How To Deflate An SUV Tyre

Our aim is to make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world’s urban areas. To do that, we need people everywhere deflating 4x4 tyres, week-in, week-out.

It’s quick, easy and anyone can take part! Simply print out our leaflet and read on…

1. Locate an SUV. In towns and cities, you won’t have to walk far to find one. Target posh / middle-class areas. 
2. Unscrew the cap on the tire valve. This is usually very easy to find on the wheel. Usually, you turn the cap to the left to unscrew it, right to tighten it. Remember: righty-tighty, lefty-loosey. 
3. To get the air out of the tyre, there must be something pushing down on the pin located in the center of the valve. Drop a small bean (we like green lentils, but you can experiment with couscous, bits of gravel, etc) inside the valve cap. Replace the cap, screwing it on with a few turns until you hear air hissing out. Even if it’s only hissing out a little bit, that’s enough - it will deflate slowly. The whole process should take about 10 seconds.
4. Print this leaflet (at home, in an internet cafe, at the library, wherever) and leave it under the windscreen wipers, so that the owner is aware that the car is unusable and gets an explanation as to why this has been done.
5. When you’re done, anonymously let the local press know what you’ve done, where you’ve done it and why. You can use a free secure email service like Protonmail or Tutanota.
6. Send a report to [email protected] so we can keep track! Tell us roughly where it happened and how many SUVs you have disarmed. Join the Telegram group for updates.
7. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Here’s a video demonstration.

Other tips:

• If you like, practice on a bicycle tyre first.
• Work under cover of darkness.
• Bring some friends. Split into pairs to avoid conspicuously large groups.
• Hybrids and electric cars are fair game. We cannot electrify our way out of the climate crisis - there are not enough rare earth metals to replace everyone’s car and the mining of these metals causes suffering. Plus, the danger to other road users still stands, as does the air pollution (PM 2.5 pollution is still produced from tyres and brake pads).
• Avoid: Cars clearly used for people with disabilities, traders’ cars (even if they’re large), minibuses and normal-sized cars.