No spare wheel?

Ultrasonic

Gloomendoom wrote: »

No spare wheel supplied although a spare wheel kit is a dealer fit option. The kit includes a jack, a wheel brace and, of course, a spare wheel. No tyre.

!!!!!!?

Unbelievable. I'm kind of impressed at them having the balls to sell HALF an emergency kit though!

greatgimpo

First of all, in the middle of nowhere you may not get a mobile phone signal, so in the event of a shredded tyre, help may not come when your sealant don't fill the gaping hole.
Secondly, if you've only a little puncture, and the sealant does fix it, can the tyre be cleaned inside to get a proper repair at the garage?

Richard53

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Be interesting to see if the salesman is true to his word now he's been paid, they usually forget promises made whilst stalking prey once their hunger has been sated.
Time will tell....similar behaviour to politicians and promises before and after elections.

You may not be worried about a spare but when you come to sell you might be, because some of us will never ever buy a car new or used without a spare wheel.

It's a Motability car, so resale issues aren't relevant in this case. I'm sure the salesman will do his best, though. The delivery (to us) of the car was delayed by about three weeks due to blunders on his part, and my wife pretty much nailed his man-bits to the wall over it, so he is willing to help. We already got a complementary full tank over it. Plus we are both regular customers (I got my car there too) and it's about 2 miles away, so we can keep 'reminding' him.

martinthebandit wrote: »

The wife's car has an inflation kit instead of a spare and frankly, as there is no way she would even attempt to change a wheel I see it as a plus,

My wife is disabled, and I doubt if she would be up to changing a wheel these days. However, with a proper spare, a call to the RAC gets the wheel changed, and you're on your way without the subsequent issues mentioned by posters above.

fb1969

As above, using the sealant can mean that the cost of a puncture repair becomes the cost of a new tyre - plus the cost of a replacement can of the stuff.

Stooby2

Facade wrote:

Due to some loophole in The Law, it is actually possible to fit this and use it to complete a journey (very gingerly, at reduced speed for a small mileage).

There's no loophole, it's a tyre and wheel designed for a very specific use. It's a trade off between increased boot space/bigger fuel tank and a smaller spare wheel, which sees very little use. Personally I've used my spare once - for half an hour in the last six years of owning the car.

Facade wrote:

However, it is an offence to make a new journey with it fitted

No it isn't. It's an offence to use the tyre beyond it's stated use - i.e. higher speed than marked. As they have only about 3mm tread and quite high pressures they wear out very fast and wouldn't last long anyhow.

Facade wrote:

so you can't actually go to get the tyre repaired.

Nonsense - what on earth would be the point of the tyre if that were the case?

facade

Having different sized tyres on the same axle seriously affects roadholding and contravenes construction & use regs. You will fail the MOT with a spacesaver fitted.

However there is a clause in construction & use, presumably through lobbying by manufacturers, that permits the use of spacesavers. (They used to be illegal until this clause was added, but most Police forces would not prosecute)

My handbook states that the joke spare wheel is for emergency use, and must be replaced by the standard tyre at the first opportunity. Also you must not tow a trailer, and it should be fitted to the rear in wet or icy conditions.

The question arises as to what is an emergency?
Is going to work for a week an emergency?
Is driving from home to a tyre fitter an emergency, when there are many mobile tyre fitters who will come to your home or place of work?

These are the sort of questions that you don't want to be debating if you have an accident, or get stopped by the Police.

(Certainly if you are exceeding the speed rating of the tyre and crash you won't be insured and will face prosecution for a whole list of offences, but that is a different issue)

ntb1

I have the stupid foam and had too punctures both need the rac. As the instant stability system was nether instant nor stable. And something like 3o to replace. Will always spec spare wheel in future as one problem with adding it after is the boot space is filled with other !!!!.

Buzby

Also on the negative side the T&C's of the RAC/AA both state that it is a requirement to have a 'serviceable spare'. An inflation kit is not a spare. If you a relayed home, the added cost for this is billed, not included if you have no spare.

I would not dream of not having a spare.

wallbash

I went to buy a new car back in March . When the salesman came bounding over , my FIRST words were .......... no spare wheel, not buying !

Yes I had to settle for a space saver , but much better than a can of foam .
Yes , I can change a car tyre on the side of the road given the tools!

Johnmcl7

Richard53 wrote: »

My wife has just picked up a new car, and I was horrified to find that it doesn't have a spare wheel, just an inflation kit. I told the salesman that he should have pointed this out to us at an earlier stage in the proceedings, but he said it was common practice these days and not something he felt it worth mentioning. I didn't think to ask, he didn't think to tell me - score draw, I suppose. Apparently a 'proper' spare wheel is available as an optional accessory, but at quite a high price. We agreed to take the car as it is, and he is looking out for a spare wheel kit if he gets a similar car in part ex. Fair enough.

But then I got to thinking - perhaps it's not such a bad idea. It saves a lot of weight, of course, and in theory if it's quicker and easier than changing a wheel, then in a roadside situation it should be safer too. The limited speed and mileage before getting a repair isn't really an issue for us either, as if I get a puncture a tyre repair place is probably going to be my next stop. The only major downside I can see is that in the event of major damage which actually split the tyre, you would be stuffed, but that's what the RAC is for.

Have I missed any significant issues here, and what are people's thoughts? Worth chasing the salesman for a proper spare, or leave things as they are? (The guy is very willing to give us a spare wheel kit if we are willing to wait, so that's not a problem.)

I was reading a discussion on these repair kits on another car forum and one of the other major issues is that apparently it may not be possible once the sealant has been used so the tyre would have to be replaced.

I'm not keen on the idea of a the repair kits so I have a full spare wheel, if my car didn't come with one and there was a spare wheel well I'd probably look at just getting a cheap standard steel wheel (that's all I have at the moment) and then see if there were any cheap options for the jack and other parts.

John