I bought a small Ford 3 years ago. It came with a full size wheel-well but filled with a vast lump of polystyrene, and an electric pump plus a canister of goo. At my age and with there being so many chances that the tyre will be damaged beyong the ability of the pump/goo to get me going again, I went straight out and bought a full size steel spare and a jack. I have never used them but I would not buy a car without a full size or space-saver spare, at the very least.

e rest of the motoring press should listen to ordinary motorists and make much more noise about the inadequacy of cans of gunk - and the needlessness of the electronic handbrake as well while they're about it.

When the muttering journalists concentrate on important things like 0-60mph times and top speed, the fact that in the real world cars have to be reveresed into car parking bays is ignored.

And as you rightly point out, punctures happen.

And car tyres have to be replaced.. often at horrendous cost..

I would compare most motoring journalists with politicians and estate agents: and they would lose to both :-)

Apolgies for OT.

>>Whatthehell do you do if you get a flat when abroad?<<

Abroad is just like home in many ways. You put on your spare wheel or spacesaver, if you are lucky enough to have either, then go to a tyre dealer, which can be found in many towns, some of them quite small, and get your tyre repaired or replaced.

If all you have is a can of goo, then 'bon chance'.

Incidentally, I had a front tyre blow out on a rough country road in France a couple of weeks ago - first time that had happened in decades. We were about 60 miles from home but the spacesaver (at the recommended maximum of 80kph) got us home and to the tyre shop next day with no ill effects that I noticed.

Edited by mike hannon on 16/10/2012 at 12:17

Don't give me all that 'weight-saving guff' either.

It's probably the £50 rather than the 50lb that they're keen to save. In either case, you don't get many easier cost or weight savings.

One very good compromise is the full diameter but reduced width spacesaver. These are actually perfectly stable at 80+mph. But that'll be no surprise to anyone who isn't a chav who believe that the grip of a tyre is proportional to its width.

Perhaps you permitted your tyre pressure to get a little low. I have nothing more to say.

And, May I ask , What makes you think this was the case? Personally I take the car to my local tyre fitters regularly, and also every time before doing a journey away from home. Oil level checked, as is washer fluid topped up, and screen and mirrors cleaned. (i did not state that there was a nail in the tyre, and also some shards of glass.) but maybe you just assumed that everyone else driving is not as "bright as yourself".

I am one of those people who look after my "investment".

Punctures happen, but my point wasn't about why, it was about the lunacy of having no means of getting home if a tyre is irreparable..

And what about our lovely roadside assistance companies who now want to charge £40 to change a punctured tyre.

And what about our lovely roadside assistance companies who now want to charge £40 to change a punctured tyre.

Fair play to them. Any able bodied person should have no difficulty changing a wheel themselves. Quite a few physically impaired people could manage the 'feat'.

I would never change an offside wheel on the hard shoulder of a motorway or beside a busy dual carriage way myself.

This is getting a bit MCP-ish

What if the puncture is experienced by the elderly/not so fit/not so strong, female driver?

Just because its easy for you Technical competent hairy chested drivers - please remember other peoples Grannies, Wives and Daughters may be not so technically competent, or (dare I say it) hairy chested enough, to be able to change a wheel,

In Germany, when punctured on a busy road, we ring the police and get them to send a car and park behind us with lights flashing, then change the wheel in relative safety