I have just picked up a car with no spare wheel but an aerosol of sealant and an electric compressor to reinflate a punctured tyre. I have heard that once a tyre has had this gunge put into it a tyre company will be unwilling to repair the puncture - is this true? I am negotiating to exchange the supplied kit for a mini or normal size spare wheel. I am not too happy with the implications of having a puncture which damages the tyre in such a way that the sealant won't work or getting home but having a tyre that can't be repaired. In the first case I guess one would be by the road for a VERY long time while one's breakdwn service sourced a new tyre. Any thoughts please?
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Sealant is one step worse than a spacesaver spare if you are 100+ miles from your destination or home, especially if its a Sunday or at night.
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I've only used it once and I was very impressed. Front wheel puncture on the bike on a Belgian Motorway......rough ! Always carry a can....squirted it in, pumped it with hand pump. It got me home and around for a few weeks until I had time to fix it.
Expecting a tyre full of gunge, I found nothing at all...it was totally clean. Popped a tube in and off I went ! No probbies.
Ted
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I got a puncture on the touran. Woke up in the morning to a flat, real flat tyre. The rim had been resting on the sidewall all night. no way was I going to pump that up with gunge and drive it. I told the leasing company to get a mobile tyre fitter round pronto.
pump and goo is a waste of space
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Thanks for the replies to date. It is nice to know that it may work and will leave a repairable puncture. However I am not happy with the system, particularly in a car/KA where there is a wheel well capable of taking a spare (mini or ful size according to the handbook). The supply of the compressor and gunge gains no boot space as the wheel well is completey filled by a polstyrene moulding containing the pump and aerosol. I think a spare wheel should be standard and pump etc the option.
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I can relate to your worries. I recently bought a new car and crossed one model off the list because of a lack of spare wheel - at the time you could order one with a spare but you lost two seats and had to pay £150 more. A relative of mine has a car with a non-spare but carries a spare, which he bought, in the boot anyway. But that kind of defeats the point of buying a car with plenty of space in the boot because there is no spare there!
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Anyone concerned with having or not having a spare wheel on a new car is recommended to check the publicity blurb. I myself was looking through a Ka brochure at a local dealer and noticed that a spare wheel (a space saver) was an optional extra.
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Indeed Alex.I was in a Ford dealership today discussing the supply of a spare wheel and asking why, with space in the car for a spare, wasn't one supplied? Answer - an air compressor and an aerosol are cheaper! It gets worse - the spare supplied as an optional extra is smaller than a standard tyre ie not 14 ins. This means that it cannot be used on the front/driven wheels (Diff problems?). Thus, if you get a front wheel puncture, you have to move a back wheel to the front and put the small spare on the rear.hat a faff!
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Get a damaged sidewall, suffer a blow-out or find a nasty bulge and you'll find out how useless tyre gunge is.
I've used it on a bike where there often isn't an option, but the tyre with a perfectly standard puncture through the middle of the tread was deemed unrepairable by the bike shop. Having cleaned the excess foam from the bike where it initially came through before sealing the tyre I could understand why. It had hardened almost like cement.
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RR - perhaps there are 2 sorts of sealant? Earlier in this thread 1400ted says he got a motorcycle puncure repaired and you say that your puncture couldnt be. Any thoughts? A system that gets you home but still needs one to replace a punctured tyre because of the goo in it is pretty pathetic IMO!
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Possibly AS, as my experience was about 9 years ago so things might have improved.
However, sealants are becomming quite common for cycle tyres now and they are known to clog valves and I have read of cases where a tyre has been left to go flat and the casing has glued itself together.
It must be pretty sticky stuff in order to seal a tyre almost instantly.
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Just buy a new proper wheel and tyre or get one from a scrapyard.
If you keep a spare loose in the boot you still have the option of leaving it out for a particular trip and relying on the pressure can, if you are pushed for space. Or you can re-arrange it to accomodate the luggage.
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AS, thanks for the additional info. I would never have thought that the supplied spare wouldn't have been suitable for the front wheels. I am sure that fact wasn't mentioned in the brochure.
But, that aside, what about the Ka itself ? I realise you've only had the Ka for a few days but, so far, what's it like to own and drive ?
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Alex - I am sure I saw this warning, in the 166 pages of the handbook, but I now can't find it.
However, it would make sense that two driven wheels (front) of a different rolling circumfrence would put a strain on the diff. I have ordered a fullsize spare, which will fit the wheel well/space. The polystyrene insert thet goes in the well to hold the compressor and gunge can costs £65!!!! You can get a quite useful digital camera for that!
First impressions of the car are favourable; it is a Style+ I had to buy that spec to get a/c. It has remote locking and remote boot opening, adjustable headlights, a rudimenary trip computer giving time/distance/mpg etc. Headight and interior light delays. ICE not marvellous but there is a socket to enable MP3 player connection. A couple of switches which control headlight level and the compter are trickily positioned behind the light and trafficator stalks.At night the instrument lighting is too bright for my taste and there is no adjustment. It handles well, so far as I have tried it, the gear shift is nice and there is a small shelf for one's clutch foot. Headlight flasher/dip is good design; from the neutral position push forward gives main beam and stays there. From neutral a pull gives a high beam flash and springs forward back to dipped. Previous car a pull gave main beam flash and one had to pull again to get back to dip.
Interior is a bit garish - ivory white inserts on the dash centre console. Glove pocket doesn't lock and is very tall but with no depth - you could put a hardback book in there spine side down and it would just shut and it would be full. So far I am not seeing the claimed 55 mpg combined cycle - more like 50 but I haven't dome 300 miles yet.
Anybody wanting further comment or with questions please e mail me (see profile)
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Thanks for the feedback, AS. Wise of you to get the fullsize spare. I hope the Ka is everything you expect it to be.
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For a chap of a certain age who does 95% of his driving on B or unclass roads within 25 miles of home it is going be just fine! It was OK on the M way I used on the way home - no savage X winds in which to check the stability but my time will come!
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.. discussing the supply of a spare wheel and asking why, with space in the car for a spare, wasn't one supplied? >>
Apart from cost, the other reason is your favourite one: "global warming".
Manufacturers are rushing around trying to find ways of reducing weight and material used, primarily to get low CO2 emission figures in test and secondly to save them money (or hope to charge for the spare as an extra). Of course, the over-riding aim is to make or increase profits for the manufactuer.
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Apart from cost the other reason is your favourite one: "global warming".
And space, the FocuST has a goo kit, no room for a spare, the space where a normal Focus has a wheel well is full of exhaust system.
I like the idea of getting a space saver to carry around but for when the full boot space is needed.
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