In today's era of supplying tyre repair kits in new cars. Is it worth leaving the spare wheel in the garage?

I know tyre weld isn't much use for a blow out but why do manufacturers now not supply a spare unless you pay for it? Apart from cost to themselves obviously.

Do any of you travel without your spare wheel?

What benefits would that yield? Can't see it really doing much for weight reduction/fuel consumption etc?

tyre blow-out = call AA,

any other tyre issues = use weld, or pump..

95% of your cars life will not need this spare tyre, so why carry it around..?

Thats my take.. Mine comes with the wheel but contemplating on ditching it for weld and pump (as I carry the ele. pump anyway in the car).

I seriously wouldn't even think about getting rid of the spare,not even if you were stripping the car out.

I seriously wouldn't even think about getting rid of the spare,not even if you were stripping the car out.

Care to elaborate? :yes:

I'm not getting rid of it I just wondered what peoples thoughts were

I would rather carry the extra 15kg in weight knowing I could get home at 3am if I got a blowout

tyre blow-out = call AA,

any other tyre issues = use weld, or pump..

95% of your cars life will not need this spare tyre, so why carry it around..?

Thats my take.. Mine comes with the wheel but contemplating on ditching it for weld and pump (as I carry the ele. pump anyway in the car).

Can't see what an AA man is gonna do at 3am if no spare available???

The car maker doesn't give you a £50 discount for not having it so it's a £50 price increase.

Then add that they can claim marginally lower emissions to meet the regs and that's probably why.

It's all down to cost. If the manufacturer can reduce their car cost to make it more attractive to sell that's what they'll do . Most new car owners don't even lift the boot floor to check what's underneath before they buy.

I paid £55 extra for the "full size" spare wheel & tools . For me it was a no brainer.

Can't see what an AA man is gonna do at 3am if no spare available???

Fair play, suppose the best they can do is drop you to nearest trainstation/taxi place

Side-note: Realistically speaking, tyre blow-out's can be avoided by maintenance no? I assume they don't 'just' happen..?

If saving 15kg means you can just scrape the car into a lower road tax and benefit in kind band, why worry about whether or not it might inconvenience someone who doesn't even know if it's there or not?

I can't see that ditching the spare can really make that much difference to tax bandings

Fair play, suppose the best they can do is drop you to nearest trainstation/taxi place

Side-note: Realistically speaking, tyre blow-out's can be avoided by maintenance no? I assume they don't 'just' happen..?

Well, if you can find a train station that actually has trains running at 3AM...

And on the side note, broken glass, nails, potholes, lumps of metal or stone that fell off something or were dropped, momentary inattention meaning that you hit a kerb the wrong way...

Fair play, suppose the best they can do is drop you to nearest trainstation/taxi place

Side-note: Realistically speaking, tyre blow-out's can be avoided by maintenance no? I assume they don't 'just' happen..?

I've had 3 blow outs since I started driving 20 years (and realistically several hundred thousand miles) ago and wouldn't ditch the spare wheel (and made sure I ordered one on my car). That does mean that I've not needed the spare in most of my cars, but it's nice to know it's there... The tyre weld stuff only works on smaller holes and a larger tear caused by something unexpected could mean you end up being stranded.

One of those cars didn't have a spare wheel at the time (I'd lent the spare to a friend) so I had to call the AA out who pointed out that I was supposed to carry a spare at all times otherwise they could charge me. Would like to know what their stance is these days when more and more manufacturers aren't providing them as standard...

I regularly check the tyres but unavoidable or unseen debris in the road can cause a blow out and I'd rather have the insurance of the spare being there than risk being stranded somewhere with no mobile reception at 3am on a winters morning...

Another vote for having a spare, a recent event that happened to me that no amount of tyre weld would cure was not a blow out, puncture or damaged rim, but some thieving scumbag nicking the valve.

Having left Portree late one Sunday night for the run to my hotel 90 miles away a pothole split the sidewall. Nearest replacement tyre at Fort William 107 miles away. I always carry a spare.

No spare ftw! Less weight = more speed and better mpg

Backseats are in my garage along with the full sized spare and tool-kit

My daughter has burst a tyre twice recently both times through being forced onto the kerb by oncoming vehicles that didn't leave her enough space. No tyre weld would have fixed them.

Our Skoda dealer automatically orders a spare with all new cars.

no spare in the fiat, never had a puncture in it (97,000 miles) but I did bust a tyre on a pothole, couldn't see any obvious damage, but the tyreweld was usless. They are however XL tyres, and supported the weight of the car no probs with no air in, a careful (not exceeding 30 mph) drive to the nearest tyre place was possible with no damage to the rim

I ordered the full size spare as a non-cost option on mine

Like you, I've considered leaving it in the garage for the economy, but never have. To me, it depends on how good your breakdown cover is - our company scheme is "we'll do anything to get you sorted", so its not really a problem - as long as you're not in a hurry, as the AA/RAC can take AGES to arrive, and then they've got to drag you off to somewhere, on a lorry... if somewhere is open at that time. :S

£50 for a spare wheel and tools is money well spent IMHO. I was pleased I specified one on my Roomy when I recently pot-holed a front tyre (irreparable by goo-can). Fifteen minutes at the roadside to put on the spare and I was on my way again.

Incidentally, I read in another thread that a punctured and goo-canned tyre cannot be repaired, and has to be replaced.

I should probably consider leaving mine out on local journies and just stick it in on late/longer journies. Never had a blowout/bad puncture in well over 10 years of driving.

I should probably consider leaving mine out on local journies and just stick it in on late/longer journies. Never had a blowout/bad puncture in well over 10 years of driving.

I've never had a blowout either (touch wood) and it probably would change my view if I ended up stranded with one.. but for the time being less IS more!

Side-note: Realistically speaking, tyre blow-out's can be avoided by maintenance no? I assume they don't 'just' happen..?

I think you can reduce the chances by checking pressures etc., but you can't prevent them altogether.

I check my pressures and tread depth regularly but even so with my last Fabia I had two punctures where the tyre ended up as an unrepairable shredded mess. But there were at least two more occasions with the same car where I found a pressure drop from a slow puncture, put the spare on, and got the tyre repaired cheaply (or for free). In all 4 cases I was better off having a spare...

Edited 5 June, 201016 yr by DavidY

Middle of winter, with a tyre with a hole the best part of an inch in it. Snow and ice everywhere and it's freezing.

Did phone the AA due to not fancying putting the car on a jack on an icy road, but we were quoted 3 hours and that was a preferential service time due to the nature of the provision.

At that point I cleared some ice, jacked up the car and did it myself.

This wasn't the first time I have needed the spare and am always so glad do have a spare. I'd certainly not want to be without one.

I have needed a spare on a number of occasions - goo just wouldn't have done the job either. I wouldn't do without one!