy day, my wife's car sat in the garage with a flat tire. Refilling the tire with a portable air pump revealed that the tire had a sidewall puncture-a thin shard of wire had lodged in the rubber, just above where the tire tread ended-there was no way to repair the tire with a standard type plug. Needless to say, I was not happy with the prospect of having to buy a new tire. As an engineer, now was the time to experiment. Rummaging around the garage, I found some materials for my experiment: a short sheet metal screw, a washer, and a tube of silicone sealant like that used for sealing a bathtub to the floor or wall. Mounting the washer on the screw, I turned it tightly through the sidewall of the tire at the tiny hole and set it in a nice glob of sealant. It held the air when I pumped the tire to full pressure; and I let my "kluge" fix dry for a day or two, after which I took the car for a nice ride. To my pleasant surprise, the quick fix held nicely for about a week. I replaced the tire without it losing air at all. After the experiment, I wondered...was there a way to repair a sidewall tire puncture more permanently? Here is where creative technology education students come in.
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