It's all well and good having a spare tyre. But most wheel places tighten your wheels so much with an air gun that you'd be lucky to change it with a standard brace on a dark wet night anyway. When I had to remove a wheel in my garage recently it took a breaker bar on the end of the brace and me literally jumping up and down on it to loosen it.
The demise of the spare wheel
- Thread starter Haggisman
- Start date
Thing is, it doesn't always work. It's fine for small punctures, but a cut on the sidewall, or a blowout and it's useless. My car came with a can of gunk, but the car has a well to hold a space saver so I picked up one off EBay.
Our xtrail came with a full size replacement alloy, not just a steel spare. Weight and bulk less of a consideration there though
You still have to faff around putting the stuff in the tyre though, and its not guaranteed to work!
The alternative is sitting on the verge for x hours waiting for the RAC... Fine on your own, not so great with a toddler!
Also, from the RAC t&cs
"Cover shall not include the following:
[...]
Any costs incurred as a result of You failing to carry a serviceable spare tyre and wheel"
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Haha, yeah I have the toolkit & jack in the car...just not the wheel!
It was a paid extra (PITA), but I've got a full size steel spare for my Fabia Estate. As stock it had the garbage inflation kit that I still have. Had to pay extra for the spare wheel and jack, but what use is an emergency inflation kit if you have a major puncture or blow-out. All-in-all it was probably worth it. I plan on running this wagon into the ground anyway, so it doesn't really matter in the long run.
Oh and because of where I work, I have a spare length of pipe in the boot for extra leverage.
Oh and because of where I work, I have a spare length of pipe in the boot for extra leverage.
Your boot would also probably be full of stuff so your now full size wheel would not fit where the space saver went.
Soldato
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I have a full sized wheel in the boot, it seems newer cars come with just a stupid gel pack. I've been eyeing up the tyre on my spare actually, one of mine is getting quite low...
When I bought my car new in 2011 the "gunk can" was standard. However the spare and toolkit was an option for £50, so it was the first one I ticked.
My car has 18" alloys all around and the spare is a 16" steel - but of course the profile of the tyre on the spare means everything is more or less the same.
I know I'm still restricted speed wise (legally) if/when I use it - different sized wheels on the same axle and everything.
But must admit I prefer this option over the space-saver and a lot more than the can of gunk.
There are regularly Skoda spare wheel kits on EBay for around £100, so not too expensive to get one if you pick up a standard specification car that never came with one.
My car has 18" alloys all around and the spare is a 16" steel - but of course the profile of the tyre on the spare means everything is more or less the same.
I know I'm still restricted speed wise (legally) if/when I use it - different sized wheels on the same axle and everything.
But must admit I prefer this option over the space-saver and a lot more than the can of gunk.
There are regularly Skoda spare wheel kits on EBay for around £100, so not too expensive to get one if you pick up a standard specification car that never came with one.
My Focus MK3 has a space saver spare, the Wife's Zafira just an inflation/foam kit.
Looking at getting a Spare for the Zafira, but the cage (+ it needs a lock, as otherwise they go missing) to hold the spare underneath the car, costs more than a used wheel and brand new tyre would!
Looking at getting a Spare for the Zafira, but the cage (+ it needs a lock, as otherwise they go missing) to hold the spare underneath the car, costs more than a used wheel and brand new tyre would!
No spare wheel came with any of my cars which is annoying. Got caught out by this one time when I was on the M74 one evening with a 400 mile drive home:
I had a can of tyre gunk but that wasn't going to do much for me in that situation
I still have that car though my wife usually drives it these days but that now has a full size alloy spare in the boot. Annoyingly my main car doesn't even have space for a space saver wheel to fit but I bought a spare alloy of an identical size but different style and popped a spare tyre on there. Whenever I'm doing any crazy journeys I'll just put the wheel in the boot. Less than ideal but there's little alternative.
I had a can of tyre gunk but that wasn't going to do much for me in that situation
I still have that car though my wife usually drives it these days but that now has a full size alloy spare in the boot. Annoyingly my main car doesn't even have space for a space saver wheel to fit but I bought a spare alloy of an identical size but different style and popped a spare tyre on there. Whenever I'm doing any crazy journeys I'll just put the wheel in the boot. Less than ideal but there's little alternative.This ride quality thing you speak of, what is it?
Surely can't be much worse than it is without them. Probably causes a noticeable difference on other cars though.
Soldato
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No spare wheel came with any of my cars which is annoying. Got caught out by this one time when I was on the M74 one evening with a 400 mile drive home:
I had a can of tyre gunk but that wasn't going to do much for me in that situation
pfft, looks repairable!
I actually ditched the space-saver in the S2000 in favour of a can of tyre weld and a compressor.
I needed space under the rear deck and considering Honda don't recommend using the spare on the back wheels (it trashes the LSD clutches) and even when swapping a front wheel on to the back and putting the space saver on the front isn't great again due to potential LSD damage.
I needed space under the rear deck and considering Honda don't recommend using the spare on the back wheels (it trashes the LSD clutches) and even when swapping a front wheel on to the back and putting the space saver on the front isn't great again due to potential LSD damage.