Spare Wheel - Necessary?

[no golf clubs at all]

IF you wanna save weight, just leave the missus at home.... 

[matt a]

If you want an oem option, order the kit that came with the Lupo GTI. 

Mine had no spare, just a can of the repair gunk, and a plug in 12v compressor.

[JPC]

i was wondering about carrying a spare wheel and weighed up all the options.

if i had a puncture that was repairable, it would cost a tenner to fix plus the use of the spare.

or you could use a foam jobbie, fill it up, get you home/to the garage. so then you'd have to buy a new tyre. My tyres will soon be costing over £200 quid each so i would want the option of being able to repair them.

Another thing i wanted to share was my mentality of "i pay the AA every year to sort me out. ive never used them yet but should i need a puncture sorting on the motorway, ill leave it in their experienced hands to know whats best"

basically you wont catch me changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, anywhere!

is that selfish or the best way to think?

[Rich]

basically you wont catch me changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, anywhere!

JPC - this is why we have AA and RAC    

I certainly wouldnt change a wheel on the motorway.. i've always seen lorries some times drift across to the side of the hard shoulder... somtimes when their tired... or even its windy !! -- yet alone to mention maniacs who lose control...

Better to be alive and ring the AA

---

So... if i use one of these filler jobbies.... i'll need to pay for a new tyre... hmmmm



Next Question

My mate at work said, he had all his tyres foam filled.... so so as a nail goes in.. it seals it.

I went down to a local tyre garage... and he tells me it doesnt work... he then said, " ask that bloke over there, he works for a taxi company filling their tyres with foam stuff, he'll tell you why it doesnt work"

I'm thinking... if it doesnt work... why does he still have a job...


What your experiences/knowledge on this ??

[keith]

I had my motorbike wheels filled with the stuff and going out one day my mate said you have a green mark on your rear tyre, looked at it and it was the gunk stuff it had sealed a wee hole so in my experience it works.
If you change tyres though you need to tell the tyre fitter the stuffs in there or they will get a bit messy

[Rich]

I had my motorbike wheels filled with the stuff and going out one day my mate said you have a green mark on your rear tyre, looked at it and it was the gunk stuff it had sealed a wee hole so in my experience it works.
If you change tyres though you need to tell the tyre fitter the stuffs in there or they will get a bit messy

hmm interesting...


Did you have to replace the tyre then ?  - or was it still good to keep using.... ?

[Hurdy]

Just a side note guys.....if I am doing an event like a 1/4 mile sprint, I will remove the spare tyre and put in the puncture can. At all other times I carry the spare

[BMX]

removing weight from the rear would alter the balance of the car and provoke slightly more understeer. the spare and tools weighs aprox 20kg. on the audi tt sport they got rid of the spare and put the battery (20kg) in its place thus getting rid of weight from the front, which is more ideal and benificial to getting rid of rear weight

[rdfcpete]

...basically you wont catch me changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, anywhere!

is that selfish or the best way to think?

Jay, I agree 100%.

I know that my breakdown cover states though that if I call them out for a puncture or tyre fault, a spare or space saver MUST be present, or they charge you extra for a replacement tyre on top of the call out fee. I'd feel bit of a girl calling someone else out to come and sort me out in that situation, but on the other hand feel it's too dangerous to fit the spare in a lot of situations and driving on the rim, is never advised.

[BMX]

on the road wars program wasnt there a recovery truck driver in sheffield that got run over while recovering a car at the roadside and subsuquently lost his leg or similar ?

[Gene Hunt]

A space saver will get you home were as with the can of gunk if there is damge to the tyre the gunk won't always seal it as a mate of mine found out.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

...basically you wont catch me changing a wheel on the hard shoulder, anywhere!

is that selfish or the best way to think?

Jay, I agree 100%.

I know that my breakdown cover states though that if I call them out for a puncture or tyre fault, a spare or space saver MUST be present, or they charge you extra for a replacement tyre on top of the call out fee.

So how would that work for cars which have NO normal spare or NO space saver?  My RS4 has neither - just a can of gloop and a 12V compressor in the boot.  You need to kindly point out to your brakedown company that they have an unlawful term in their T&Cs.

[rdfcpete]

I really don't know what the 'consumer right' implications are matey, if I remember correctly it states that though. If I'm able to, I'll scan that T&C in and show you the image. The reason being I guess, every 17/18/19 year old girl/lad wouldn't have a clue how to use the spare/space saver and thus, would incur fee's and call outs each and every time they had a flat or a puncture. I would imagine it's a nice little earner if they charge extra for such a service. Obviously for every one driver with a puncture that's incapable of changing a lightly punctured tyre, there's five people with a blown head gasket, flat engine battery or blown ignition coil...

I'm with a company called AutoAid. They're very good, very cheap and operate a function where you pay the necessary fees upfront, then claim them back once you've been recovered etc. It's only about £35 a year iirc. I'm certainly not aware of them being their own recovery/breakdown company in their own right anyway, unless it's changed since I first took cover out with them.

Many performance cars don't carry a spare, the RS Clio 182's for example, because the exhaust pipes run through the lower boot. If you could prove that your car doesn't have a spare/space saver, I wouldn't think for a minute they would query a claim.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Pete, you make valid points.  However, if they did try and specifically place a blanket clause regarding no spare wheel - then they are on very thin ice - which was what I was trying to highlight. 

[Norbreck21a]

Guys, on a slightly different but related topic, I have been considering ditching the space saver in favour of a full sized spare (either an alloy or steelie). I once drove my Golf with the space saver on the nearside rear on a wet motorway, and it scared the sh1t out of me. When changing lanes the car felt all over the place.

With this in mind, i've been on a lookout for a fleabay special. As my car is fitted with 18's and 225/50/18 F1's, one of those would obvioulsy not fit in the boot, so I was thinking about either a 15" (with 195/65/15) or a 16" with a 205/55/16 tyre. My question is what is the minimum size I can get away with on my oil burner GT TDi ? It's a 140ps version and has the standard discs which at the front I believe are 288mm ? (not the 312mm of the GTI or GT 170).

Anyone know ? Thanks.