No spare wheel

[Whaleblue]

Me. Side of the road, but I pulled off to a quiet entry to an office block.

I’ve also had to wait on the motorway for recovery after hitting a pothole at 60-odd and trashing tyre.

Sorry to hear that.

I guess my thinking is that punctures are fairly rare, spare wheels are heavy, and 80% of the population are incapable of safely changing one.

Probably only half of the remaining 20% would do so in preference to calling out the AA/RAC!

 

[Vinny]

Out of interest, who’s changed a car tyre in the last decade?

At least once, probably more times than that.

I have never had trouble removing wheel nuts or studs and if you have a long brace, which I do not, with something like a 60-90cm handle, none are immovable, even for most ladies. When I do it at home, I Copaslip the studs/nuts.

I would only ever sign-up for Green Flag, not least because they operate none of their own rescue, but use a network of preferred private recovery operators, so getting attention is more than PDQ in most cases.

I called Green Flag once in quite a few years of membership - I was in the outside lane of the M25 when it was busy - a Friday evening if memory is correct, when the cam-follower on the points sheared off, not that I knew that until much later - the engine obviously cut immediately.

How I managed to coast to the hard shoulder without mishap, I shall never understand....

 

[stevec67]

So instead of a dipstick, I assume there is some kind of sensor (which will inevitably malfunction sometimes, telling you you have no oil when you do or not telling you that it is low, and will need to be replaced) inside the sump (or the oil tank, in dry-sump engines) that tells a computer in the car how much oil is in there, but clearly this can only be read with the computer and software that official service centres have. This is much more modern and civilised than that nasty, medieval steel stick that any owner or petrol pump attendant could get their grubby hands on.

Mine reads on the dash. 13 years, 195k miles, no trouble so far.

I’d genuinely suggest that smart motorways WITH spare wheel is a much more likely recipe for trouble.

Out of interest, who’s changed a car tyre in the last decade?

I have, on the M1 about 9 years ago. Fortunately nearside and it was where the M42 feeds in so a big wide hard shoulder and about 5 lanes. Horrible job, dark, cold. Space saver, the remaining 100 miles at 50 (officer). I generally get one every 5-10 years, having just fitted 4 new tyres I hope to avoid the pleasure for a while.

 

[Barrymagrec]

I’d genuinely suggest that smart motorways WITH spare wheel is a much more likely recipe for trouble.

Out of interest, who’s changed a car tyre in the last decade?

Me, a couple of times, for the spacesaver spare, then trogged off to the tyre place.

 

[Big Tabs]

The Yeti didn’t have a spare, so we asked for one as part of the sale.
We purchased the Yeti specifically for long road trips, and although we haven’t had cause to use the spare it gives us peace of mind.

Next long trip, the length of Portugal and back.

 

[Ponty]

Had loads of punctures over the years. Mainly when I lived more rurally from the bloody farmers cutting hedges and leaving blackthorn etc all over the lanes. Without spares I’d have been screwed.

 

[Roog]

All about saving weight, a couple of weeks after I picked up my first ever new car I went back to buy a spare steel wheel, space was provided for it. The fella at the spare’s department handed it to me over the counter, it not like I’m not used to the weight of a spare, but lifting it from counter height, demonstrated its weight clearly enough!

 

[Brown Bottle]

I read somewhere that in average a puncture occurs every 90K miles.

My previous car, a leased Skoda Superb, had no spare so I bought one. Had a puncture on the A2 but couldn’t get the nuts undone. Called the lease company and within 10 minutes a VW technician turned up with a spare wheel. He changed it for me and put my spare on.

Cheers BB

 

[Bob McC]

I’d genuinely suggest that smart motorways WITH spare wheel is a much more likely recipe for trouble.

Out of interest, who’s changed a car tyre in the last decade?

Last time I had to was 20 years ago.
All the family overnighting in Portsmouth for a morning ferry to a campsite in France.
Got up to go to the ferry and a tyre was flat.
The Sierra was absolutely rammed for a month camping.
Emptied the boot in record time wheel off, spare on, car repacked and away in time for the ferry.
An F1 pit crew would have been proud of me!

 

[raysablade]

Had loads of punctures over the years. Mainly when I lived more rurally from the bloody farmers cutting hedges and leaving blackthorn etc all over the lanes. Without spares I’d have been screwed.

Makes me wonder how common it is to need 2 spares when the time comes.

 

[Big Tabs]

Makes me wonder how common it is to need 2 spares when the time comes.

In the early 1990’s I was on a road trip through Ireland with a girlfriend, We went through a massive pothole that popped the front and rear tyres instantly. That was a right kerfuffle.
We split up about a month later after 3 years together. (on reflection - thank goodness!)

 

[Ponty]

Makes me wonder how common it is to need 2 spares when the time comes.

Difficult to carry 2 on most cars but I had 4 spares in the garage (used set) for such an eventuality. Never actually had to use 2 at the same time but nice to know they were there. They were full size which was also far better than using a space saver in any case and meant I could get the punctured tyre repaired at my leisure.

 

[Woodface]

Tyres are really good now, most people can’t be trusted to change a wheel so it’s common sense to me.

 

[Vinny]

Mentioned a few times now - things along the lines "tyres are good now", implying that some fairy dust is now ued to resist punctures.

Steel radials used to be the norm - now, they ought to be more resistant than fabric, but things like rubber hardness are linked to grip/friction, so I doubt that that has changed much for road tyres.

Anyone want to suggest why current tyres should be or are more resistant to punctures?

Profile? Better roads? Better driving/drivers?

I am unconvinced. Having been driving for 45 years, I do not see any likely change in puncture rates; uncommon then, uncommon now, as big a PITA then as now.

 

[gintonic]

why not 8 spares - just in case of a double four blowout

 

[Bob McC]

Tracks, that what you need tracks.

ooer, but what if a link breaks…

 

[davidsrsb]

I get a flat about every two years, major damage about every 5. Malaysian roads are full of potholes and metal. The trouble is that cars are designed globally

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

To paraphrase Roy Castle: 'Levitation.... levitation.... levitaaaaation, that's what you need!'

 

[gintonic]

I get a flat about every two years, major damage about every 5. Malaysian roads are full of potholes and metal. The trouble is that cars are designed globally

for some strange reason I cannot remember, I drove (rather than fly) KL to Penang and back.

 

[SteveG]

I think my sons Fiesta has a spare (not 100% sure) but our other 2 cars don't. Given the sizes of the wheels and tyres these days then there isn't really anywhere for then to go without taking up a lot of boot space.