small spare wheel - what a nightmare - Page 2

Andy Northface · Mar 7th, 2013, 12:21

Of course,what I meant was I'd rather have a spacesaver than nothing at all. I would sacrifice boot space too,If I had to.

MikePL01 · Mar 7th, 2013, 14:19

I’d always rather have a full size spare wheel available, but it’s not always the answer.

A few weeks ago I got home from work to find a flat tyre on my Polo (luckily not the Volvo!) which was parked on the drive. No problem. I thought, I’ll just swap it for the (full sized) spare. Undid the wheel nuts and jacked it up with no problem. BUT, have had this car since new (18 months) and still on original tyres. The wheels have never been off. No matter what I did I could not release the wheel from the hub. Even tried lowering the jack to use the weight of the car on the unsecured wheel to try and break the hold. No luck. In the end I put the when nuts back and had to phone breakdown assistance.

Now all this happened in the “comfort” of my own drive (although it was about -5 at the time). Had this been on the side of a motorway at night, I would have far rather had a can of goo available and will now be getting one for both cars.

Obviously, the ideal solution is both a can of goo, to hopefully get you to a safe location and then a full sized spare to keep you going until you can replace the tyre.

clivea · Mar 7th, 2013, 15:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by keithjeb

Just playing devils advocate, on an XC90 , the volume of each wheel is (give or take) 50 litres (21" diameter with tyres, 225 width). Parkers list the boot volume as 250l.

Would you rather a space saver or 20% less boot space - probably more as you'd need to raise the floor a lot. Not to mention the additional weight.
Running a space saver is a pain in the ass, but at least it works and in all likely hood you're only going to need it once every 5 or 6 years for 20 minutes or so.

Not all of us drive in cities, there are many places that we go to here and abroad and 20 minutes gets you nowhere were you can find a tyre repair agency/depot. The car is used primarily for towing and long trips and only finds itself in a city if we are lost!

keithjeb · Mar 11th, 2013, 15:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by clivea

Not all of us drive in cities, there are many places that we go to here and abroad and 20 minutes gets you nowhere were you can find a tyre repair agency/depot. The car is used primarily for towing and long trips and only finds itself in a city if we are lost!

Even so, I'd be very surprised if there are many places in the country more than 50 miles away from a tyre depot, although not to say they'd be open of course.

Surely if you're primarily towing a spare in the caravan/bolted to the side of the horsebox etc is a decent solution?

tt82 · Mar 12th, 2013, 10:26

Well my setup is I have 2 cans of goo and the space saver.

I'm not sure what I actually would do in the case of a puncture? I leaning towards just throwing the goo in first and if that fails then put the space saver on. I know both solutions are claimes ad as being "50mph and 50 mile max distance temporary get you to the nearest tyre place" solutions but I once put the goo in my rear motorbike tyre and was doing 100mph an hour later. I also left it in till I changed the tyre some 1,000+ miles later.

Has anybody used the goo in a car tyre and whats your experience? I know tyre fitters say the tyre can't be repaired once the goo is in buts just because they can't be bothered cleaning it off to do the repair.

clivea · Mar 12th, 2013, 11:52

Carrying a car spare as well as a caravan spare makes inroads into a pretty low caravan payload. The car is fully loaded with dogs and the caravan awning,heavy stuff already. So my approach would be goo first if the puncture hasn't affected the sidewalls or is too large for the goo to fix.

If you look at the Continental website you will see that their tyre sealant is good for 125 miles at 50mph. However there are tyres called Contiseal which have the sealant already within the tyre. These are designed to seal a 5mm puncture. So assuming you were driving between London and Glasgow and picked up your puncture at Marble Arch I guess the first tyre check would be somewhere near to Stoke! Then at regular 125 mile intervals thereafter. So given this would not be practicable I assume the Contiseal tyres are really saying that you can drive between weekly checks without hazard. Given that my bike tyres have goo in them and I regularly ride with several 'sealed' punctures visible when the local farmers have been hedge trimming I am quite confident using sealant in the car at 50mph for a day's drive, or until I can find a repair agency. I also always carry the Continental tech spec for how to deal with sealant in a tyre as most major chains now deal with kit rather than writing off the tyre.

St Evelyn · Mar 13th, 2013, 18:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikePL01

A few weeks ago I got home from work to find a flat tyre on my Polo (luckily not the Volvo!) which was parked on the drive. No problem. I thought, I’ll just swap it for the (full sized) spare. Undid the wheel nuts and jacked it up with no problem. BUT, have had this car since new (18 months) and still on original tyres. The wheels have never been off. No matter what I did I could not release the wheel from the hub. Even tried lowering the jack to use the weight of the car on the unsecured wheel to try and break the hold. No luck. In the end I put the when nuts back and had to phone breakdown assistance.

A bit late for you now however, if this should happen again, you should find that loosening the bolts before rolling the car back and forth a couple of foot should be sufficient to free the wheel from the hub. Failing that, a gentle drive around the block with loose nuts would sort it out - just make sure that you driving slowly and not too far, you don't want to risk the bolts undoing fully and the wheel spinning off.

Thorium · Mar 14th, 2013, 22:31

Had to use the bottle of latex last night when I got a large screw in the front off-side tyre. I wasn't convinced it was going to work initially, as the goo was coming out of the tyre where the screw was and the weather was cold (-2°C). Eventually it inflated and did allow me to get the 13 or so miles home. The tyre was still inflated this morning and allowed me to drive to the nearest garage. As I suspected it was beyond repair and the next problem was finding a tyre the right size (235/50/R18 in my case), and there aren't many of them about. Personally, I'd much rather have a full-size spare as just because the goo will get you to a garage, unless they have your size in stock you've had it! Interestingly, the fitter showed me the old tyre and the majority of the latex was still liquid inside the tyre.

Mar 12th, 2013, 10:26	#15
tt82 Forum Support Team Last Online: Nov 28th, 2022 17:33 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Here.... obviously!	Well my setup is I have 2 cans of goo and the space saver. I'm not sure what I actually would do in the case of a puncture? I leaning towards just throwing the goo in first and if that fails then put the space saver on. I know both solutions are claimes ad as being "50mph and 50 mile max distance temporary get you to the nearest tyre place" solutions but I once put the goo in my rear motorbike tyre and was doing 100mph an hour later. I also left it in till I changed the tyre some 1,000+ miles later. Has anybody used the goo in a car tyre and whats your experience? I know tyre fitters say the tyre can't be repaired once the goo is in buts just because they can't be bothered cleaning it off to do the repair. __________________ The more people I meet, the more I like my dog! 2009 V70 D5 R-Design - Jeade'en

Mar 12th, 2013, 11:52	#16
clivea clivea Last Online: Dec 10th, 2014 12:38 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: West Country	Carrying a car spare as well as a caravan spare makes inroads into a pretty low caravan payload. The car is fully loaded with dogs and the caravan awning,heavy stuff already. So my approach would be goo first if the puncture hasn't affected the sidewalls or is too large for the goo to fix. If you look at the Continental website you will see that their tyre sealant is good for 125 miles at 50mph. However there are tyres called Contiseal which have the sealant already within the tyre. These are designed to seal a 5mm puncture. So assuming you were driving between London and Glasgow and picked up your puncture at Marble Arch I guess the first tyre check would be somewhere near to Stoke! Then at regular 125 mile intervals thereafter. So given this would not be practicable I assume the Contiseal tyres are really saying that you can drive between weekly checks without hazard. Given that my bike tyres have goo in them and I regularly ride with several 'sealed' punctures visible when the local farmers have been hedge trimming I am quite confident using sealant in the car at 50mph for a day's drive, or until I can find a repair agency. I also always carry the Continental tech spec for how to deal with sealant in a tyre as most major chains now deal with kit rather than writing off the tyre. __________________ Cheers Clivea April 2014 Subaru Forester XE Lineatronic. 2010-April 2014 XC70 SE Premium 205ps D5 Geartronic AWD 2010MY Oyster Grey

Mar 7th, 2013, 12:21	#11
Andy Northface Where's that 18mm socket? Last Online: Apr 25th, 2016 23:01 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Normally in the dog house, Chester-Le-Street	Of course,what I meant was I'd rather have a spacesaver than nothing at all. I would sacrifice boot space too,If I had to.

Mar 7th, 2013, 14:19	#12
MikePL01 New Member Last Online: Sep 18th, 2017 19:55 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: hatfield	I’d always rather have a full size spare wheel available, but it’s not always the answer. A few weeks ago I got home from work to find a flat tyre on my Polo (luckily not the Volvo!) which was parked on the drive. No problem. I thought, I’ll just swap it for the (full sized) spare. Undid the wheel nuts and jacked it up with no problem. BUT, have had this car since new (18 months) and still on original tyres. The wheels have never been off. No matter what I did I could not release the wheel from the hub. Even tried lowering the jack to use the weight of the car on the unsecured wheel to try and break the hold. No luck. In the end I put the when nuts back and had to phone breakdown assistance. Now all this happened in the “comfort” of my own drive (although it was about -5 at the time). Had this been on the side of a motorway at night, I would have far rather had a can of goo available and will now be getting one for both cars. Obviously, the ideal solution is both a can of goo, to hopefully get you to a safe location and then a full sized spare to keep you going until you can replace the tyre.

Mar 14th, 2013, 22:31	#18
Thorium Member Last Online: Apr 24th, 2024 21:38 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Belper	Had to use the bottle of latex last night when I got a large screw in the front off-side tyre. I wasn't convinced it was going to work initially, as the goo was coming out of the tyre where the screw was and the weather was cold (-2°C). Eventually it inflated and did allow me to get the 13 or so miles home. The tyre was still inflated this morning and allowed me to drive to the nearest garage. As I suspected it was beyond repair and the next problem was finding a tyre the right size (235/50/R18 in my case), and there aren't many of them about. Personally, I'd much rather have a full-size spare as just because the goo will get you to a garage, unless they have your size in stock you've had it! Interestingly, the fitter showed me the old tyre and the majority of the latex was still liquid inside the tyre.

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