That is a whole different subject, i live where it gets very frosty, but would never use an ice scraper.

 

Some City cars and Families Second Cars never leave the confines of towns or cities.

you could leave the spare at home

and get a Taxi back home to get if you ever needed to get it to put on.

 

It is a Location Location Location thing with spare wheels.

 

It is one thing for some to say that you can get the Recovery Service out.

Try going on a Holiday in a remote part of the UK and have a wrecked tyre on a Holiday Weekend.

Or even in a not so remote location in the UK.

 

george

I worked for Vauxhall Demo Fleet for quite a few years and we were specifically banned from changing wheels if we had a puncture, especially on the motorway. 

I daresay Vauxhall can afford to pay for a breakdown crew! 

I think it was the RAC that turned up if it happened.

I guess the same sort of discussions went the rounds of the village pubs when I was a nipper and cars starting appearing without a starting handle - "all very well until you have a flat battery!"   Bearing in mind that a car battery lasted only a year or two and was charged by a slow, trickle-charging dynamo when starting handles diappeared, the AA and RAC workload must have increased dramatically in the 1960's.

Cars without spare wheels as standard seem to be becoming the norm - personally, I like to be in control of my own destiny and definitely feel more comfortable with a spare in the boot.   In about 35 years of driving, I have only experienced a handful of flats, but on two occasions that stand out, I needed to get on the move quickly:

 

1.   Cape Town, South Africa on the coast road leading to Hout Bay halfway round a blind bend, the nearside front caught a boulder that had fallen from the clifftop.   Not only was the car's position dangerous, but a tourist in South Africa with a broken down rental car is highly vulnerable.   Within 15 minutes, and help from a couple of hotel staff who had heard the bang as my wheel caught and came to assist, the spare was on and we were away!

 

2.   Outside Lane of the M4 on the Brentford/Chiswick  Flyover section in the morning rush hour.   Some thoughtless whatever had thrown a beer bottle out of a car window the night before and a shard of brown bottle glass had made a sorry, irreparable mess of my offside front tyre.   Again, while the growing queue of traffic idly watched my plight, I knuckled down and was on the move again pretty damned quickly!   I don't know how much I contributed to the rush hour congestion that morning, but think how horrendous it would have been if I had been waiting for "a very, very nice man!"

Edited 20 June, 201411 yr by bealine

VW Golf MK7 has skinny spare as standard even on basic spec, but with room in well (or raise boot level) to accommodate full size wheel................

 

Need a spare wheel up here........& preferably a full size...............as 50miles away in the middle of nowhere in winter ain't fun!

Sotonjoe - Why carry anything in the boot of your car? I suppose you don't have an ice scraper in your car, as where you live it never gets frosty??????

J

I carry stuff in my boot that I have to carry from a to b ... Shopping and such like.

Have never had a nice scraper. Either use quick clear windscreen or just aircon. Only takes a couple of minutes. I don't have a problem with scrapers if people would rather stand there and do it tho.

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My guess is that "sotonjoe" lives in or near Southampton (Soton = Southampton).

 

1.   Near the South Coast, the salt-laden atmosphere means they hardly ever experience a rock hard, icy frost 

2.   Ford have a patent on the "Quick Clear" windscreen - it takes less than a minute to defrost a rock hard, icy screen and the use of air con prevents the inside misting up during the rapid screen clearing.

 

To be fair, though, even if your boot is full up with shopping, suitcases etc, it still doesn't take long to empty it and access your spare wheel and tools.......a heck of a lot less time than waiting for the recovery team.

My guess is that "sotonjoe" lives in or near Southampton (Soton = Southampton).

1. Near the South Coast, the salt-laden atmosphere means they hardly ever experience a rock hard, icy frost

2. Ford have a patent on the "Quick Clear" windscreen - it takes less than a minute to defrost a rock hard, icy screen and the use of air con prevents the inside misting up during the rapid screen clearing.

To be fair, though, even if your boot is full up with shopping, suitcases etc, it still doesn't take long to empty it and access your spare wheel and tools.......a heck of a lot less time than waiting for the recovery team.

Used to, yep ; not any more though. But no, I don't live up a mountain so have no need to scrape windscreens. Not sure the neighbours want to hear my engine running for a couple of mins while I thaw out but then I guess a lot of people who scrape do so with the engine running and aircon on as well anyway!

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Got a call late last night from a best buddy of mine:

"I have had a disaster. Can you come and help me with this tyre sealant stuff?"

He hasn't a clue about cars so I got in the car and drove thirty minutes or so to where he had stopped due to the flat.

I had a quick look at the tyre and had a feel around it for any nail heads of screws poking out, thinking it was more than likely the case.

Then I got a torch out and had a look at the side wall.

The original post by Coops came straight to mind when I saw this:

There was a second gash of similar size closer to the wheel where the wheel and the kerb/speed bump had 'bitten' the tyre.

... Told him that no sealant was going to plug two gashes over an inch in length!

Glad I've got a spare that is for sure

JRJG

Edited 24 October, 201411 yr by Jrjg

I've never had to change a wheel in anger. I still wouldn't be without a spare.

 

I also carry a metal tube (old dumbbell handle) because the normal tyre iron is never long enough to give leverage to move wheel nuts.

Got a call late last night from a best buddy of mine:

"I have had a disaster. Can you come and help me with this tyre sealant stuff?"

He hasn't a clue about cars so I got in the car and drove thirty minutes or so to where he had stopped due to the flat.

I had a quick look at the tyre and had a feel around it for any nail heads of screws poking out, thinking it was more than likely the case.

Then I got a torch out and had a look at the side wall.

The original post by Coops came straight to mind when I saw this:

There was a second gash of similar size closer to the wheel where the wheel and the kerb/speed bump had 'bitten' the tyre.

... Told him that no sealant was going to plug two gashes over an inch in length!

Glad I've got a spare that is for sure

JRJG

 

Looks very much like the job that was done on MIL's car a couple of year ago, in town, tyre went while going round a corner, and shredded the tyre wall.

gunk wasnt worth a funk then either... had to jack the car in a car park, whip the wheel off and spent 2 hrs tracking down a tyre fitters that had the correct size tyre for an Audi A1 - which has the bigger wider rims than standard... great fun was had that day by me and the FIL..

If you use the tyre gunk instead of a spare wheel you will find that some tyre places will not repair it.

Looks very much like the job that was done on MIL's car a couple of year ago, in town, tyre went while going round a corner, and shredded the tyre wall.

gunk wasnt worth a funk then either... had to jack the car in a car park, whip the wheel off and spent 2 hrs tracking down a tyre fitters that had the correct size tyre for an Audi A1 - which has the bigger wider rims than standard... great fun was had that day by me and the FIL..

It seems to be the case doesn't it, wheels being too big and tyres being difficult to source.

I bought a car with ridiculous 17" very low profile wheels on, they were so wide it was silly.

Anyway - got a puncture, whipped the (space saver) spare on, tightened the nuts back up, tried setting off ... The car lurched but didn't move forwards at all...

A little bit of head scratching latter I realised the wheel nuts were passing through the space saver and into whatever is behind.

Phone calls later, hacksaw borrowed, I was left with four shorter wheel nuts than the rest! I soon sourced some standard steel wheels after that episode.

JRJG

Nearly a year on and I was reminded of this old thread.  I'm on another forum most days and this totally proves why a full size spare can be the difference between getting home as planned, or in this case, not as planned.

 

http://www.vxronline.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?282704-I-m-stuck-in-France!!-Help!!

Nearly a year on and I was reminded of this old thread. I'm on another forum most days and this totally proves why a full size spare can be the difference between getting home as planned, or in this case, not as planned.

http://www.vxronline.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?282704-I-m-stuck-in-France!!-Help!!

Obviously not heard of opel then

It would appear not.  I'm aware that with a bit of basic local language he might have had more luck, but even so, it would have been easier had he been carrying a full size alloy.

Don't; the USians will fine you $100_million for "cheating on the exhaust emissions tests"!

Got a call late last night from a best buddy of mine:

"I have had a disaster. Can you come and help me with this tyre sealant stuff?"

He hasn't a clue about cars so I got in the car and drove thirty minutes or so to where he had stopped due to the flat.

I had a quick look at the tyre and had a feel around it for any nail heads of screws poking out, thinking it was more than likely the case.

Then I got a torch out and had a look at the side wall.

The original post by Coops came straight to mind when I saw this:

There was a second gash of similar size closer to the wheel where the wheel and the kerb/speed bump had 'bitten' the tyre.

... Told him that no sealant was going to plug two gashes over an inch in length!

Glad I've got a spare that is for sure

JRJG

 

 

not a great idea to shove your finger into the hole , there are sharp wires in the sidewall of tyres , you might find your finger goes in alright but wont come out !

I've just had a puncture at work, I didn't know about it till some one said I had one, lucky the spare was easy to put on. The gap on the wheel arch was massive, Skoda have not taken in to account the wheel ratio is now larger, the flat symbol kept coming on making me paranoid I had another flat, must have done 5 or 6 resets.

To add more salt to the wound the tyre could not be fixed by a plug ( but can be hot galvanised) and Pirelli have no P7 in stock! So had to P zero, cost me £131 fitted, a very well known company wanted £205 fitted!

Needless to say my view on spare wheels is they should be standard again or the manufacturers should make armoured wheels.

Just reset the tpm when you put on the spare