Report from breakdown services:

 

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-news/consumer-news/99109/flat-tyres-are-the-top-cause-of-car-breakdown-call-outs

Edited 10 April, 20179 yr by vrskeith

What's the chances of them offering a discount to people like myself who have a spare and can actually change it?!

 

Maybe changing a wheel should be part of the driving test and breakdown companies could charge for flat tyre breakdowns for cars that don't have a spare or drivers that can't change them. Would have to be some kind of exemption for cases where it would be too dangerous to change a wheel (like a live lane or motorway hard shoulder).

Where does this place, say, Ford, who supply a spare kit with some Fiesta models, but not others, because the weight saving gets them down a road tax band?

Chris Grayling MP, Theresa May MP & Philip Hammond MP just need to ensure that all Passenger Vehicles in the UK Registered after April 2019 have a Spare Wheel & Tool Kit for changing fitted as standard from the Factory & any Imported Vehicles to the UK need a Spare Wheel as standard.

Then that for UK MOTS from 2021 it is required the correct spare wheel is in the vehicles.

 

The AA, RAC, Green Flag etc can have their T&C's in place by 2021 surely.

5 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Where does this place, say, Ford, who supply a spare kit with some Fiesta models, but not others, because the weight saving gets them down a road tax band?

Does that apply to the Focus RS mk3 as well?

 

Spare wheel will fill its boot!

I just now assume that all new cars don't have spare wheels with them anymore.

 

It's also surprising the number of people who have never changed a wheel before. I can understand calling someone out if you're in a dangerous position.

 

My spare wheel said it was manufactured in 2012, which is 2 years newer than the car. Thank you one of the previous owners. I needed it 2 weeks ago. :-)

When i got my Volvo 6 months ago it came with no spare tyre,only a compressor & tin of gunk,this was my first car without a spare in 25 years of driving & ive had around 3 punchure's in 25 years,after 2 days of ownership i came to leave work to find my o/s/r tyre was flat! thankfully the compressor blew the tyre up (no gunk used) & i drove to my tyre place & got the punchure fixed,that night i bought a spare wheel kit,ive had no call to use it yet but im much happier knowing i have one,im amazed if not having a spare wheel fitted makes any real difference to vehicle weight & fuel economy,seems a cost cutting exercise to me. 

Yeti greenline can't have a spare as the increased weight affected the CO2 average for the range; similarly you couldn't add a sunroof at the time due to the weight. One puncture so far in 40k, flat on the drive due to a screw next morning, AA did a temporary plug so I could drive to a tyre fitter.

 

I had planned to spec a spare in my current order but it has a huge impact on the size of the boot. In my greenline I can remove the rear seats and have a large, reasonably flat load area. With a spare it is not worth removing the seats as there is a large step up over the spare behind the seats. Effectively it is only worth folding down the seat backs which them more or less line up with the raised boot floor.

 

I am considering buying one of the cheap tyre plug kits to do the same repair the AA did to my tyre to get me mobile again. Apparently the glued thread ones can be used much closer to the edge of the tyre than the patches applied internally.

Not supposed to be permanent repairs but some use them as such with no long term issues. Won't fix a large cut or sidewall damage though.

 

I can change a tyre and have done so in the past; however changing a wheel on the hard shoulder seems quite risky these days

My dad bought a tucson commercial when they came out in 2007. The spare space saver was mounted on an upright post behind the passenger seat. Looked horrendous.

Did a bit of rummaging and discovered by lifting the factory fit load floor, theres a flamin wheel well under it that could take a full size!

 

MIL's sline A1 had a gunk and compressor.. not much use when the side wall had 6 1" tears in it after she drove on the flat for 1/2 a mile to get to safe stopping place.. nor was the fact that the gunk tube was different to the one in the instructions...

Lots of cars are no longer built to accomodate even a space saver. When I got a Mazda I knew it wouldn't have a spare but I was surprised to find  it still had a well to put one in so I bought the kit (£400).

 

Beemers have runflats so no spare, no gunk and no place to put it even if you wanted to. You do get 3rd party kits but they just strap into the boot reducing what space you do have.

To put the space saver in the boot wheel well on my Volvo would require me to buy a complete new rear floor section at great cost as the compressor & tin of gunk sits there,i actually like the twin floor section in mine that it came with as i can store all my bits & bobs in there so i bought a space saver wheel & cover to put it in & it sits on top of the boot floor & doesnt take up that much space & all the other stuff is secured under the boot floor,this works for me,i never have a full boot anyway,should i ever need to fit the spacesaver then the full size wheel will have to sit on top of the boot floor until it gets fixed which would be asap anyway.This was around a 3rd of the cost Volvo wanted for the full floor kit & wheel. 

On 10/04/2017 at 18:01, Aspman said:

Lots of cars are no longer built to accomodate even a space saver. When I got a Mazda I knew it wouldn't have a spare but I was surprised to find  it still had a well to put one in so I bought the kit (£400).

 

Beemers have runflats so no spare, no gunk and no place to put it even if you wanted to. You do get 3rd party kits but they just strap into the boot reducing what space you do have.

 

 

Despite all all the negatives that come with RFLs I would say manufacturers either have to offer a spacesaver to fit RFLs. By preference I'd have both a full spare and RFLs but with staged alloys and the width of BMW tyres id have no boot with 2 wheels in it. 

 

My mate just bought a polo beats by "Dr" Dre and it can't have a spare. It's got the well for it but it's full of subwoofer that makes all the trim rattle. Well done VW. 

Edited 12 April, 20179 yr by gullyg

They do seem to have sorted the ride with run flats. Admittedly my x-drive doesn't have the lower Msport suspension so it is a bit softer.

 

Main drawbacks are the price,and a bit like can of gunk an inability to repair minor punctures (or is that an unwillingness to repair).

Its odd how quickly this changes, I had a 61 Plate Astra that just had the gunk, whilst my 2003 530D has a full size spare alloy, a widow maker Jack, full tool kit, a wheel chock, first aid kit, torch etc.

 

Is it all down the weight and storage space then? Then as above, the amount of people who can actually change a spare is minimal to say the least! 

I have changed a couple of tyres for people (ladies) sitting at the road side. 

One  a couple of days before christmas, pretty a month to the day before i joined brisky. Twas a scenic(i think) with a spacesaver in a rack underneath, thankfully as the boot was loaded with christmas shopping. I made sure to have her son(about 12) watch - i told him it was so he could do the next one

Another one i passed her on a frosty morning on the hard shoulder outside cork. I turned around went back.her husband was on the way but about 20min drive away. Had the wheel off and doe before he got there . That was a pita,as she had a spare but the wheel nuts were welded theyd been untouched so long. And the wheel nearly wouldnt come off the rim, probably due to the cold shrink effect - had to tap it all round with a 10lb keying sledge as twas the only hammery thing i had.. hubby tried to pay me when arrived, but i refused as it wouldve made it no longer a good deed, instead im just a kind soul who rescued his wife id like to hope the same would happen if it was my swmbo stuck like that tbh..

mac- biggest problem these days with Alloys is that they need to come off every so often. I have mine off every so often but I've no space for a keying hammer ( I've got one as when I worked I used to keep it in the van), but I've found that this with keeping a decent sized small mallet in boot ,helps. Same with wheel nuts, they need to be cracked every so often and torqued to size.

I'm like you ,and one day long time ago ,I came across an old 1100( it was that long) ,with a lady with a puncture. Only way I could get nuts off was to fir a hydraulic jack under the wheel brace, get her to start up and hold the footbrake down ,whilst I jacked up (praying that the studs wouldn't break). The puncture was in a new tyre -fitted by a no brain fitter. ( with an air gun).

But round here is puncture alley. Look the wrong way at a kid, or upset someone and you've got at least one flat tyre. I now ( apart from the cost of fuel places air lines) carry a cheap compressor, and a can of gunk, along with a proper spare.

Edited 30 April, 20179 yr by VWD

Copper grease is your friend. Dab some around the centre of the hub before putting the wheel back on and it'll stop the electrolytic welding that occurs between steel and aluminium that are in contact for a long time.

 

For wheel nuts/bolts, copper grease on the threads and make sure they're not overtightened.

 

I also keep a 600 mm breaker bar in the boot with a 17 mm socket for these occasions.

A vote for 'No copper grease' on threads before torquing correctly.

I also carry a 2ft breaker bar and impact socket. Despite my local tyre bods actually using a torque wrench I've had to use it a few times.

@VWD - Which puts me in mind of "making" an extemporised breaker bar out of about 2 feet of 0.5" drive extension pieces and then jumping on it, only to find that I was pushing the car against the handbrake! Eventually cured by having a mate run the engine then try and push the footbrake into the floor whilst I used a second (female) mate's shoulders for balance!

Ken- that was problem on 1100 on rear end- only slightly better than the Old Commer vans, where the handbrake operated on the FRONT wheels, after one with HB on rear ran away on a hill - no rear grip.

@VWD - I did not know that; the car in question was a ~1982 Nissan Cherry!