Spare wheel necessary?

[Rubyred]

When I replaced the RF tyres on my W205 with NRF I bought myself a spare wheel and jack. I then bought a wheel bag to put it in. It sits in the boot and does take up a lot of space but I can still get two good sized suitcases in. Keep your spare wheel!

 

[AnnasMerc83]

In your profile your car is described as a 1983 Mercedes 200. Best to keep it original and hang onto the spare wheel and tyre.
It's increasingly difficult to source replacement wheels and tires for that vintage of car now. For example they may have 13/14 inch wheels with 70 or greater aspect ratio tyres which no modern run-of-the-mill tyre shop/mobile recovery service will carry nowadays. And while you're at it check the manufacturing date of the tyres you have fitted as many older cars run tyres that are past their sell by date= five-year-old. check out the wheels and tyres you have on the car and post the details on here?

Yes, I do indeed drive an old w123.
Got all the tyres changed recently and the spare was checked and in good condition, it is an original.

Was never going to bin it completely, just keep it in the basement. But maybe best to keep it in the car!

 

[AnnasMerc83]

In some cases it's not recommended to do it yourself by the side of the road e.g. close to fast moving traffic (motorway or dual carriageway). And on a smart motorway you need to call it in anyway as you can't get out of the refuge area without assistance. Someone with less weight / strength (of either gender) may also struggle to undo the wheel bolts themselves.

Don’t start me on smart motorways, I refuse to use them at all!!

 

[Petrol Pete]

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.

Good point . but all of my cars have an extendable wheel 'spanner' in the boot that I purchased separately . My van has a 1.5 M 3/4inch breaker bar in the back alongside a 3.5 T trolley jack and pieces of timber if needed.

But then again we are people who join motoring forums . The vast majority just drive around clueless.

 

[190]

Was never going to bin it completely, just keep it in the basement. But maybe best to keep it in the car!

I do understand why you raised this question. I owned a 190e for 21 years and the spare wheel was never used. I carted that extra weight about for over 140,000 miles.

You mentioned mainly local city driving. How about a compromise where you remove the spare wheel for local driving where it would only be a taxi ride away if it was ever needed, but throw it back in the car for long distance trips.

I adopt a similar policy with my spare key, I put in my luggage for longer trips but wouldn't dream of carrying it for local trips.