Not even a space saver any more?

[JOEPRO]

But what is this, my Yeti has sensors, why does gunk require a valve tool?

So you can get it into the tyre!

Flat tyre.
Remove valve.
Use fill tube and squeeze in the smoo. Replace valve.
Inflate tyre.

The valve tool is built into the slime cap BTW.

Optional step: Go to tyre repair place and deny all around you. "Slime, oh who put that in there?" As it dribbles on their machine and shoes

 

[bricol]

My '88 Lancia integrate had a space saver. Had to use a few times during to the state of the roads in Calderdale and around Aachen in Germany. Many bent wheels!

My 07 Alfa has a space saver which was needed earlier this year when an enormous hole took out the sidewall of a front tyre. Came to get the wheel off . . . And the wheel brace snapped . . .

Better tool now in boot for next time.

Getting the flippin' jack up from full low was a task too - had to use the handle as a lever to turn it half a turn at a time, rather than as a crank spinning it up.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

My Tucson from 2015 had a full alloy (was a selling point at the time)....by 2019 model this had been reduced to a space saver but the chassis could still fit a full alloy so I bought one!

Roll on to 2023/2024 I now have a can of goo and no space for the spare! I'm intending on buying a full size wheel and just leaving it in the boot....only to be taken out when we need the full boot which is quite rare anyway.

 

[Mark 5]

So you can get it into the tyre!

Flat tyre.
Remove valve.
Use fill tube and squeeze in the smoo. Replace valve.
Inflate tyre.

The valve tool is built into the slime cap BTW.

Optional step: Go to tyre repair place and deny all around you. "Slime, oh who put that in there?" As it dribbles on their machine and shoes

Yes, its that you mentioned valve and sensors in the same sentence as such, it threw me.

 

[rtcosic]

Certain BMWs have a 'space saver' spare, but nowhere to put the full size wheel that's been removed:

BBC News - Woman dies after tyre explosion

news.bbc.co.uk

 

[Turbo]

BIL's smax didn't have a spare and nowhere to put one. The boot has storage cubbyholes everywhere but no wheel well.
He had a full size spare but only took it on long journeys as it half filled the boot.

 

[Mark 5]

With the Yeti it is possible to gut the boot, make a wheel well, there is kit for this but only to take a space saver, I think I will gut the boot, create the wheel well and raise the floor/boot level by an inch or so for a full size wheel.

I prefer that to carrying a spare strapped loose in the back but right now I would be happy with just a full size spare.

 

[Smallfry]

Is this all a conspiracy to make people buy into breakdown services I wonder.

Seeing how a lot of drivers have not the faintest idea how to change a wheel, and don't want to because its dirty.

Very inconvenient to have to wait hours for them though.

 

[bourbon]

07 Skoda Octavia estate. Came with a full size alloy. Nice. I wouldn't have a car without a full size spare.

 

[8ob]

Are run flats still a thing?

Bob

 

[bricol]

Is this all a conspiracy to make people buy into breakdown services I wonder.

Seeing how a lot of drivers have not the faintest idea how to change a wheel, and don't want to because its dirty.

Very inconvenient to have to wait hours for them though.

Simple economics. No wheel, no tyre, no metal for the wheel well, no tooling to form the wheel well. Save a few quid per car and it's a few million quid over the years.

I can't really see the AA bunging Ford/Merc/VW a few quid to make them remove spare wheels.

 

[keithski122]

35 years of driving and I think I have only ever had one puncture. Of course I 'll get one soon now.

 

[JOEPRO]

Simple economics. No wheel, no tyre, no metal for the wheel well, no tooling to form the wheel well. Save a few quid per car and it's a few million quid over the years.

I can't really see the AA bunging Ford/Merc/VW a few quid to make them remove spare wheels.

It is a good point though.

You know how some manufacturers now want you to subscribe to heated seats etc. That's right, all the cars come with them but you have to pay a monthly subscription for them to operate. F that.

I also know some modern cars will call the dealer for you and arrange the service etc. So even the puncture kits may vanish from boots soon and the car will book itself into the dealer! Again, no thanks I'll change my own wheels.

I tend to get a flat tyre about every 6 - 8 months. Driving heavy cars with low profile tyres and bad potholes does that. Either a good tyre gets sidewall ripped with the impact or the rim cracks. Which is why I'd like a full size spare wheel for such eventualities. In most cases after I've hit a bad pothole the tyre goes flat overnight and when I get up the next day I see it. So most flat tyres I get do occur at home anyway.

 

[bourbon]

Low profile tyres would be a deal breaker for me when looking at cars. I spend most weekends in the summer driving on fields and constant weight from a mobility scooter in the back. Not to mention the potholes and traffic calming humps

 

[Ubique]

Are run flats still a thing?

Bob

Yep they are - vehicles fitted with them have neither a spare wheel nor a reinflation kit.
If your car is originally supplied with runflats you cannot change to standard tyres as the vehicle will no longer be within the type approval. Thanks EU....

 

[voipio]

35 years of driving and I think I have only ever had one puncture. Of course I 'll get one soon now.

Probably had well over a hundred punctures, of one sort or another, over the years. Some barely noticeable, taking weeks in between needing top ups, to 6mm bolts. The worst, and most dangerous one, was a sidewall pinch from striking a pothole, when an approaching ambulance on blues and twos blinded me. It didn't feel a particularly bad impact, but three miles further on, the steering started to drag left and I had to pull to the side on an unlit, fast straight country road. Having a spare wheel meant I was on my way within 5 mins, rather than having to wait for one or two hours for breakdown, cra**ing myself every time a vehicle approached. That one wouldn't have been fixed using slime/gunk or whatever.

The main problem at the moment seems to be blackthorn and hawthorn needles from hedge cutting, which tend to deflate the tyre slowly, until the thorn is pulled out(!), but I've also had broken glass and a woodscrew through tyres recently. For me, having a spare is a no-brainer. Having a spare has saved things like holidays, through still being able to catch a ferry, when there was no alternative, and allowed an important hospital appointment to be kept.

 

[Ubique]

I'm not a fan of the 'slime', I'm fortunate to have a vehicle with space for a full-sized spare but I do carry a Rema Sealastic kit and a compressor for the rare events when I do get a reparable puncture, I've successfully used it on sidewall punctures overseas (lest the H&S and legal vultures start circling) and gone on to run the tyre to the point it needs replacing due to tread depth.
In recent times, I've needed to change the wheel once due to taking the sidewall out on a bit of slate due to a Welsh farmer dominating the (wide) road with his tractor & trailer.

 

[Welderpaul]

I've had a couple of Audi RS3's, no spares, no space savers, just goo and a pump. You can't even fit your own space saver over the enormous brake calipers. Perfect for when you rip a hole in the tyre as a result of East Yorkshire Council's inability to maintain the roads.
A case of saving money for the car manufacturers rather than any sort of product/user improvement.

I have a Ranger now which has what looks like a truck tyre nicely bolted underneath I need to see if Ford have been kind enough to hide a jack and some tools somewhere in the thing....

 

[Bobupndown]

Seeing how a lot of drivers have not the faintest idea how to change a wheel, and don't want to because its dirty.

That's probably the reality of it.

Wouldn't buy a car that doesn't have the ability to carry at least a space saver wheel.
Ditched 2 inflation kits in the last year for a Fiat 500 and Peugeot 108 and replaced them both with spacesaver spare kits bought on Gumtree. Have had my fair share of punctures over the years, never once caught out. Had a lot of punctures that goo wouldn't fix.

 

[JOEPRO]

That's probably the reality of it.

Wouldn't buy a car that doesn't have the ability to carry at least a space saver wheel.
Ditched 2 inflation kits in the last year for a Fiat 500 and Peugeot 108 and replaced them both with spacesaver spare kits bought on Gumtree. Have had my fair share of punctures over the years, never once caught out. Had a lot of punctures that goo wouldn't fix.

Are the space savers sitting in the boot luggage space then or do those cars have a well to stow them away?

That's the downside of adding a space saver after the fact. It's still a large ugly thing to have taking up cargo space.

I am leaning towards a full spare wheel for my car & not a space saver. If I have to carry it in sight then it may as well be a proper wheel.