RE: Blow out! The modern tyre dilemma

[ChemicalChaos]

Storytime:
I was once 4-up in a Suzuki Swift sport, travelling from Cheshire to Southampton for he weekend. We had a blowout on the motorway just south of Birmingham.
As mentioned, a can of expanding foam is of limited use when your tyre is no longer extant.
After waiting 2 hours to be recovered to the nearest Suzuki dealer, it turned out that the tyre size on the SS is unique to the car (this phenomenon probably affects quite a few modern cars with stupid profile tyres). Not one dealer, or branch of any national tyre chain, had one in stock. The shortest lead time was 3 days. As a tyre is classed as wear and tear and not warrantied, the dealer refused to give us a courtesy car.
After another 2 hours we were again mobile with a hired Skoda. We were of course massively late arriving in Southampton, and the car then had to be returned from Cheshire to Birmingham, necessitating a day off work, during the following week once the Suzuki was finally ready.
Now tell me again about how it's only a minor inconveneience not having a physical spare?

Not only do all of my cars have a spare tyre, but they also have a proper bottle jack to replace the patently unsafe toy scissor jack, and a 3ft breaker bar and hex socket to replace the toy wheel brace. Even if I'm ever in a position where I can't change a flat myself or it isn't safe to do so, a breakdown service can have me back on the road in 10 minutes.

Edited by ChemicalChaos on Tuesday 9th January 19:08

[CDP]

Nanook said:

rxe said:

IMO you have about as much justication carrying a spare battery, cooling hoses and probably a clutch as a spare wheel.

Indeed, I mean, changing a clutch at the side of the road is just like changing a wheel. Except that you'd need a couple of extra tools, you know, some pliers, an extra jack, a big bit of wood, axle stand perhaps, possibly a huge breaker bar depending on the driveshaft arrangement, an alignment tool, maybe a crane, a hammer, a socket set and a ratchet or two, a set of spanners etc.

I've removed and refitted the clutch in the carpark at uni in the snow on Christmas Eve. Stripped, cleaned and refitted the master cylinder too. It turned out the release arm was on the wrong way around.

[CDP]

hutchst said:

Step1.... Slacken off the wheel nuts with all 4 wheels still planted firmly on the ground by jumping up and down on the wheelbrace
Step 2... Jack the car up......

I've had occasions when jumping up and down on the wheel brace has done nothing. I am not light. Normally a 3' length of steel tube sits under the boot carpet.

[FastDad]

motco said:

Sod's Law says that you'll use it on the day you have a car full of people and their luggage. Where do you put the punctured full sized wheel/tyre?

A woman died I remember from a tyre that exploded and she had it on her lap - basically this scenario..

[vikingaero]

CDP said:

hutchst said:

Step1.... Slacken off the wheel nuts with all 4 wheels still planted firmly on the ground by jumping up and down on the wheelbrace
Step 2... Jack the car up......

I've had occasions when jumping up and down on the wheel brace has done nothing. I am not light. Normally a 3' length of steel tube sits under the boot carpet.

£12 for a decent breaker bar from Amazon/eBay

[vikingaero]

ChemicalChaos said:

Storytime:
I was once 4-up in a Suzuki Swift sport, travelling from Cheshire to Southampton for he weekend. We had a blowout on the motorway just south of Birmingham.
As mentioned, a can of expanding foam is of limited use when your tyre is no longer extant.
After waiting 2 hours to be recovered to the nearest Suzuki dealer, it turned out that the tyre size on the SS is unique to the car (this phenomenon probably affects quite a few modern cars with stupid profile tyres). Not one dealer, or branch of any national tyre chain, had one in stock. The shortest lead time was 3 days. As a tyre is classed as wear and tear and not warrantied, the dealer refused to give us a courtesy car.
After another 2 hours we were again mobile with a hired Skoda. We were of course massively late arriving in Southampton, and the car then had to be returned from Cheshire to Birmingham, necessitating a day off work, during the following week once the Suzuki was finally ready.
Now tell me again about how it's only a minor inconveneience not having a physical spare?

Not only do all of my cars have a spare tyre, but they also have a proper bottle jack to replace the patently unsafe toy scissor jack, and a 3ft breaker bar and hex socket to replace the toy wheel brace. Even if I'm ever in a position where I can't change a flat myself or it isn't safe to do so, a breakdown service can have me back on the road in 10 minutes.

Edited by ChemicalChaos on Tuesday 9th January 19:08

I think your story illustrates the gulf of opinion on PH. There are those that claim that a spare is unnecessary - most of these being people that never venture past Waitrose. And there are those like CC who travel fair distances. If you have a spare that increases your options. If it can't be fixed then the as a last resort you can still call the AA/RAC/Green Flag.

Yes on stupidly small sports cars you can't have a spare or store the flat tyre. On most laden cars, it might take you 30 minutes but you should be able to rejig your luggage a little to store the flat.

[SlimJim16v]

FastDad said:

motco said:

Sod's Law says that you'll use it on the day you have a car full of people and their luggage. Where do you put the punctured full sized wheel/tyre?

A woman died I remember from a tyre that exploded and she had it on her lap - basically this scenario..

Punctured tyres don't explode, they don't have any air in them.

[TooMany2cvs]

SlimJim16v said:

FastDad said:

A woman died I remember from a tyre that exploded and she had it on her lap - basically this scenario..

Punctured tyres don't explode, they don't have any air in them.

It hadn't punctured - it'd bulged on a sidewall.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_...

[Jim AK]

I didn`t buy a Subaru XV after I was lent one for a weekend test drive.

I shredded a tyre after a rapid puncture, clipped a metal bar in my lane on the M2 & chose not to try changing it on hard shoulder.

Tyre completely fked, no spare, just a can of gloop, post 7pm so no tyre shops open.

Ended up being trailered home & the whole escapade took more than 4 hours!!

[rovermorris999]

Jim AK said:

I didn`t buy a Subaru XV after I was lent one for a weekend test drive.

I shredded a tyre after a rapid puncture, clipped a metal bar in my lane on the M2 & chose not to try changing it on hard shoulder.

Tyre completely fked, no spare, just a can of gloop, post 7pm so no tyre shops open.

Ended up being trailered home & the whole escapade took more than 4 hours!!

Is there a spare wheel well? IIRC it is/was a requirement to have a full size spare in Australia so there is often space for one. The current Forester only comes with a spacesaver but if you take out the foam packing you can fit a full-sized spare which is what I'm doing.
I saw an Australian review of a BRZ and they commented how the full-size spare stuck up in the boot as the well in those can only take a spacesaver.

[Jim AK]

rovermorris999 said:

Is there a spare wheel well? IIRC it is/was a requirement to have a full size spare in Australia so there is often space for one. The current Forester only comes with a spacesaver but if you take out the foam packing you can fit a full-sized spare which is what I'm doing.
I saw an Australian review of a BRZ and they commented how the full-size spare stuck up in the boot as the well in those can only take a spacesaver.

Don`t know. Don`t care.

The car was being bought for Mrs Jim AK & I think its just wrong that sort of vehicle has no spare wheel!

[rovermorris999]

Jim AK said:

Don`t know. Don`t care.

The car was being bought for Mrs Jim AK & I think its just wrong that sort of vehicle has no spare wheel!

You'll find that's the way things are going to save weight. A pity you dismissed it, it's a good vehicle, if you can fit a spare in.

edit to add: here's a good review from Oz that also compares similar vehicles. They get a spacesaver there so maybe a full size would fit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwj3BAme-1w

Edited by rovermorris999 on Monday 15th January 08:32

[TooMany2cvs]

rovermorris999 said:

You'll find that's the way things are going to save weight.

Hands up who believes that, compared to the alternative explanation - cost...?

[rovermorris999]

TooMany2cvs said:

Hands up who believes that, compared to the alternative explanation - cost...?

Both. Every gramme counts these days.

Edited by rovermorris999 on Monday 15th January 08:34

[Jim AK]

rovermorris999 said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Hands up who believes that, compared to the alternative explanation - cost...?

Both. Every gram counts these days.

This is where it falls down. Leaving drivers vulnerable to save a few pounds (monetary) or a few KG's but potentially putting lives at risk.

Had Mrs Jim AK been driving the car I suspect she would have remained at the side of the Motorway awaiting rescue, I knew there was a junction a short distance away, approx 2 miles, but I don't think she would have felt safe there either as it's just a country lane with no sign of life obvious.

My car, Mercedes, comes with a Spacesaver. Not a perfect solution bearing in mind the speed limit imposed by its use but if I had been in that car rather than the XV I wouldn't have waited over 2 hours for recovery.

[TooMany2cvs]

rovermorris999 said:

TooMany2cvs said:

Hands up who believes that, compared to the alternative explanation - cost...?

Both. Every gramme counts these days.

<hollow laughter>
Have you seen the avoirdupois of modern stuff?

[rovermorris999]

TooMany2cvs said:

<hollow laughter>
Have you seen the avoirdupois of modern stuff?

Yes indeed. They wouldn't sell without the safety built in to get five stars and all the gizmos people seem to demand now. It all adds weight so they try and save where they can. The big driver is the average emissions in the range of vehicles offered, that's why engines like Subaru's H6 and EJ25 are going or have gone.

[ChemicalChaos]

rovermorris999 said:

Is there a spare wheel well? IIRC it is/was a requirement to have a full size spare in Australia so there is often space for one. The current Forester only comes with a spacesaver but if you take out the foam packing you can fit a full-sized spare which is what I'm doing.
I saw an Australian review of a BRZ and they commented how the full-size spare stuck up in the boot as the well in those can only take a spacesaver.

If you think the brz is bad, have a look in the boot of a Jaguar F Pace or RR Velar where someone has ticked the option for a full size spare (I can only assume this is in response to customer demand) . The boot floor has a 1 foot tall "false floor" raised platform in it to cover the monumentally wide bling alloy shoehorned in a space obviously designed for a spacesaver. It makes an already small boot (for a vehicle of that size) become comically small

[havoc]

ChemicalChaos said:

If you think the brz is bad, have a look in the boot of a Jaguar F Pace or RR Velar where someone has ticked the option for a full size spare (I can only assume this is in response to customer demand) . The boot floor has a 1 foot tall "false floor" raised platform in it to cover the monumentally wide bling alloy shoehorned in a space obviously designed for a spacesaver. It makes an already small boot (for a vehicle of that size) become comically small

I have to confess I've never understood JLR's ability to lose space in a car. Every modern one I've been in has felt far smaller inside and in the boot than you'd expect from the outside...