Car = spare wheel or boot space

Space saver for vital airport trips, but otherwise dump it in the garage/shed to make room for more important things. In my case loads of other more useful spare bits, though much is bike related 😀

Or vital airport trip is done by taxi. Who could also break down and you miss the flight 😉

I’ve had a few punctures

I had one in my 5 series, it had run flats and no spare.

❓

If you don’t have a spare you must be going to really boring places on your car trips so you can rely on the nice man saving you. Happy motoring princesses.

Probably more than 50% of the cars I pick up and deliver have no spare, possibly closer to 60-70%, so all those people are princesses, are they? That’s just the way the cars are supplied, these are all ex-lease and Motability cars, I very much doubt that the people who’ve had them had a choice.
The BMW 520D out front has run-flats, the three Merc E220’s I’ve had recently had a mixture of skinny run-flat and flat-kits.
I’ve got a spare in the boot of my car, not sure I’ve got a jack and brace, I have got one of those four-armed spider brace things, which are so much easier to use than the piddly things supplied, so maybe I ought to find it and stick it in the car.

its not about being a princess ,

the reason they dont have them is so that they can keep weight down which in turn keeps economy up and emissions down…..

+ what used to be standard equipment can now be charged for.

2015 Leon ST here, full size spare and no reduction in boot space.

Gary_C – Member
I’ve had a few punctures
I had one in my 5 series, it had run flats and no spare.

Mileage/speed restrictions once you get a flat.
Unless there wasn’t space is always carry a spare. Currently it’s in a well in the boot and full size, so I wouldn’t really use the space under the floor anyway. Tyre gunk is supplied as mfrs have realised they can save a few quid a car by not supplying spare/tools as standard.

Tubeless!… oh wait, already are 😉

Do we carry spare tyres on bikes? I don’t.

Yep there all glass slipper cars cz

Legend the model above had alloys and built in sat nav which athough nicer I could have lived without the no spare wheel plus jack etc was what really put me off the lower model

Remember being stopped by a Mazda bongo driver in ardnamurchen where I was also driving my car

The bongo spare is underneath; why on earth had anyone removed it?

That said, I used to carry a can of jizz in ours as I’d put money on the spare being seized on or something if we ever came to need it (we never did)…

didnt ask particulars – but perhaps they removed it for an LPG tanks ?

I suppose it depends on how fast you need to get moving again.

I’ve gone overkill on my car. It came with a space saver which I have changed for a full size spare and I’ve a trolley Jack to speed things up.

This is on a driving school car so last thing I want is to be stuck at the side of the road with a student trying to fill the tyre with Jizz or having a test cancelled as the space saver is not the same size as the other wheels.

Recently tried to remove the spare wheel from underneath the back of the van. All bolts rusted solid, had to be cut off an a replacement holder crafted from threaded bar and some steel plates. All stainless now.

The reason I would have a spare is to reduce the amount of time stuck somewhere – we go to remote places, can’t rely on there being phone signal or passers by and need a degree of independence there, rather than calling for help (I do have that option, but try not to use it).

Mrs Gti had an Ibiza that had an empty well and a polystyrene block holding a compressor and a bottle of latex, which I think is a crap idea. So I went on Ebay and bought a polystyrene block that contained a jack and wheelbrace then I bought four steel wheels, fitted them with Avon Ice Touring winter tyres, fitted them in the autumn and left one of the summer wheels in the wheel well, doing the opposite in summer so she always had a jack and a spare wheel.

She’s sold the car so I’ll be ebaying the Ice Touring tyres and wheels this autumn.

The bongo spare is underneath; why on earth had anyone removed it?

My Pug Partner has the spare cage underneath … so someone nicked it so now I carry the spare inside. (strapped down to prevent it from ‘relocating’ to the front if I have to slam the anchors on!)

Spares underneath the car often get nicked annoyingly

Question about 5 series with run flats has been answered

A run flat can still get a puncture, the difference is you can drive on it. But there’s a speed restriction and a mileage limit. I was many many miles away from home with a very full car – parents, kids, dog, roofbox, much luggage!

part of the reason they get nicked so often is that people often dont tighten the clamp up fully as its siezed. If its not fully tight its easy to push the wheel up and the cage comes off the clamp.

ive even seen them fall off going over bumps

ive had 2 vehicles with them under and ive had 1 with it on the rear door and one with it on the bonnet all much better places than under the invariably heavily loaded(at the time of puncture) boot.

My current van has it attached to the inside wall behind the wheel arch. Im toying with fitting it to the rear door and reclaiming the space.

No spare in my Cooper S due to the supercharger they had to put the battery in the boot instead, I have a tiny compressor and a sealant and breakdown cover.

Only punctures I’ve ever had have been with vans for some reason, gravel driveways caused the last 2

last car had a full sized spare, trouble was I couldn’t get the locking nut off as some loon had done it up mega tight at the last service, had to call out Green Flag, whereupon the mechanic bust the locking nut, and I had to get recovered back home.

New car has run flats…noticed a flat while over at my gf’s…drove slowly to a kwick-fit who changed it in 10 mins, and I was on my way again

know which one I prefer

what do you do when the next time you take it to kwikfit and the “loon” bursts the now most likely over tightened lock nut doing the “if i tighten it really tight it wont come un done so they cant sue me method.”

saw the aftermath of them removing my mates lotus elise wheel after a similar situation. it was not pretty.

Depends a bit in the tyre / wheel size I reckon. If you have fancy 19” wheels with low profile jobbies then get a car with spare wheel.

I got puncture at 10 at night in Plymouth heading back to Cheshire driving a car with no spare – if I’d called Merc recovery they would recover me to a Merc dealer who would charge me £400 for a £200 tyre. Plus I’d be stuck somewhere overnight.

I limped home pumping air into it at every service station on the m5/m6

I had three punctures in that car in 12 months and sold it because no spare just was too much hassle.

In my old Merc estate I get a puncture every 12 months or so and just pop the space saver spare wheel on and go and get the tyre sorted.

Though I have driven back from Barcelona to Cheshire on the space saver spare wheel at 50 ish mph over a bank holiday weekend – no tyre dealers open in France or Spain.

Personally I’d never buy a car again without a spare wheel. It takes 15 mins to change a wheel and it a proper man thing to be able to do.

Recently bought a (STW standard issue) Octavia estate which came with no spare – just a compressor and a bottle of jizz (which the local garage advised had probably expired as it’s 4 years old).
Spent 30 odd quid getting a steel spare wheel, put the spare tyre from my old car onto it. Doesn’t take up any extra space as it just replaces the wheel-sized piece of polystyrene that was in the boot well.
The thought of getting a puncture being on a remote road in N.Scotland with no phone signal, no houses within 10 miles and no traffic (thinking of the Kinloch Hourn road) convinced me that it was worth spending a few quid for peace of mind.