Spare wheel necessary?

[BTB 500]

Hmm, can of goo and inflator not much help there then

Not as such! That was a middle of the night / pouring rain job (phone call from Mrs BTB: "the van is making a funny noise").

 

[Petrol Pete]

For your car, keep the spare wheel. But, how often have you had a flat this last decade, and how often are you far from the Rescue services?

We've had one flat in 20 years / 250k miles.

Kind of agree (ish) but I don't think its how far you are from a rescue service but how many hours of your life you want to spend waiting or them , then being taken somewhere you don't really want to be . It might be Ok for those with Mobilo or who have a decent recovery insurance . In my opinion the 'average' person who is fit enough to change a wheel and knows how to do it safely would be better off with a spare wheel in the car .

You and I seem to share a very similar 'flat tyre - mileage to time' ratio experience . But I still prefer to have a spare wheel .

 

[ernie]

Definately keep a spare if you can. I was stranded at the side of the M6 for 3 hours once in the rain while awaiting Mobilo finding me a tyre after a blow-out...no joke!

Ernie

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Kind of agree (ish) but I don't think its how far you are from a rescue service but how many hours of your life you want to spend waiting or them , then being taken somewhere you don't really want to be . It might be Ok for those with Mobilo or who have a decent recovery insurance . In my opinion the 'average' person who is fit enough to change a wheel and knows how to do it safely would be better off with a spare wheel in the car .

You and I seem to share a very similar 'flat tyre - mileage to time' ratio experience . But I still prefer to have a spare wheel .

All agreed. The only one teensy, weensy point to question is.....

Does the average person have the strength AND knowledge to change a wheel at the kerbside ?

We do....natch... just not so sure about the other 25 million.

 

[SpikyMikey]

All agreed. The only one teensy, weensy point to question is.....

Does the average person have the strength AND knowledge to change a wheel at the kerbside ?

We do....natch... just not so sure about the other 25 million.

Good question.
On another forum I frequent someone asked "what does the coolant expansion bottle on my car look like and where is it?"
Apart from the obvious answer "RTFM", do these people never open the bonnet?

 

[190]

My cars have always had a spare wheel or in the current case a space saver. I haven't had to use a spare in al least 50 years although I have had a couple of punctures. As is usual with tubeless tyres, picking up a a small nail doesn't deflate the tyre and you only find out through inspection or notice a pressure loss at the regular checks and can then drive to the tyre place for a repair. Blow outs must be rare on well maintained tyres. Extreme low profile tyres may fail on pot holes but then they aren't fit for purpose in the first place given the state of our roads.

A tubed tyre will deflate rapidly when punctured so I feel lucky to have avoided a puncture in over 50 years of motorcycling which is just as well as the aerosol cans don't always work on tubed tyres or at least that's what I've heard from riders that used them. On a bike you can't carry a spare wheel but you can carry a spare tube. Fitting a tube at the road side is another story and for many would be impossible on modern alloy wheels.

If I had a car with no spare wheel or a bike with tubeless tyres I would probably carry one of those plugging kits commonly used in the US. I can remember my dad using them and the spare wheel on my 190e had been plugged but I'm not sure they are a legal repair any more. Not that that would bother me if it meant the difference between being stranded and getting home.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Kind of agree (ish) but I don't think its how far you are from a rescue service but how many hours of your life you want to spend waiting or them , then being taken somewhere you don't really want to be . It might be Ok for those with Mobilo or who have a decent recovery insurance . In my opinion the 'average' person who is fit enough to change a wheel and knows how to do it safely would be better off with a spare wheel in the car .

You and I seem to share a very similar 'flat tyre - mileage to time' ratio experience . But I still prefer to have a spare wheel .

All agreed. The only one teensy, weensy point to question is.....

Does the average person have the strength and knowledge to change a wheel at the kerbside ?

We do....natch... but not so sure about the other

 

[Bellow]

Assuming you have Mobilo / AA / RAC / etc. they will do it for you. Much quicker than taking you home on the back of a recovery truck if you don't have a spare.

The recovery truck may not be an option if no spare is carried (when the vehicle originally carried one).
Below is from my breakdown insurance documentation:

''
What is not covered •
• Where service cannot be completed because the vehicle does not carry a serviceable spare wheel (not applicable to motorcycles or vehicles which are manufactured without a spare wheel), aerosol repair kit, appropriate jack or, the locking mechanisms for the wheels are not immediately available to remove the wheels. ''

 

[BTB 500]

Extreme low profile tyres may fail on pot holes but then they aren't fit for purpose in the first place given the state of our roads.

The three I've lost to potholes since 2018 have all been factory standard fit 17" on our C Classes ... nothing extreme.

 

[BTB 500]

Does the average person have the strength and knowledge to change a wheel at the kerbside ?

Particularly using just what's in the standard toolkit - most wheelbraces are marginal, no matter how strong you are. I've had to use a breaker bar to shift wheel bolts on more than one occasion.

 

[BTB 500]

The recovery truck may not be an option if no spare is carried (when the vehicle originally carried one).
Below is from my breakdown insurance documentation:

''
What is not covered •
• Where service cannot be completed because the vehicle does not carry a serviceable spare wheel (not applicable to motorcycles or vehicles which are manufactured without a spare wheel), aerosol repair kit, appropriate jack or, the locking mechanisms for the wheels are not immediately available to remove the wheels. ''

IIRC some tunnels/bridges will fine you if you stop with a puncture and don't have a serviceable spare (if standard fit).

 

[Popell]

For my biking trips I always carry a Stop'n'go kit, never had to use it on my bike but fixed a mates bike in Spain which allowed us to continue the holiday. I have actually used it twice on my previous E320 after Screwfix donated screws in their carpark, one front and one back!
I had the valve stem of a BMw320 sheared off by debris on the M62 - in roadworks -resulting in rapid deflation, manage dot get the wheel bolts out only to find the rim was pretty much welded onto the hub by corrosion, so much for well serviced company cars! Had to call out BMW assistance which remedied the situation with an enormous sledge hammer, not one f**k was given to whether that kind of treatment would result in a bent rim...
I taught both kids to change tyres and when daughter kerbed her A1 (a few days old) without losing air pressure I bought a new alloy and tyre that sat in her utility shower until the day she sold the car!
I have also bent a wheel brace on a hire car in Malta that needed a swap to the spare. This focusses the mind on correct torque values...

We are a product of our experiences, I'll keep the spacesaver in the E350, the wife can try her can of goo in her TT if she likes...

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Ive taken the "Optional" spare and jack etc out of the Alfa boot as for long Euro trips i need the space more than the peace of mind of having a spare. That might also be because getting a puncture is probably way down the list of things that might go wrong! I do though carry two cans of goo to ward off Sod's Law. And i get new cans every few years. The S212 has a spare though, but then space in that is never an issue.

 

[SpikyMikey]

Particularly using just what's in the standard toolkit - most wheelbraces are marginal, no matter how strong you are. I've had to use a breaker bar to shift wheel bolts on more than one occasion.

As Popell says; we are a product of our experiences. In the back of both our cars along with all the other clutter is a Kamasa telescopic wheel brace. Like you, I've met lug bolts torqued to about 1000 N-m before

 

[BTB 500]

In the back of both our cars along with all the other clutter is a Kamasa telescopic wheel brace.

Good call - just ordered telescopic braces for the Vito & SL

Ironically the Vito has limited storage for clutter as there's no boot

 

[alabbasi]

It's cheaper to have a spare handy. I've never been in a situation where I've had to change a tire because it was low on air. Almost always, it's because the tire failed completely. You could wait for a mobile tire changer but the chances of him having the correct size and correct brand at an affordable price is slim to none. What you'll probably end up doing is paying twice as much for the wrong size tire that you'll need to change again, or have mismatched tires.

Keep a spare

 

[ChrisHGTV]

Thinking about this further i think there is also a safety aspect to consider. If you need to change a wheel and you can get to somewhere safe to do it that's fine. But increasingly on our busy roads that scenario i think would be quite difficult unless you can get to a residential area/car park etc. And i certainly wouldn't try to change a wheel on a motorway - i'd rather call it in and wait on the other side of the barrier.

 

[190]

I can usually tackle even overtightened wheel bolts with the supplied wheel brace. You just jump on it if that's what it takes.

What you can't tackle with the normal wheel brace is overtightened locking wheel bolts and an extra long brace won't necessarily help. When I first bought my car they were so tight I couldn't get the locking wheel bolts out without fear of damaging them. It would have been quite impossible to change a wheel at the road side. In the end I parked up very close to the brick wall in my garage and used a scissor jack to force the locking key and socket hard into the bolt so it couldn't cam out. It then took a 4 ft breaker bar to crack them loose.

There really is no substitute for checking wheel bolts every time the trade has had the wheels off. Many places do use a torque wrench these days but you'll never know for sure until you have tried to loosen them with the tools normally carried in the car. Unless you do this the spare wheel might be so much dead weight if it can't be fitted when it's needed.

 

[ALFAitalia]

For those saying about the strength to do the job.....they obviously don't use a torque wrench and do them up correctly in the first place.....most cars are only between 90 and 130nm of torque.....hardly anything. My skinny 13 year old son can do it easily....if fact he could change a wheel with no assistance from me and I would get in and drive it without checking. Sure the factory brace is rubbish and too short....but I always have an 18 inch torque wrench in the car which gives rather mover leverage....and you need one anyway if you want the spare to torqued up nice and safe....don't forget that too tight a set of wheel bolts is more dangerous than too loose.

 

[BigJase88]

Even if it is too dangerous to change a wheel yourself or you cannot simply do it.

At least the recovery truck can get you going there and then.

I have bent 2 alloys before. Without a spare you could be without a car for say even up to a week.

By the time you can source a replacement