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Is A Spare Tyre Really Necessary?


cyb
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121 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you had need to use your spare tyre?

    • Yes because I had a flat tyre
    • Yes because there was no tread left on my other wheel
    • No I have never had need to use a spare
    • No never used one, carrying it around must have cost me an arm and a leg in extra fuel costs


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Eyesight is checked on applying for your license anyway though, albeit its just stating what you eyes are like.

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So you would rather someone know how to change a wheel than have their eye sight checked? :o

Now that would be scary, there are enough blind drivers out there now :) :)

The thing is, the number plate is on the car, if they can see the car, what's the problem, they aint gonna drive into just the numberplate. ;)

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The thing is, the number plate is on the car, if they can see the car, what's the problem, they aint gonna drive into just the numberplate. ;)

mmmmmmmmmm somehow I don't think that is the idea, but I like your thinking :)

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The thing is, the number plate is on the car, if they can see the car, what's the problem, they aint gonna drive into just the numberplate. ;)

:lol::lol:

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  • 2 months later...

In My C-Max which I bought second hand I found that the car never had a spare wheel, I was not keen on the gunk, so bought a steel wheel from the scrappy and painted it as well as a new tyre and have it in the boot if I ever need it.

If I don't need it then I will sell it when I come to sell the car.

Davy

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i've never used the spare on a ford before but i was off road in my dads x-trail and shreaded one of the tyres on a nasty gravel track and had to swap it for the spare cause it was to damaged. that was an expensive weekend :o

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  • 7 months later...

I haven't fully set up my Fiesta yet, but on my bimmer I carry an aftermarket spare tire kit(my Fiesta came with a spare), a jump start box with a built in aircompressor (push button start...), headlamp and led flashlight, fix-a-flat foam bottle, road hazard triangles, firstaid kit, small fire extinguisher in the interior and another larger one in the trunk, hose patch tape, quickpatch kit for metal along with potting, safety wire (very useful stuff for many things), a small toolbox, 4qts motor oil, 1 gallon de-minerlized water, 2 spare coilpacks (will be adding more as I replace ones that I determine are worn out...but still good for emergency use), sparkplugs...just because..worm clamps in different sizes and spare belts. I started doing that when I drove from California to Alaska, although I actually had more just-in-case stuff for that trip. Now I carry what I have listed here as common practice. Just about all of that fits in the hidden compartment of the trunk where normally a spare tire would be if bmw didn't get rid of spares. The spare tire is above that compartment, in the trunk along with some of the stuff hidden under the spare.

The only time I had to use a spare was when I was young and too cheap to spend money to upkeep my car. I drove around on tires that should have been thrown away. Do that on roads in the desert durring the summer and eventually it will fail just because of heat. Other then that, I have never had to use my spare, but I'd rather be prepared then stuck wishing I was prepared and paying a crap ton of money for a tow. I have had to use my jump box a few times....for other people. I have also used my first-aid kit to dress wounds (band-aid for cuts and stuff :) ) and also put a small fire out on someone elses car with my extinuisher. I highly advise everyone to have road hazard markers for working on your car for whatever reason on the side of the road. It is not required by law in the states, but it should be. Heard Germany requires them, not sure about the rest of Europe. Too many people have gotten runned over fixing a flat tire.

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Had a blow out on the A1 and lost the tyre, a spare would have got me home! At home I had a spare so put that on, which went flat, and pumped it up. then put the 16"s back on! Oh and the one minus tyre? bent it, have now technically had 4 tyres on that front passenger.

hit pothole in a month - new wheel and tyre

tyre went flat - new tyre

change wheels, blow out - not repaired

spare wheel - went flat!

I keep forgetting to specify the spare on my new zetec s, then at work, fellow co worker reminded me that I have 3 spare 17" so will bung one of those in!

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In Novemebr I had 2 new Continental "ContiPremiumContact 2 " tyres fitted after 30k miles on the Hankook Evo S1's.

Had the misfortune this week of having a 2" x 10's Woodscrew in the N/S Rear Tyre. I noticed the tyre go down and managed to pull over without travelling too far with it flat, I assume. As with all these things sure enough it was dark,(05.15am) raining and I was on Exmoor.

The car came with the Dunlop IMS kit. (instant mobilty system). Tyre Goo to me and you, and its own little 12v compressor complete with gauge. Never used one before I've always had a spare tyre. Anyway quickly read the instructions that I had to leave the offending impliment in the tyre, at this stage I didn't know what it was. Connect the bottle of Dunlop Goo to the compressor pipe. attach it to the tyre valve, plug it in the ciggy lighty jump back in the car leave it running for 10mins and bobs your uncle the tyre was inflated and I hadn't even got my hands dirty. Drove a couple of miles stopped, checked the pressure using the compressor, still up to pressure (40psi) so continued to site.

Now the instructions on the kit say, no faster than 50mph and no further than 125 miles. Unfortunately time was of the essence that day, so rightly or wrongly I ended up in Newbury at my local Kwik Fit Dealership at approx 16.30pm to have them look athe tyre. Thats 237 miles later and having travelled at motorway speeds (70mph) I can contest to the worthyness of the system..I was well impressed. No grovelling under the car with a jack, struggling in the rain and dark, well its always raining and its dark when you get a puncture isn't it?.

Now comes the bad news. Because the car had run with the goo in and because of the distance I had travelled with the BIG Screw in, the tyre was useless. When I looked at when it was removed it looked fine. But apparantley I'm told its not the policy of the lease company to have tyres repaired if they've been "gooed"

Cost of New Continental Tyre to replace the one that had only done 1500 miles £93.55

Cost Of Ford Goo to replace the one used. £40.00

If it had been my own vehicle I think I would have ticked the options box for a spare wheel and tyre of some description when we bought the car That was one expensive Woodscrew.

Because I avg 950 miles per week, I average on 2 punctures per year, puntures have suddenly become an expensive luxury not to mention the inconvenience and lost time.

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I came out of a friends last week about 1am and had a flat on the front drivers side.

I wasnt aware that i didnt have a spare until i looked, all i saw was an air pump and foam container. I was abit skeptical.

However it worked and i managed to drive home / drive to a tyre place the next morning. Id never carry a spare again, the foam is perfect for a quick easy fix.

If its anything worse then i would just call the AA.

IF i was doing a long journey somewhere then i would invest in a space saver though

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Highly recommend the spare tyre, I was 184km from home one bank holiday weekend, while driving on a secondary road I met a tractor coming in the opposite direction practically in the middle of the road when I swerved to the left in order to go around his 46inch wheel’s my front left wheel slipped off the road on to the muddy surface next to the country hedge,

When I steered to the right I caught the inside side wall of the tyre in the edge of the tarmac surface :o . With only a space saver tyre in the base of the luggage compartment In the Rain I had to remove the rear left tyre (undamaged) mount the space saver tyre on the rear, go to the front left punctured tyre and fit the previously mounted rear tyre in place. :angry:

As you can’t put a space saver tyre on the front end of your car, then i could drive at a max of 80kmph with the space saver fitted bearing in mind I was 184km from home and being a bank holiday weekend no tyre places were open and I’m not a member of the AA it was an utter disaster. :angry:

I now drive a focus and when ordering I requested a full sized spare which i plan to change to a Mercedes spare tyre from e-bay, their a powder coated black 5 spoke alloy and come in the same size tyre R16 as the focus, way more beneficial and less weight to carry in the rear too.

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hi all

just picked up my 10 reg fiesta 1.25 zetec yesterday,been reading this thread with interest as mine came with no spare.does anyone know the cost of these at the main dealer,or is a scrapyard a better alternative.mine came fitted with hankooks noticed tone on the previous page of this thread had changed to continentals how do you compare the two mate.on a side note very impressed with how the car drives particulary the steering.

cheers pete

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hi all

just picked up my 10 reg fiesta 1.25 zetec yesterday,been reading this thread with interest as mine came with no spare.does anyone know the cost of these at the main dealer,or is a scrapyard a better alternative.cheers pete

Cost around £70 for the space saver, best to go to the scrap yard for that option, or if you want a full spare like me you will need a polystyrene spacer kit for the boot compartment that sits around the wheel also means you lose some boot space total cost around £150

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Hi Toolslinger,

With regards to the Hankooks S1's, I must admit they've been a great tyre for roadholding they seem to hang on in the corners when pushed in all weathers they've even been great in the snow and they don't seem to wear out. The fronts wore out at 30k miles. I then replaced them for the new Continentals and put the remaining Hankook's on the front. Because they still have 4mm of tread left, I wanted to replace them with 2 more Continentals when they eventually wear out (Still going strong at 35k miles). The one issue I have with them and its because of this that I changed to Continentals is the noise. At motorway speeds and aftera couple of hours the road noise they make drives you mad. To such a degree I ended up stripping out the interior and soundproofing it.

With the Continentals Also I have noticed that the rear doesn't seem as hard riding or bouncy. With the Hankooks I started off playing around with tyre pressures originally I had them set at the manufacturer's recommended pressures. But I found that to be a bit hard and settled on 24psi which seemed about right for me. But the Conti's are at 28psi and seem great. Sidewall stiffness maybe the difference.

Back to a spare wheel saga the tyre goo is definately the way to go if you don't pay for your tyres. As in my previous thread once the goo was in and settled I traeted the car exactly as if it hadn't been repaired. I travelled across Exmoor pushing on and then hit the M5 & M4 at motorway plus speeds and felt that even after 237 miles I could have done that again with the tyre. Except that the screw was still in there. If the tyre is well worn then perhaps having to replace it then its no big issue but when its brand new virtually, it becomes costly.

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thanks for the replies lenny and tone.have taken my stepson back to uni in liverpool we live in doncaster i did not find any issues with road noise,but having come from a mini cooper s running 17 inch runflats it feels like i'm in a bentley.car feels slightly flat in 1st and 2nd gear, but has done has only 2000 miles so maybe it will loosen up with time. i am genuinly suprised how sweet it is to drive,and that is high praise from me as an ex mini driver.

cheers pete

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I've decided to go with a spare for my Fiesta Mk 7(got it recently as used car from dealer) rather than the dreaded foam. I have opted for a fifteen inch steel rim rather than the 14 inch space saver. The spare wheel bolt has just been ordered (I have the rim and tyre already) and having read a few posts I'm wondering if the bolt is long enough to hold a 15 inch rim in place. Can anybody confirm this either way from personal experience?

On a side note I've just started using the site and it great. I've picked up a few interesting tips about Mk7's already.

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I've decided to go with a spare for my Fiesta Mk 7(got it recently as used car from dealer) rather than the dreaded foam. I have opted for a fifteen inch steel rim rather than the 14 inch space saver. The spare wheel bolt has just been ordered (I have the rim and tyre already) and having read a few posts I'm wondering if the bolt is long enough to hold a 15 inch rim in place. Can anybody confirm this either way from personal experience?

On a side note I've just started using the site and it great. I've picked up a few interesting tips about Mk7's already.

Just an update. I got the spare wheel bolt from a Ford dealer on eBay and it fitted perfectly with the 15 inch rim. I am happier that on longer journeys, particularly late at night or holidays I have an equivalent wheel to replace any problem rubber. It's certainly something to consider for those with 15 inch steel or alloys on the likes of Edge, Style or Zetec models. Foam seems a better option for the larger 16 or 17 inch rims.

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well, I have my zetec s, and in the boot is a full 17" (it's ok, got 2 more!) plus the goo! whats the betting, I might have have to use the goo, but never bend a wheel, after doing 2 before!!!

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  • 1 year later...

Having had punctures in tyres where the hole would would have been too big for a foam repair I would say that a spare wheel is defo a good thing to have. Without it, I would have been stuck waiting for the AA.

(Touch wood) the Fiesta's been lucky so far but I am happy that I have the piece of mind by having a spare wheel in the boot too!

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Having had punctures in tyres where the hole would would have been too big for a foam repair I would say that a spare wheel is defo a good thing to have. Without it, I would have been stuck waiting for the AA.

(Touch wood) the Fiesta's been lucky so far but I am happy that I have the piece of mind by having a spare wheel in the boot too!

After my blowout a few months back, then I'd say yes lol <_<

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Last puncture I had was on a dark wet windy night on an unlit major road where I couldn't safely pull over for almost a mile. The tyre was wrecked and goo would probably not have worked. I bought a spare wheel for my next car and my current Fiesta came with one. Peace of mind is worth the small cost of carting it around IMHO.

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It`s very brave to say I`ve had no puncture in 10 years so I do not need a spare... I`ve also done many miles in 8 years without any problems until... you can see below... 11pm, rain, road in middle of nowhere and I hit a hole full of water... and no foam or compressor would save me that day...

imag0082ye.jpg

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Just bought one on eBay with jack and wheel brace for £60.My son had a puncture on his honda and the repair kit did not work.Had to get one for peace of mind.

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Yes i think so did 1100 miles in 5 days last week so mine gave me peace of mind .

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