Best tyre repair fluids 2025
Punctures are deflating – but which of these solutions is the best emergency fix?
Even the most reliable car can leave you stranded by the roadside if you get a puncture. All it takes is a stray nail or shard of glass cutting into your tyre and you’re left feeling seriously deflated. If your car has a spare wheel at all, and many don’t these days, then changing it can be hard work and is also dangerous by the side of a busy road. This is where an emergency tyre repair kit could get you out of trouble.
As well as being an alternative to waiting hours for a rescue, they can be used in just a few minutes and may get you all the way home – or at least to a safer spot.
Most are a foam or liquid which is designed to solidify as the air rushes out of the hole in the tyre, creating a blockage that plugs the puncture. Others are kits which use a rubber bung and glue. The aerosol type will usually inflate the tyre while dispensing fluid, while others require a separate pump.
We tried seven different products and were shocked by the results – only three were able to provide a repair that allowed us to drive any reasonable distance.
How we tested
We bought sets of wheels and tyres from a scrapyard and used a 4mm drill to create a hole in the tread which would be typical of a puncture caused by a wood screw or nail. We then carefully followed the instructions provided to try and plug the hole using the sealant or kit provided. The tyre’s pressure was checked after 10 minutes, and the car was driven for a mile if it was safe and practical. The pressure was then checked again after an hour and then once more following day to see if the repair was holding up. Extra points were awarded for ease of use and a mess-free operation.
Ring Flat Tyre Sealant
- Price: around £11.19
- Rating: 4.5 stars
- Contact: eurocarparts.com
Used - available now
2019 Vauxhall
Corsa
20,413 milesManualPetrol1.4L
Cash £9,187
2022 Toyota
Corolla
59,978 milesAutomaticPetrol2.0L
Cash £15,000
2023 Skoda
Scala
3,845 milesAutomaticPetrol1.0L
Cash £17,200
2022 Mercedes
CLA
49,405 milesAutomaticPetrol1.3L
Cash £18,697The Ring is the only sealant we’d be confident using at the roadside and then trust to get us home. It looks similar to the bottles contained in many newer cars’ factory-fitted puncture repair kits and requires the use of an electric compressor to dispense the fluid and inflate the tyre. Connecting it is easy though, and by making sure the puncture was at the bottom of the wheel when we were filling, the hole was quickly plugged. It was mess free, quick and effective.
Holts Tyreweld
- Price: around £7.99
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: holtsauto.com
The main advantage of the Tyreweld over our winner is that it is contained in an aerosol, so it inflates the tyre at the same time as filling it with the sealant goo. This works best on punctures smaller than our 4mm hole though, as a considerable amount of air – and foam – escaped before the puncture hole was sealed, leaving the tyre under-inflated by the time the canister ran out of pressurised gas.
Be prepared for a mess too, because the foam oozes out of the valve after use and is quite sticky to the touch.The repair and inflation would have been good enough to let us drive to a safer place or garage pump though.
Laser Emergency Tyre Repair Kit
- Price: around £18.27
- Rating: 4.0 stars
- Contact: lasertools.co.uk
The Laser represents a different type of repair kit which is similar to those used by the breakdown services. Instead of using foam, you plug the puncture using rubber bungs and glue. We had to make the hole in our tyre a little larger using the kit’s rasp, and we still struggled to get the sticky strip in place with the T-handled applicator. But once the plug was in, the reinflated tyre was totally airtight. It worked well, but it’s not a process we’d want to try by the side of a busy road.
Ecomotive TyreFix
- Price: around £19.99
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: eco-motive.com
TyreFix is supplied in a squeezy bottle rather than an aerosol, which means you need to use a tool to remove the wheel’s valve core and pour in a set amount of fluid depending on the wheel size. You then reassemble the valve, inflate the tyre and drive for a few miles to ensure the fluid is evenly distributed inside the structure of the tyre.
It eventually plugged the hole in our test tyre, but Tyrefix isn’t as simple to use or as cheap as its rivals here. It does, however, have environmental credentials because it doesn’t use any aerosol gases and generates less overall waste.
Slime Assist Car Tyre Sealant
- Price: around £20.00
- Rating: 2.0 stars
- Contact: halfords.com
It looks similar to the winning Ring and works in the same way, but the Slime Assist Emergency Tyre Sealant wasn’t nearly as effective. The bottle needs to be hooked up to a compressor to fill the tyre with the white fluid, which looks and smells like the PVA glue used in primary school craft lessons.
Despite claims it can seal holes up to 6mm, the liquid just poured uselessly out of our 4mm puncture and failed to stop the air leak. It also looks expensive when compared with the winning Ring.
CarPlan Flat Mate
- Price: around £7.99
- Rating: 1.5 stars
- Contact: tetrosylexpress.com
A simple aerosol application method, solid connectors and a keen price earned the Flat Mate a point and a half, but it failed to block our 4mm puncture hole, despite claiming on the canister that it will work on those of up to 5mm in size.
The instructions say you need to drive six to eight miles to spread the fluid evenly inside the tyre carcass, but with the puncture still flat it simply wasn’t possible to get enough air in to make it safe, rendering it useless in our emergency simulation.
Simply Xtreme Tyre
- Price: around £7.99
- Rating: 1.0 stars
- Contact: simply-brands.com
As with many of the others here, the Simply Xtreme is easy to use, with a straightforward aerosol delivery that, in theory, should inflate the tyre at the same time as it’s filled with the sealing foam.
Unfortunately, when we tested it, the can made a mess. The sticky suds poured out of the puncture and covered us, the car and the road rather than blocking up the hole.
We persevered in the hope that as the foam dried out it would solidify and fill the puncture, but we soon discovered that there was no hope of the hole being plugged. As a final insult, the foam kept coming out of the can even after we disconnected it from the tyre valve – a very disappointing performance.
Verdict
There is only one product here we can wholeheartedly say we would want to find in the boot if we were faced with a puncture – and that is the Ring, making it our Best Buy. Holts Tyreweld is cheaper and more convenient but is messy and would struggle on larger holes. Laser’s set is harder to use, especially at the roadside, but the comprehensive kit would repair bigger tyre damage.
- Ring Flat Tyre Sealant
- Holts Tyreweld
- Laser Emergency Tyre Repair Kit
Buy a car with Auto Express. Our nationwide dealer network has some fantastic cars on offer right now with new, used and leasing deals to choose from...
