Spare Tyre

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Wed 29 May 2013 17:16
Spare Tyre - H7000

Can anyone tell me whether all new cars come with a spare tyre as a friend tells us that some don't and you have to pay extra if you want one...is this true?

If so, which makes of new cars do come with a spare tyre.

Thanks

Edited by H7000 on 29/05/2013 at 17:18

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Wed 29 May 2013 17:24
Any - Spare Tyre - RT

It varies - some come with a fullsize tyre on a fullsize matching alloy wheel - some have a fullsize tyre on a fullsize steel wheel - some have a steel space-saver for temporary use - some have a spraycan puncture repair kit.

It's further complicated that some can have a fullsize alloy as an extra-cost option - some can have a fullsize steel as an extra-cost option - BUT - not all cars that can have the extra-cost option can store the fullsize wheel in place of a space-saver - but some can.

Some with a spraycan puncture repair kit can't stow any spare in the boot.

It's not necessarily down to make - it can vary by model within a makers range - in some cases it varies by trim level.

You need to make a shortlist of all the cars that meet your other needs and then check on the spare wheel situation.

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Wed 29 May 2013 17:29
Spare Tyre - FP

A can of worms! (Or possibly a can of goo.)

Some new cars have a full-size spare wheel (and tyre, obviously!), some have a space-saver (narrow wheel/tyre, usually restricted to 50 mph) and some have only a can of stuff (to squirt in the tyre) that's supposed to get you going if your puncture is not a serious one.

You will have to research the particular make, model and options of the car you're interested in - there is no "rule if thumb" here.

Edit: beaten to it by RT (who says much the same as me, but in more words!)

Edited by FP on 29/05/2013 at 17:30

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Wed 29 May 2013 18:19
Spare Tyre - RT

Must try to be more concise!

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Wed 29 May 2013 21:50
Spare Tyre - gordonbennet

Make the dealers and makers suffer, when you are car buying go through the whole rigmarole wasting as much of the salesmans time as possible, just before you sign on the dotted line enquire if it has a spare...no spare or they want to charge you extra for one walk away...only when this scam costs the maker sales and the dealer wasted time will it end.

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Thu 30 May 2013 01:01
Spare Tyre - veloster

i have a hyundai veloster that comes as standard uk spec with a space saver spare,,american spec models just have the spray foam,,well done hyundai uk,,,,

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Thu 30 May 2013 08:37
Spare Tyre - jc2

And with some makes,it's a NO-cost option.

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Thu 30 May 2013 11:58
Spare Tyre - TedCrilly

Manufacturers have no choice. Customers and the EU want high economy figures, low co2 emissions and low road fund costs, so they are left out to save weight. What you do of course when you sign the receipt and get the car home is your affair.

Forgive my pragmatic opinion but numerous issues can leave you stranded, a flat tyre you cant deal with yourself is just one of them. If its really that much of a concern to you its time to give up motoring.

Here is my take...........£100 spent on a spare you may never use or less than £100 spent on general breakdown/recovery cover (and all the other bits and pieces that get thrown in) together with the peace of mind and reassurance it gives???.....hhmmmm...... its a toughie alright !

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Thu 30 May 2013 12:20
Spare Tyre - RT

Most breakdown companies won't cover you for puncture/blow-out unless a serviceable spare is carried - so it's not as simple as paying for breakdown cover.

I don't care if it's standard or a cost option - but if I can't fit a full-size spare in the designated place, without detracting from normal boot space, then the car doesn't get on my shortlist.

But so far nothing that I might choose from has had to be excluded - although the option cost did need to be added for comparison last time.

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Thu 30 May 2013 19:41
Spare Tyre - TedCrilly

"Most breakdown companies won't cover you for puncture/blow-out unless a serviceable spare is carried"

Mine does.

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Sat 1 Jun 2013 14:59
Spare Tyre - TedCrilly

Looking at the AA call out figures for 2011. Seems they attended 363,000 tyre related breakdowns for that year....and.......450,000 battery/charging related issues.

Of course many motorists have the abilty to deal with duff batteries as easily as they do with flats themselves so lets take them out of the mix and and play the stats game. The results of which seem to suggest motorists in general (or at least the AA members) tend to have more problems with their Volts and Amps than they do with their Bar`s and PSI`s.

With these figures in mind perhaps we should forget about spare wheels and instead demand the manufacturers start supplying us with spare batteries, alternators and belts to fill those awkward spaces in the boot floor.

Maybe the prescence of that rubber ring in the boot make some that warm and cozy it draws their attention away from the fact that other things can and do go wrong, often at more cost and with greater inconvenience than a flat tyre.

Like I said......100 quid for the man in the yellow van or 100 quid for the man with the sincere smile and the suit and the tie sat in the corporate glass palace....a toughie for some it seems but not me.

Maybe the elderly owner of the silver 60 plate Yaris I saw dragging its exhaust pipe down the M62 near Simister Island last week was faced with a similar choice......if so lets hope he made the right call.

Edited by TedCrilly on 01/06/2013 at 15:03

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Sat 1 Jun 2013 15:45
Spare Tyre - RT

Looking at the AA call out figures for 2011. Seems they attended 363,000 tyre related breakdowns for that year....and.......450,000 battery/charging related issues.

I doubt that any of those tyre-related issues were mis-diagnosed either by the driver or the AA - but I do wonder how many batteries are replaced unneccessarily when the problem is actually caused by the owners low mileage in winter, or faulty component causing battery drain or indeed the alternator itself.

In over 40 years of car ownership, I've only ever had one battery fail - a non-sealed Panasonic fitted to a 2006 Subaru as OE - for much of that 40 years I was using Vauxhalls which had fully-sealed batteries as OE and would routinely last 8-10 years in car use and then another 5-6 years as a caravan leisure battery - all the "experts" say that can't be done but I have the evidence that when looked after properly they last much, much, longer than the 3 years often quoted - by those who sell batteries - including breakdown service patrolmen for whom it must be a nice little earner.

Cynical ? Yes, that's me. Given my own experience, I want a spare wheel/tyre - not a spare battery !

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Sat 1 Jun 2013 19:56
Spare Tyre - TedCrilly

The list doesnt say how many batteries were replaced so fill your boots and speculate away.

Maybe I am thinking too hard here but I guess in each case if there had not been a related problem with them the motorists concerned would not have called the AA. in the first place and added to the list.

Cynical..me?....as much as the next man.

Do I understand probability and can I see how to get the biggest bang for my buck?.....perhaps, and maybe more so than others.

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Thu 30 May 2013 15:55
Spare Tyre - retgwte

you realise the main breakdown companies wont come out to help someone stranded with tyre damage and no spare wheel?

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Thu 30 May 2013 20:11
Spare Tyre - TedCrilly

Not strictly true. Let me explain.....

If you are carrying goo etc and are unable for whatever reasons to effect a repair they will turn out. If you are not carrying goo they will still turn out and dependent on circumstance either recover you to home, to a repair agent, a tyre depot or arrange for a mobile fitter to attend to you......but they will pass on their costs.

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Thu 30 May 2013 11:23
Spare Tyre - retgwte

then of course you have unidirectional tyres that make spares a bit more complicated as they will either fit correctly to one side of the car or need subsequent shuffling of tyres around.

and plenty of cars with different sized front and rear wheels making spare provision a bit more complicated if not impossible

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Fri 31 May 2013 11:03
Spare Tyre - TeeCee

then of course you have unidirectional tyres that make spares a bit more complicated as they will either fit correctly to one side of the car or need subsequent shuffling of tyres around.

Which is why you don't put a unidirectional tyre on the spare wheel, so it'll happily go on either side. Incidently, if you did, how would shuffling the tyres around help? Think about it.......

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Thu 30 May 2013 22:20
Spare Tyre - Avant

Ted's post makes perfect sense apart from one thing. Even in my 60s I can still change a wheel (and did a few weeks ago) in 15-20 minutes, which is a lot less time than it takes for the average breakdown service to come out.

The simple answer is if fitting a spare as standard really does push a model over whatever emissions threshold (does it????), then offer it as an optional extra and provide somewhere to put it. Audi / Skoda / VW do this, and Ford certainly do for the C-Max, and I imagine for other models too. The Toyota Verso would be off my shortlist as you can apparently buy a wheel but there's nowhere to store it.

Retgwte, with cars so equipped wouldn't it be possible to drive at max. 50 mph with a space-saver?

Edited by Avant on 30/05/2013 at 22:21

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Thu 30 May 2013 23:07
Spare Tyre - galileo

Went to the garage on Monday to get the car out, front right was almost flat: 5 minutes later when I'd got the wheel off found a screw in the middle of the tread (probably courtesy of the builders whe seem to be constantly at work round here).

Being a Bank Holiday, 3 of the local tyre depots were closed, so was glad I had a full size alloy spare (which I keep at the right pressure) so not a big problem, even for 70 year old me!

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Fri 31 May 2013 11:34
Spare Tyre - sierraman

These days many cars come with alloys which have a tendency to corrode to the hubs after a while,I often have to lie on the ground and kick the wheel off,not something you want to be doing at the roadside in your smart clothes!

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Sat 1 Jun 2013 21:57
Spare Tyre - Rustyw

I have had two punctures in the last 10 years. The first was a blowout so no point even trying the goo. By the time the recovery truck had arrived and taken me to a nearby tyre depot I was a couple of hours late and missed an important meeting. The second occured a fortnight later with a nail through the centre of my new tyre. The goo worked a treat and I was soon on my way. However, several local tyre dealers refused to touch the tyre and told me the goo made it unrepairable. My £100 tyre lasted me two weeks. The final insult was that the local VW dealer wanted £34 to replace the bottle of sealant.

Punctures do not occur very often but I would not buy another car that does not have a space saver as a minimum.

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Sun 2 Jun 2013 00:22
Spare Tyre - Cyd

The simple answer is if fitting a spare as standard really does push a model over whatever emissions threshold (does it????),

On its own, no. However, weight is a massively important factor for performance and economy. Engineers of all components are under pressure to reduce the weight of all components across the vehicle in order to meet the vehicle weight target. As an example, when I was engineering the window regulators into New Range Rover (38A) quite a lot of money was spent on finite element analysis to enable weight saving holes to be put into the regulators without compromising strength or performance.

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Sun 2 Jun 2013 00:39
Spare Tyre - galileo

The simple answer is if fitting a spare as standard really does push a model over whatever emissions threshold (does it????),

On its own, no. However, weight is a massively important factor for performance and economy. Engineers of all components are under pressure to reduce the weight of all components across the vehicle in order to meet the vehicle weight target. As an example, when I was engineering the window regulators into New Range Rover (38A) quite a lot of money was spent on finite element analysis to enable weight saving holes to be put into the regulators without compromising strength or performance.

Considering that 30%? of the population are overweight and a substantial and increasing percentage are grossly so, the few kilograms of a spare wheel may not be significant in practice.

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Sun 2 Jun 2013 05:26
Spare Tyre - RT

Considering that 30%? of the population are overweight and a substantial and increasing percentage are grossly so, the few kilograms of a spare wheel may not be significant in practice.

Can't fault that logic - but more US cars have space-savers than ours and their drivers/passengers are far more overweight than us - on average.

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Sun 2 Jun 2013 07:21
Spare Tyre - TedCrilly

Considering that 30%? of the population are overweight and a substantial and increasing percentage are grossly so, the few kilograms of a spare wheel may not be significant in practice.

A fair comment that holds some truth........however and as I am sure you know in these modern times tax and RFL is based on co2 emissions and its the figures that apply when the car leaves the factory that matter. Not the figures that apply when you and the kids are on the way back from Tesco or pulling your caravan up Porlock hill. Manufacturers have no control over who uses the car and how they do so. Therefore its a case of standardised tests and level playing fields and all that.

Maybe the day will eventually come when car weights including passengers are goverened and policed. Then we really will have something to complain about eh?

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Sun 2 Jun 2013 13:32
Spare Tyre - BigJohnD

If you don't have a spare wheel, make sure you don't breakdown in the Mersey tunnel:

* For stoppages caused by fuel shortage or flat tyre (with no serviceable spare) there is a penalty surcharge in addition to the normal breakdown charge.

www.merseytunnels.co.uk/nossl/html/fees.php

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Mon 3 Jun 2013 00:14
Spare Tyre - Big John

BigJohn (the other)

As yet I wouldn't own a car without spare wheel - becoming rarer new though. Many still at least still come with a wheel well where you can at least specify (or buy elsewhere) an optional spare wheel. Some don't though e.g. the Skoda Yeti - if you add a spare wheel you loose lots of boot space.

Saying that its a long long time (er decades) since I had a roadside puncture

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Mon 3 Jun 2013 10:51
Spare Tyre - alastairq

Re-the dirtying of clothes? Why not carry a disposable plastic coverall in the boot?

And some of those plastic gloves dogs hate?

Maybe some impregnated wipes to clean up afterwards?

Many of the tools supplied for wheel changing are 'fit' in name only.

[Best buy, one of [Halfords?] extendable wheel braces, for leverage?]

If a spare wheel is not included in the original package, what about the jack and tools?

Or, are they included whether the owner has a use for them, or not?

And, whilst I acknowledge mention is made of the actual process of changing a wheel, in most owner's handbooks [is it mentioned in Rolls-Royce books?}.....how may people buy a car, then spend an afternoon removing and replacing each wheel, so they know what to do in event of a puncture?

IE, how to use the tools safely and correctly?

How many have taken the trouble to make themselves properly aware of safety issues when sustaining, and dealing with, a punture, at the roadside?

I suspect, very few.

Which is why the 'Authorities'....do their utmost to deter such happenings because we cannot be trusted to be as 'safety-aware' as we ought to be?

And which is why drivers like me become so frustrated by the interference of 'authorities'?

We now live in an age where the car is seen by too many as nothing more than a 'self-drive' taxi.....for that describes the extent of their input into the ownership and responsibilities attached to running a vehicle.

Takes me about 5 minutes to change a wheel.

I'm over 60 now...

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Mon 3 Jun 2013 11:42
Spare Tyre - gordonbennet

Good post Alastairq....its changing a wheel for crying out loud not whipping the starter off and fitting a new Bendix spring on the side of the road.

A nation of wimps, can't stand a bit of dirt or cold or wet or effort and perish the thought that we might put ourselves at risk of being within 50 yards of a major road without a Transit Van covered in reflective stickers and umpteen pulsing strobe lights to protect us, plus the obligatory 20 reflective road cones and preferably flashing overhead matrix signs to worn the hordes unable to see further than their bonnets or use the mildest bit of common sense.

Heaven forbid they should venture from the house without a hi viz, might split a nail...faint.

Edited by gordonbennet on 03/06/2013 at 11:43

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Mon 3 Jun 2013 12:40
Spare Tyre - alastairq

Heaven forbid they should venture from the house without a hi viz, might split a nail...faint.

Talking of hi-vis? Maybe worthwhile buying/acquiring/stopping-and-picking-up-discarded-hi-vis for those little emergencies? Top tip...don't put one on if you're stopping for a quick wee in the trees.....
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Mon 3 Jun 2013 14:31
Spare Tyre - RT
And, whilst I acknowledge mention is made of the actual process of changing a wheel, in most owner's handbooks [is it mentioned in Rolls-Royce books?}.....how may people buy a car, then spend an afternoon removing and replacing each wheel, so they know what to do in event of a puncture?

IE, how to use the tools safely and correctly?

That's covered on the Rolls-Royce chauffeur's course at the factory - or at least it was when they were built in Derby and Crewe.

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Mon 3 Jun 2013 15:24
Spare Tyre - galileo

alastairq, well put!

I do have disposable gloves, torch, a sheet of thick polythene to kneel on and one of those disposable overalls the Pound shops stock. I spent many hours fixing old cars in my youth in the 1960s, got into the habit of being prepared One concession to Elf and Safety, a cheap hi-viz waistcoat too.

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