Saw a guy at the shop yesterday trying to seat a tire bead with a can of starting fluid and a lighter. The fireball was visible from the street.

3 comments

3 Comments

Honestly, that trick is way more common than people realize. My cousin did it on his farm tractor tire last year. It works, but it's pure chaos. You get one shot and if the bead isn't lined up right, you just have a flaming tire. Seems like a good way to lose your eyebrows.

hayes.tara2mo ago

Oh man, losing your eyebrows is just the starter prize. The real fun is explaining that smell to the fire department.

xena_rivera631mo ago

Bet you could hear that boom from a block away too. That trick works about half the time if the stars align and the tire cooperates, but when it doesn't you're just standing there with a melted rim and a face full of soot. My buddy tried it on a truck tire once, the bead caught fire instead of seating and the whole sidewall was just gone in like thirty seconds. Had to wait for the tire to burn itself out before he could even get near it. Starting fluid is basically just asking for a trip to the ER if you're not lining that bead up perfect. A lot of people see it work on YouTube and forget that those videos are the one out of twenty tries that didn't end in disaster.