Old-Tech Tire Products That Still Work

The advance of technology is ever mesmerizing. Things that used to be top-of-the-line suddenly become standard—like snow tires that grab ice without studs, for instance, or run-flat tires that keep going when pressure is lost.

But what about old-fashioned, technologically simple tools and products that worked just fine back in the day, and they still do? Where tires are concerned, there are quite a few of them. Let’s take a look at old technology that’s still useful.

Lug Wrench

If you’re changing a tire or rotating your tires, nothing makes the job easier—and far quicker—than a good old-fashioned lug wrench. We’re talking about the “X”-shaped wrenches that typically have a different size socket on each end. (Some are the same size on all four corners.)

Don’t think of a lug wench as a replacement for the long-handled wrench that came with your jack—if your vehicle has a jack, which is increasingly and annoyingly rare. Think of it as augmenting the standard wrench. Why? That standard wrench has a small tip that is used for prying. It helps you remove wheel covers if your vehicle lacks alloy wheels, and lug nut covers if you do have alloys. (Only some alloys have lug nut covers, usually bearing a company or model logo.)

Once the lug wrench is on the lug nut, you push down with one hand and pull up with the other. That’s a lot of leverage. It’s also easier to use one hand to hold the end of the wrench that extends perpendicularly from the wheel, then exert pressure with a leg for stubborn nuts. Since lug wrenches are shorter than single-handle wrenches, a spinning action removes nuts much faster.

Make sure you get a wrench with the right size socket for your car. Stores and online parts sellers typically offer several combinations.

Tire Black

This black liquid is painted on a sidewall surface to make tires look new again. Tire dressings aren’t as messy and renew sidewall surfaces nicely, but if you picked up whitewalls or raised white letter tires that you wish were black, this is your only option, other than flipping the outer walls inside. (You would still see uncoated white parts of the sidewall, just on the inside of turned front tires, not the outside.)

You’ll have to renew a tire black coating every six months or so, but it takes virtually no effort and only a few minutes to recoat a clean tire. Wear disposable rubber gloves to keep tire black off your hands.

Pressure Gauge

You can get a new electronic pressure gauge that displays readings in digital readouts and requires a battery, but unless you have trouble reading the manual gauge, why bother? Manual gauges are accurate, dirt cheap, and rugged (yes, one of us has mistakenly driven over an old gauge and found that it still worked–don’t try that with an electronic gauge). A manual air pressure gauge is smaller than a permanent marker, if slightly bigger than a pen, so it takes little space in even the smallest glove box or console.

Accuracy is the best part. Manual pressure gauges are much more accurate than the gauges on a service station pump.

Hand Pump

Sure, it’s less work to fill up a tire with an electric-powered pump than with a bicycle pump, but it’s no more effective. The manual hand pump—the type with  “T”-shaped handle and a sturdy base—fits nicely inside the spare tire well with the jack and lug wrench. That’s something a boxy electric-powered pump won’t always do, particularly in small cars.

Some hand pumps have gauges attached, although the pen-type gauge is likely more accurate. More work? A hand pump is not something for folks whose health won’t let them exert themselves. Still, for most of us, hand pumps can work just fine.