Had a letter from my dealer today concerning recent press and TV coverage of complaints that squirting goo into a puntured tyre frequently failed to repair it.  Letter acknowledges the problem and offers to sell me a spare "FROM just £155 including VAT,  fitted free.  I'd have been happier if they offered the wheel free,  but its a step in the right direction.

Fitted free! lol

Yes that's the catch From.

 

The full Yeti post factory spare wheel kit normally retails for around £250 or so :S

 

 

My lad managed to get a full Fabia kit for just over £100 with generous discount from the dealer last year; his second hand Fabia being one of the early one's to get factory fit gunk rather than a spare.

 

 

TP

That makes me even more glad I ordered one with the car, think it was only about £70 or so.

I'm having my spare wheel and floor transfered from Scarlet to my new Yeti when I collect it.

The reason it seems more expensive to buy as an after market kit rather than the factory fitted option. is the offset of the value of the removed repair kit and swapping the boot floor for the alternative higher one. The actual cost is about the same;

When you buy the after market kit you will still have the parts left over that are worth about £160 added to the factory fit option price £85 total £245. 

So a choice is keep them and put back when you sell the car then either transfer the kit to your new Yeti or selloff and put money towards the kit that fits your new car.

That makes me even more glad I ordered one with the car, think it was only about £70 or so.

 

+1. Easiest option choice I had to make. As I saw it there were two plus points - if I get a puncture I can be back on the road within about 10 minutes rather than waiting for a breakdown service if the gunk fails and secondly I can drop off the tyre with the puncture and pick it up later when it's convenient for me so I'm not waiting around for the repair and I've got a usable car. I suspect in years to come we will all be able to laugh at that funny fashion that came and went for cars not to have a spare wheel of some sort. 

Just don't get me started....................... Spare wheels ought to be STANDARD!

Just don't get me started....................... Spare wheels ought to be STANDARD!

+1 

 

When I got the Octavia as a pre reg, it just had the 'puncture repair' kit and I refused to buy a spare from Skoda, so after consultation with my local VW breakers in Manchester, got a steel full sized wheel off a golf thats exactly the same size, a scissor jack that fits and so have a working spare - all for about £30!

When my Yeti arrives, its coming with a factory spare - the question then is do I return the Octavia as I got it or leave the spare in for the next lucky owner (its the wrong size for the yeti!) along with the 'repair' kit?

Sadly on an MPV there's no option to have a spare, as nowhere to put one

Glad of my dealer supplied spare wheel when I caught a slate kerb and burst ( gently) a rear tyre. No mobile signal for a few miles.

Took about 10 mins to change wheel, main difficulty was getting 1st wheel bolt lined up as there is nothing on the hub to really hang the spare wheel on.

Expensive evening drive!

 

Had a letter from my dealer today concerning recent press and TV coverage of complaints that squirting goo into a punctured tyre frequently failed to repair it.  Letter acknowledges the problem and offers to sell me a spare "FROM just £155 including VAT,  fitted free.  I'd have been happier if they offered the wheel free,  but its a step in the right direction. 

That's interesting. I wasn't happy with just the goo kit but had little choice if I wanted to get my car quickly (not a pre-reg but I got one that was apparently already in Grimsby). Did they send this letter to you out of the blue or was it the result of a discussion? I'd actually be willing to pay that for the spare but don't seem to have the option as yet

Its not goo ! it is officially known as the gunk and pump system.

Try getting a tyre repaired after using said gunk and pump system.

Because it coats the inner side of the tyre the repairers dont like fixing a puncture because it coats where the repair is to be made and is difficult to clean off.

it is easier for them to sell you a new tyre.

I ordered my spare from new for £75 extra I think and that included a useful false boot floor with extra storage.

The spare is a 'slim' design and limited to 50 mph but feel much happier with that than a canister of squirty goo which, (call me old fashioned), just doesn't inspire confidence.

My father lost a close friend using a gunk system.

The official report was he was having difficulty getting it to work and he took his eye off traffic passing by. A lorry took him out.

Now my father won't let me buy a car unless it has a spare wheel.

Now my father won't let me buy a car unless it has a spare wheel.

??

I prefer a car with a spare wheel too, but surely that accident could happen just as easily (more easily?) when changing an offside wheel for the spare?

Goo may well be OK for a puncture in theory, not my cup of tea but what happens when the tyre comes off the rim or is damaged way beyond a simple pump up with goo?

Basically you are stuffed and then need full recovery.

I think it is crap and just another way of getting more money. It should be a full spare first time not an extra cost!

Here's tempting fate, but not had a flat for nearly 20 years, went with tin of gunk as wanted the boot space, dealer would have fitted a spare for £85, perhaps I should now have taken them up on the offer!

Forgive me if I quote one of my earlier posts, re an X-Trail incident.  You can see which camp I'm in! :yes:

 

'....I think I have fairly retired from wheel-changing now (except for dire emergency). Our last event was the 70mph disintegration of the n/s front on a dual carriageway - no hard shoulder. If we hadn't had a spare there was nothing left to blow gunge into. Bless the AA, but even the Angel had us 50 yards upstream of his van, hi-vized and triangled, to yell if anyone seemed blind to the hazard - and they were, and we did, and he was pretty smartly over the barrier, too!...'

After reading these threads and see many favour a spare, I would say that you have a car to travel and a simple split in a tyre wall stops you dead in your tracks.

Your independence has gone if you have to rely on some other party to assist you, how long will they be?  Will they be able to fix it? How much for a new tyre? 

Compared to 10 mins to change a wheel and carry on you could still catch your ferry. Happy days!. 

I realise there are other reasons that cause a breakdown and some could be quite major but as said before a regular puncture is an easy fix with a wheel. Ever since cars were fitted with Pneumatic tyres they attached a spare one to the car.  

 

No need to ask me if I have a spare. 

??

I prefer a car with a spare wheel too, but surely that accident could happen just as easily (more easily?) when changing an offside wheel for the spare?

The inference from his family that unfortunately witnessed the incident was that it was taking/took much longer than changing the wheel would have due to the problems he was having. The logic there being he would never have been there at the point the lorry hit if it was a spare wheel.

I've specified a spare on my Octy which is on order and there is one in my dads Yeti. The first question he was asking me at every second hand car I looked at "is there a spare".

Andy

At the end of the day all bar perhaps the Blackine folk had the option to select when ordering as is very reasonable at this stage. The cars official weight and emissions is most likely made without the extra weight resulting in cheaper road fund licence every year or 6 months whenever you get yours. The VRS CR170 is 149 if it was 151 you'd be paying more (£35 a year more)! 

 

Cut this from my order form and I still bought a new 18" Neptune and a tyre on top of this so I have a summer and winter spare now with no speed restrictions imposed

 

The inference from his family that unfortunately witnessed the incident was that it was taking/took much longer than changing the wheel would have due to the problems he was having. The logic there being he would never have been there at the point the lorry hit if it was a spare wheel.

Well, it's clearly a very tragic incident, but I'm still not sure that the logic follows. It's perfectly possible to have problems and delays changing a spare wheel - jacking issues, can't find the bit for a locking wheel nut, stuck wheel nuts etc. Plus I would have thought that there's more physical movement and manipulation and potential exposure to passing traffic involved in changing a wheel than using gunk. But families are understandably not always rational about such matters.

(As I say, I'm just quibbling about the logic here, not about the peace of mind of having a spare wheel.)

Edited 1 September, 201312 yr by prodata

I'd agree there. My car has a full spare, my truck has a can of slime due to the low payload, and my bike has neither.

 

One thing in common though, if I get a puncture anywhere that's a bit chancey, then I've paid for a man in an orange van to come and risk his neck sorting it out while I hide somewhere safe.

 

In the past, I have quite happily killed a flat tyre limping off the motorway because I didn't think it safe to stop where I was.