No Spare Wheel On Many New Cars

albionrovers

With the growing trend of no spare wheel supplied with new cars, is there more of a reliance on roadside assistance in event of a puncture? Furthermore, even with a premium brand in warranty?

Stoke

Lots of cars now come with a can of tyre weld.

force_ten

albionrovers wrote: »

With the growing trend of no spare wheel supplied with new cars, is there more of a reliance on roadside assistance in event of a puncture? Furthermore, even with a premium brand in warranty?

no spare at all seems to be the way that many manufacturers seem to to be going, many say it is to save weight and help reduce co2 emissions, some say it is cost saving when the spare went the price didnt drop so the manufacturer made more money

some cars now have a can of sealant and a compressor that is great for a small hole in a tyre but no good for a split and others have gone with run-flat tyres where you can drive on the flat tyre at 50mph for 50 miles

tberry6686

There is also the problem that a lot of new cars do not have a spare wheel bay in them.

iolanthe07

I have just bought a new car for delivery in April with no spare wheel. If I want one it is £150 extra. I'm not sure whether to order one or not. Has anyone had experience of whether these tyre repair kits work?

Stoke

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I have just bought a new car for delivery in April with no spare wheel. If I want one it is £150 extra. I'm not sure whether to order one or not. Has anyone had experience of whether these tyre repair kits work?

Tyre weld is very good when used correctly, arguably the most important product you can have in your car.

Tilt

Not very good if you get a rip in a tyre or a blowout. At least with a actual spare wheel, you can guarantee it will prevent you from getting stranded. These 'puncture repair' kits certainly won't.

Bad move by the car industry in my opinion and it would certainly be a consideration of mine if/when I buy another new car.

Stoke

Tilt wrote: »

Not very good if you get a rip in a tyre or a blowout. At least with a actual spare wheel, you can guarantee it will prevent you from getting stranded. These 'puncture repair' kits certainly won't.

Bad move by the car industry in my opinion and it would certainly be a consideration of mine if/when I buy another new car.

Yes Tilt, very true. I'm yet to experience a major tyre blowout so when I've used tyre weld it's proved more than satisfactory

cajef

iolanthe07 wrote: »

I have just bought a new car for delivery in April with no spare wheel. If I want one it is £150 extra. I'm not sure whether to order one or not.

When I bought a brand new car last year it came with a sealant kit and no spare wheel, I got the dealer to supply a space saver free as part of the deal, I figured even that is better than none.

colino

You'd be nuts to drive around in a car without a full size or at least space saver wheel as back up. If your car doesn't have one, get one from your friendly scrappy or ebay.
No amount of goo or the wind from one of those asthmatic 12V car compressors is any use to you when you've a serious puncture.

Cornucopia

I've tried to use tyre repair a couple of times without success.

But here's something even more insidious: some new car breakdown policies don't cover recovery from tyre defects by default.