I believe I am, for all intents and purposes, the actual originator of that trick (in terms of publishing it on the internet, anyway). You have no idea how much it warms the cockles of my twisted little black heart to see that someone else posted this before I was able to.
It'll take a couple minutes for the tire to be completely flat. If they drive past that, they're not making it to the highway. If you're doing it on a car that'll drive away within minutes, there's likely an agent nearby and you've got bigger problems.
We're not talking about a slow leak, were talking about putting a pebble (or lentil) into the valve cap and screwing it on. That pushes down on the valve, opening it up. I've personally witnessed that at a protest, being done to some idiot who was honking and insulting people walking by. A group of people walked up to his car and did exactly that, by the time police where interviewing him a few minutes later his tyres where noticably starting to flatten.
Why lie that it deflates in minutes? Go do it to your tire, a pebble that fits in, can only produce a slow leak. Now removing the entire valve stem core and removing the cap, that’ll deflate it in about 10-15 minutes. That’s still vastly longer than the claimed “minutes”.
Post a video, prove it dude. So removing the core and cap takes over 10 minutes, but somehow magically a pebble reduces that to minutes? Prove it dude, your anecdotal evidence is clearly a made up lie.
I'll admit I've mostly been mindlessly scrolling this thread to this point, so I'm not 100% sure what others have said, but removing the valve stem core will deflate a tire in seconds. You might want to unscrew slowly, to avoid the core launching across the parking lot as the air pressure behind it will likely send it flying, but once it's removed a tire should be completely flat in 15 seconds or less.
Yeah, the speed of the rock/bb in the cap will vary a lot depending on how far it depresses the valve stem core, and the tightness of the thread on the cap. Minutes seems absolutely unrealistic though; at the rate of the video you shared that's probably a good 6-8 hours. I'm sure with some optimization (larger "rock" to press the valve in further and a maybe some cuts in the the thread to allow faster release of air), you could get that down to the hour or two range, but you'd also risk someone finding it easily as the noise of escaping air would be quite a bit louder.
And here is a blog post talking about doing this as a prank, claiming it takes about 2 minutes of time. It's the same process as letting air out using a screwdriver to push down the valve pin.
Are you claiming that takes hours, too?
I've not done this, nor do I intend to, but your claim that someone is going to come to their car, not notice the tyres are and have been loudly hissing for hours, drive away and crash on a highway are, quite frankly, ridiculous.
This video says over night and shows it’s a slow leak. So now we both have video with claims that contradict each other… huh, if it takes minutes, why can’t you provide a video showing this…? Yet mine shows without a doubt, it’s a slow leak. Can you prove otherwise……?
Why the hell do you continue to lie and post shit that doesn’t remotely prove your point lmfao. Nothing you’ve provided as source supports anything you’ve said.
As you’ve said you haven’t done this, if you actually have, you would know it doesn’t take a few fucking minutes like you’ve claimed and provided 2 sources that doesn’t corroborate… you got any concrete proof? Or are you gonna show again how you aren’t the sharpest crayon in the package…?
Two sources and neither show a tire deflating on minutes, you seriously still want to claim the same asinine thing while providing nothing to back it up?
Wow, if you use a different method you get a different result, what a revelation. Notice the distinct lack of a hissing sound when you use a bb instead of something larger? Idiot...
Yes, yes it is. The tyre is at a higher pressure than the atmosphere so any hole will allow the air to equalize but the difference is how that air comes out:
Stab the sidewall (big hole, rapidly) air rushes out with a big bang.
Snip the stem, smaller hole, air rushes out slower but still very quick. Likely flat in under a minute. Different structure/strength that sidewall which is why it doesn't pop/explode.
If you get a puncture, the reason it doesn't leak as fast as snipping the stem (nor pop) - usually the nail/screw is still in the tyre, keeping it plugged somewhat, the distortion of the tyre under weight means this hole can open and close as the car rolls letting out a little at a time.
Source: have had punctures that take hrs to run flat, have watched tyre techs clip stems on an old tyres, seen videos of tyres being stabbed.
Buy a pack of valve caps. Super glue stones in them and carry them around. When you see ICE vehicles, replace their valve cap for yours. Repeat as necessary.
And remember to bleach your tracks. If they figure out what's going on, I guarantee they'll try everything from fingerprints to DNA on the caps, and even if the majority of the time the heat/vibration/dirt of the cap's environs is enough to remove your traces, you don't want to be on the long tail of that curve.
Them slowly getting a flat is not going to cause an accident. The low pressure warning is gonna come up well before anything dangerous actually happens
Most do, obviously excepting older vehicles. It's mandatory per Federal law in the US since the 2007 model year, and I believe the 2014 model year in the EU.
Still, in the nearly a century prior people managed to deal with unexpected flat tires and slow air leaks even without such electronic geegaws just fine.
Eventually it might because we're human, cheap and, stupid.
tire is slowly deflated
driver doesn't notice it and drives on the flat damaging the sidewalls or driver does notice it but drives on the flat anyway to get to safety/a repair place
reason for deflation is found and corrected.
tire with damaged sidewall is refilled with air and driven on.
At some point in the future, under stressful conditions that the tire normally could handle the sidewall gives out in a catastrophic blowout.
Lol, it's a government vehicle. I'd be willing to bet that warning is on all the time. The sending units are integrated into the valvestem and cost a lot more than old school valvestems.
Even retail they're only like $25 a pop, which granted is more than the buck-or-less of a normal rubber valve stem but probably pretty negligible if you're on a government budget. They're less in bulk. The real bitch is you need to dismount the tire from the rim to get at it, then remount and balance it. And then get the vehicle to learn the new sensor ID code which for some vehicles can't be done onboard and requires a separate gadget.