In the case of my ’66 F-100, it’s been 30 years exactly, when I replaced the ancient bias ply spare with this also quite venerable Michelin X 700R 15 radial, one of the four on aftermarket spoke wheels that were on the truck when I got it. I found some very low mileage Michelin 235R 75 15s on steel wheels in a junkyard at the time (1987), and ditched the spokes and old Michelins except for this spare. And how come I removed it? Not because I had a flat.
No, I’ve had some issues with my taillights, from worn out sockets. Fortunately new ones are only $5.75 at my local auto parts store, right in the electrical section. How many other vehicles 50 years old are cheap parts so readily available?
Meanwhile, I’m trying hard to remember when I last needed to actually use a spare on one of my cars. Over 30 years? The time I thought I could park (illegally) in a UCLA parking lot in Westwood with one of those tire spikers in my Jeep? Seriously; how incredibly dumb was that? I stupidly thought my big all-terrain tires would be tall enough to push the little spikes down. Not. Poof!!
One thing is for certain: this one is not going back under the truck. Why lug around the extra dead weight? Plus I don’t have a jack and lug wrench in it anyway. Useless.
We had a flat on the way to mass one Sunday morning in February. Fortunately, I had the “real” jack in the trunk of that car. I dug out the doughnut spare and off we went.
I already have bought one real (matching) rim and fitted it with a used tire for one car and plan to do same for the other.
A few years ago, I had a flat on my 1996 Explorer in my driveway. winter time bitter cold. Called AAA. Guy from AAA, a local tow company, couldn’t figure out how to drop the tire down from its carrier! Just pumped up the tire, and wished me luck!
Or checked the air pressure in it? Yeah. Even those donuts will lose air eventually.
It’s been so long that I don’t remember the last time I had to use a spare. I DO know that, up here in rust country, many an unsuspecting pickup owner has come to regret not oiling or Anti-Seizing the moving parts on their under bed spare tire carrier on a regular basis. Placing the spare in that location has to be one of the top ten bonehead automotive design ideas of all time.
I learned the hard way about losing air in the donut. Hit a pothole and blew one of the rear tires in the ’82 Malibu, so I pulled into a parking lot, jacked it up, and swapped the bad tire for the donut spare. It seemed fine while I was handling it, but when I let the car’s weight back down off the jack, the donut flattened out right to the rim. Ended up walking home (thankfully it was only about a mile) and had to get a roommate to drive me to inflate the spare to a useful pressure.
You’d think this lesson would have stayed with me, and yet I realize that I never bothered to check the pressure in the spare in the Crown Vic…
Around two years ago I got four tire punctures in the span of six months or so on the same road (Near a metal scrap yard). I had two cars during that period so I got to experience changing the tires on both a 1997 BMW 528i and 2012 Ford Focus. The BMW had a full size spare (apparently the tire was originally, certainly looked so) and the Focus has a space saver.
About 14 months ago, while traveling to get new tires, one of them gave up. The probably 15 year old spare was winched down from under my Suburban. Somehow it made the trip.
Prior to that? A Ford Taurus I had in the late 90’s?
It’s been five years, right after I got my F-150.
We had went to check on our house in Hannibal (during its 20 months of being for sale) one day and we had just left to return to Jefferson City when I hear a hissing noise. A 1/2′ bolt had gone through the tread. Knowing the tire was kaput, I went back and took off the wheel in my garage. The spare went on and I drove on it for a month or so until I bought new tires (the other three were getting thin tread). That was the very last time to use the spare.
About a month after we bought it, we had a flat on the VW. It was an overnight air loss, so while I used the jack, the spare never touched the ground.
Got a LF flat on my 71 Chevy Cheyenne a few years ago. Middle of nowhere, just before dark. Had a spare, no lug wrench or jack. Had to walk a while to get cell signal. AAA said 45 minutes. Now dark. AAA lied. Said they could not find me, after several more hikes to call them. Coyotes howling, hill-people fighting and breaking stuff not far away, typical horror movie scenario the entire time. LOL. Finally called my wife to bring me a jack and star wheel from home. AAA showed up 3 plus hours later, as I was finishing up. Glad the old spare was good, at least……and I had a flashlight, and a big-ol screwdriver to lower the under-bed spare tire holder.
Wow, I hadn’t given this a thought. But probably in 1993 when I hit a hunk of scrap metal, (appropriately enough) on the road that runs by the US Steel Edgar Thompson Works between Braddock and East Pittsburgh,PA in a 1977 Electra. The DS rear tire dang near exploded. Spare was a full sizer and matched the rest, so it stayed installed on the car and the surviving wheel was shod with whatever was a leftover from my garage. It lived it’s life as the “new” spare.
Hmm, we used the spare on the Focus a few times, it had two or three flats in a one year period which was about 5 years ago.
Last time we had a flat with the van Mrs DougD was on her way to pick up a kid at summer camp (about three hours away) but only about 45 minutes into the trip. Since she wasn’t going to change the tire herself anyway, and the flat was on the front, and I knew the space saver spare was a dirty oily mess on the Caravan I just grabbed one of our winter tires, threw it into the Focus, went and put that on the van instead.
Just about 2 weeks shy of 2 years ago, according to the date stamp on the photo below. (July 24, 2015 – 151,807 on the clock at that time according to my maintenance record for the ‘stang on my iPad.)
My new Yokohama Avid Touring S tires had just been delivered the day before from Tire Rack to the shop around the corner from my house. These were to replace the Pirelli P4 touring tires that got to 400 miles shy of 100,000 miles! Since I do mostly highway driving on my commute, I always get the touring tires. While they’re not as grippy on the windy-twisties, I get long life on my commute. In retrospect, now that the Mustang is just my pleasure car, I wish now I would’ve bought a softer tire, but as usual, I digress…..
The very morning I went out to the car to drive the mere 1/2 mile up to my mechanic, my left rear tire was flat and I had to put on the donut. Fortunately, I DO check the air pressure regularly and was good to go after a five minute tire change in the driveway. Five minutes. How those NASCAR guys do all four tires in 12 seconds or so still amazes me. ;o)
Actually Formula 1 does much better than NASCAR when it comes to changing tires at a pit stop.
Here’s a video of the fastest ten F1 pit stops in 2016.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqtsU_5_Lg
To be fair about it, F1 teams are not allowed to refuel the car at a pit stop, and they don’t have the limitations on equipment or crew that NASCAR does. Still, replacing four tires in 1.92 seconds ain’t bad – even if it does take 22 men to do it.
Wow! Thanks for that link. It must be a single quick release fastener of some kind for each wheel. In NASCAR, they do one side at a time (and have conventional lung nuts, but probably a special wrench that does all five at a time), but the extra special care you get for your extended stay of 12-16 seconds is a tank of gas, and a clean windshield, and sometimes suspension adjustments. Full service really isn’t dead. (LOL).
Like most race cars (plus Porsche GT3 road cars!) they have a single centre-lock wheel nut, basically an evolution of the old knock-off-with-a-hammer type.
This touches on a sore point for me. My current car has run-flat tires and does not have a spare of any kind nor a place anywhere in the car to put one. Instead, should my run-flat stop running flat (run too flat?), there is a menu item choice in the dash computer display by which I can request the company’s service agents to find and dispatch a wrecker to my location as indicated to them by the car’s GPS. The wrecker crew wil then unflat my flat or, more likely, flatbed the entire car to ?. No problemo for the first four years of ownership. After that you have to pay every year for connection to the mothership… or… else?
I am simply not ready for this 21st century approach to flat tires.
Agreed. When I bought my 2016 Civic, the salesman pointed out that I had a real spare (albeit a donut like the one pictured on my Mustang above). He said that my timing was good, as the industry is moving to no spare tire for weight and space savings (and I suspect, more money for service departments… WOO HOO! for them, anyway)…
My Dad just bought a 2017 Accord. I’ll have to see if he has a spare tire. My friend who chose a Hyundai Sonata over the Honda Accord said his 2017 has no spare and a can of fix-a-flat Velcro’d to the inside of the trunk. REALLY?!?!?!
That is SO lame, so +1! in response here.
Another pet peeve of mine is the elimination of the ATF Dip Stick. My 2007 Mustang is the first car afflicted with this problem…. It’s also the first car in which I’ve ever had a transmission fail. BECAUSE I COULDN’T KEEP AND EYE ON IT! Granted I had just north of 170K on it at the time, but still. I’d like to know what the hell they were thinking there, but my new Civic suffers from the same affliction.
All non-hybrid 2017 Accords come with a compact spare, inflated to 60psi. Accord hybrids are equipped with a “tire repair kit”
My younger son has 2015 Honda Accord Hybrid. Interestingly the Hybrid Honda has a well allowing the vertical storage of a full sized spare which reduces luggage space when installed. With the purchase of the Hybrid,following my advice, he ordered a new matching tire and alloy wheel matching those already on the Accord. This was his own out-of-pocket expense for security of mind. Two weeks ago, he had his first flat occurring on a freeway in Boston which he said was rapidly replaced by his spare. He is now a true believer in having a full sized spare tire.
We find it interesting that Honda made provision for storing a spare in the Accord Hybrid but didn’t include an actual spare. Cost issue? vs a weight/economy issue vs deletion for luggage space for the American market? Your speculation is as good as ours.
Once a year when I swap out the summer set of tires for the winter set I routinely reinflate the spare tire of our 2005 LX470 truck to a proper tire pressure. In 2015 when the tires were ten years old and worn, needing replacement, I ordered 5 tires from the Tire Rack to replace the four driven tires and the aged full sized spare, again for peace of mind, and to eliminate the dry-rotted never used original spare. Tires, even if never used, have a shelf life requiring routine replacement like rubber hoses.
Weight. In order to maximize EPA mileage numbers.
Our Acura TSX wagon has no spare, just the goop and pump. But the well is there. I’m still undecided. Stephanie drives it 95% of the time, and she wouldn’t be able to change it anyway, so my inclination is to let it be.
Indeed Paul, let it be. I have often offered to teach my wife Thea how to change a tire in an emergency with her 2009 Lancer. I’ve even offered to teach her how to change the oil (not that I’d ever have her do that, but just because it’s so simple on her car).
Her response was, “That’s what I have you for.”
I stopped short of pointing out she ended a sentence with a preposition. ?
@Rick ;
That’s funny ~ when I was dating the psych-b*tch from hell she was driving an ’82 Ford Escort with five mismatched worn out tires, she told me all her previous boyfriends had spent inordinate amounts of time messing about with the tires . she soon became a home health care nurse and had to drive all over So.Cal. so I bought a full set of five new tires and hunted up a jack and lug wrench, she asked me repeatedly to teach her how to change a flat, I just said ‘by the time it’s flat it’s ruined, just turn on the hazard lights and drive slowly to where you’re going and call me 24/7 I’ll come fix it .
Over a year later she called and I went, the rim was ruined and she was really worried I’d be upset about a $20 junkyard rim…..
@ stunningly beautiful and sexy, able to stop traffic everywhere she went and only 5’ tall I didn’t want random strangers in their shining Mustangs offering to help / spirit her away .
Pathetic, right ? =8-) .
-Nate
That whole scenario gives me a headache. (Not your fault). It’s this whole concept of “non user serviceable” crap. Non replaceable batteries in phones, ETC is another! Oh my God. We can’t allow the mere owner to be trusted to handle what was (at one time) a perfectly reasonable user replaceable “consumable” item in an otherwise “durable good”. Today no one is expected (or in many cases) ALLOWED to repair a mechanical or electronic product on their own. Now it’s mandatory to be a “subscriber to a service” rather than “own a product”. Grrr! At least give me a place to put a spare tire or, if I’m particularly adventurous: Spare fuses, spark plugs and wires! Hell we’re adults. We surely learned (by age 10) the rudiments of tire changing! Let us AT LEAST have the option! Cars are becoming iPhones, (Pay us a lot, we’ll pamper you, but you will PAY DEARLY!) Momma won’t let you fly, but she might let you sink…. End of rant.
I worked with a pretty well-known Silicon Valley guy who was a serial start-up founder and investor and exceptionally wealthy. As long as I had known him he drove vehicles from one well-known German automotive corporation. When he finally added an SUV to his fleet, I was surprised to see it was from a different German company. His reason? The SUV from his preferred company had no spare: just a 12V compressor, a can of tire sealer, and roadside assistance. This guy, who himself was creating the cutting edge of computer technology, abandoned his brand loyalty to get a spare tire.
Really. Is it a Prius? My new Ford C-max includes a 16v air compressor and a can of pro-grade tire sealant, so that’s something. But I hear that the sealant will kill the ABS wheel sensor, so using it can be expensive.
My daughter had a flat on my Honda Fit maybe 3 years ago. It was near the home of her boyfriend’s family and his father changed it. I may not have changed a tire because of a flat since the 90s. I had my sister’s diesel Passat for a week and got a flat on the way to pick her up at the airport. My only time changing a tire along the side of an interstate highway. Not fun.
My modern system is AAA and a road hazard warranty on all of my tires.
In the early 2000, I had to change a tire on the side of I-95 South between Baltimore and DC during rush hour in my ’97 T-Bird once… in a snowstorm… where people were still flying by at 70 mph despite the weather.
Yeah, that wasn’t fun at all! I joked about NASCAR pit times above, but that day, Adrenalin was coursing through my veins and I changed that tire in record time!
An accident in 2014 when the opposing driver decided she had a left turn arrow and turned right into my left-front fender, wheel, headlight, etc. Took out tire and bent the wheel.
Prior to that it was in 2008 when I made a too-tight turn into a parking lot (the Whole Foods on Ashland Ave, Joseph Dennis) and clipped my tire against the high curb. Oooh, what a pop that one made!
Prior to that was probably 1995 when the poorly-installed inner tube on my 1950 2R5 Pickup popped as I was entering an on-ramp of I-94 in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood.
Before that? I think it was 1987 on the New York State Thruway, I failed to note the low pressure in a tire and wore a nearly-new tire on my ’64 Dart right down to the casing from driving along at speed. (Ah the same thing happened with a U-Haul trailer towing my TO-30 tractor from Indianapolis, no spare available. Took three hours for the U-Haul guy to come 70 miles, because I was just 5 miles outside the Gary Indiana service area.
So, five outright flats in 30 years of driving. Do I bother to teach my son to change a wheel? Or just let him call for help?!?
When my boys were in Cub Scouts I always volunteered to host our Den at our house for the car maintenance requirement which involved changing a tire and replacing a light bulb. I would have 2 cars up in the air on jackstands and each boy got a wheel. I would buy an assortment of replacement light bulbs the week before and would finish Saturday with new light bulbs and rotated tires. 🙂 I’m not sure any of them remember how, but they have done it!
Right around the winter of 2007-8 in my 1998 Grand Cherokee. In the middle of a top class Nor’easter snowstorm, I decided I had to get something at the Palisades Mall for work (don’t recall what). I pulled onto the ring road. Couldn’t see anything, and shouldn’t have been out; no one else was on the street. The only other vehicle visible was the mall’s snowplow, and I found out soon that their work would be the end of a tire. A sudden bang, and the RR went down. I got out in the maelstrom to find a blowout and a manhole cover near its hole but not in it. The plow had dislodged it just enough that when I ran over it, it flipped like a tiddly wink and the Jeep’s tire took the brunt of the blow against the rim of the pipe. I manhandled the cover back into place and limped over to a covered part of the mall to change the tire.Grand Cherokees come with full size spares, thankfully, and I got wet, but the change was relatively easy.
Kinda not worth it though. The snowstorm had closed the mall.
My modern system is AAA and a road hazard warranty on all of my tires.
+1 on that; I’m pretty sure that I personally have not changed a tire in over 20 years. The last one I remember changing was when we were on vacation on Cape Cod where I sliced the sidewall of a tire on one of the granite curbs that seem to be common there. I ended up having to buy a new tire and only had to pay a 50% out of town penalty to do so. Since then I have just called AAA and have them send out someone to deal with it. We pay AAA something like 70 dollars a year and it would be cheap at twice the price. Fortunately modern radial tires are much less likely to go flat than those cheap bias ply tires that were the standard fifty years ago. I can remember having two or three spares in the trunk at any one time because you never knew.
Just a few days ago.
Got rid of the full size spare on a steelie, on the front of my 81 Datsun 280ZX(just got it back from it’s year long hibernation…after it spun out in the rain and hit a tree, chasing a Civic Si).
Traded my 3 good Z 6 spokes(with my 81 Malibu Classic coupe’s mudder snow tires on them) and $50, for some mint gold Anniversary Z 6 spokes with new Dunlops…my friend even swapped them for me.
Good riddance, to that spare. 🙂
Last flat was in November last year, when I came out from work after staying late only to find the front passenger side tire completely deflated. A two inch long drywall nail was the culprit. Flat tires in the high growth suburbs north of Dallas are a frequent occurrence due to all the new construction and the carelessness with which materials are thrown into (or apparently out of) work trucks. I agree with Jim – an AAA membership and road hazard warranties for the tires are a must.
I bought a whole car for spares last year it still had a OEM Michelin energy spare that had never been on the ground, its going on the Hillman.
I changed a flat by the side of a desolate road at dusk, in eastern Oregon, about 11 months ago. Full size spare, fully aired up, on my 2016 Tacoma. Before that? Well, I do regularly check the air pressure in my spares, at least the full-size ones, so they have come out every few years, since they’re invariably stored with the valve stem inaccessible. My wife got a blowout on I-280 with our nearly new Prius back ’08; can’t remember if she changed it with the help of a Good Samaritan or if she called AAA. Before that: 1974 with my mom’s 122S (also on 280); 1982 with my Civic; and 1989 with my Ranger and 1998 with my Land Cruiser, both of those miles from pavement. Can’t believe I remember every one in detail!! The Volvo blowout was exciting for this 17 year old: a screwdriver went through the tread and then the sidewall and stayed embedded until I got the car over to the shoulder, wondering what the heck was going on.
About five years ago I picked up a shard of metal in my tread, and had to put on the spare. The time before that was 1990.
My only spare tire is around my waist. I have a 2016 Acura RDX and a 2016 Acura MDX.
The last tire I changed was on a previous MDX. My wife had driven one mile to her sister’s house and called to say she had a flat. I took a floor jack and a four way lug wrench in the other car. A neighbor stopped to help. i handed him the fourway, but he could not break any of the lug nuts loose. The mass of my personal spare tire allowed my to loosen them. Why hang around and wait for the free Acura road service. The vehicle had not yet had a tire rotation, the tight nuts were from the factory
Just before I was drafted in 1968 I had a $50 Ford Taunus, (not Taurus). The tires all had tread and the spare had a lot of tread, but a monkey bubble in the side wall. One morning I had a loud blowout on the left rear. After fighting a rusty jack socket, I got it up in the air and changed the wheel. I don’t think I made one revolution when the spare went flat and fell off the rim !
I walked to a nearby gas station with the bare rim and foot stomped a tire from the junk pile onto the rim.
Last one I changed personally would be 2008 or so. Came out from work to find the rear tire on the Marauder driver’s side deflated, courtesy of a large screw from some construction in the area. Put the spare on myself, ruining a shirt in the process from the black residue. One of the tire shops downtown patched it for me for something like $10, as it was a clean hole.
Last time a spare was used? Same car, a couple years later. Driver’s side front tire completely came apart on I-40 in Durham. Decided to call AAA since I wasn’t too enthused about changing it myself right there on the shoulder, and figured they might carry flares, or triangles, or…something to make sure passing motorists didn’t get too close. They didn’t, but at least he had a proper jack rather than the scissors affair in the trunk.
I think I’ve taken the spare out of the Crown Vic a couple of times, in order to fit more stuff into the trunk since it lives on the shelf above the fuel tank. Haven’t ever put it on the car though. The Kia has taken two different screws in the same tire, one necessitating replacement, but it was a slow enough leak in both cases that I was able to drive it to the tire store.
In nearly 30 years of driving, I have only used my spare tire once: About 10 years ago, my Ford Contour developed a flat tire, and it turned out to be a hairline crack in the alloy wheel. I had to put the spare on until I bought a new wheel.
All other tire problems have been resolved by getting to a tire shop before I needed to use the spare.
Bought a new to me car about 20 months ago, it had a full jack but no spare. I tried to get a “donut” for my car (an 09 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor) but according to LQK these cars didn’t have a “mini” spare. I wound up with a spare wheel (the wrong size) but it needs a tire. Have since found that 1 front wheel on this car is bent and the tire on it is rapidly going bald. I’ll need to get another wheel and tire soon.
Haven’t actually had a flat in about 5-6 years.
A full-size spare is one of the few options available with the
Chev SSHolden Commodore SSV, and at $500, I didn’t tick that box. So instead, I got the factory inflator kit (no jack, no sealant). After (duh) we got back from our 3,500 mile trip through the desert West, I decided maybe it might be a good idea to have an actual spare on long road trips like that, so I ordered an aftermarket one that has an 81mph-rated Pirelli tire on it and weighs less than half that of the full-size.The last time I had to use a spare was, um, I think around 2002 when I came out from the office to find a flat due to a nail or some such I had picked up on the way to work.
Like many of you, I’ve had several flats over the years, but they’ve always happened where I was able to repair myself at home.
One example: we reroofed our farm house in 2007, which required tearing off three layers of three-tabs (bottom layer was original to the roof). I told my then-13-year-old son to run the nail sweep several times and then pull the truck over so we could shovel shingles into the bed off the porch roof. Guess which step he didn’t do?
There’s a reason I buy tire plugs by the gross…
Nice Truck Ed .
A month or two ago just before entering the Pasadena Freeway @ rush hour (this 1937 Freeway has no breakdown lanes) the R.F. tire on my Mercedes Diesel Coupe went flat, good thing I always make sure the full size, matching rim (that’s what junkyards are for, dig ?) is inflated and ready to go . I turned into a side street just before the on ramp, backed the L.R. tire against the curb and changed it out using the (excellent) original jack and lug wrench .
I wound up replacing both front tires and eyeballing the toe – in adjustment that week .
I travel a lot, often @ 0-Dark:30 and/or the middle of nowhere so an inflated spare and greased lug nuts I personally tightened is important .
When was young and dirt poor I’d get free top quality tires with worn out treads from Service Station dumpsters so at least I knew I could safely drive on them as far as I needed to go ~ better newer, good bald rubber than an old stiff deep treaded tire .
-Nate
I also buy tire plugs in bulk. Tire shops around here won’t plug a tire anymore. They’ll sell you a new one though.
I changed one for a coworker a few weeks ago. She picked up a nail on the way to work. At lunch it was flat.
Her donut was still aired up. But then again her car is only 2 years old
Let’s: see: Probably back in 2001.
Our son lost a wheel on the highway – he bought knock-off wheels – real knock-offs, and didn’t properly torque them. One late evening, I got a call for help. He wasn’t too far away, so I hopped in my Ranger, and my spare tire & wheel would fit his 1997 Mustang.
All in all, no damage to his car – it was driver’s side front.
The factory alloys went right back on his car, and the three surviving knock-offs – the one that came off was forever gone – were promptly sold!
I had a flat on the F-150 in ’03 and put the spare on.
When I road trip in the Civic I throw a snow tire in in case I prefer not to use the temp. This year I tried putting the snow tire in the spare tire well to save space. It does fit, but it’s too wide (or tall since it’s on its side). The cover was up about 2″ so I dejectedly took it out and put the spare back in.
In 1991 I had a brand new ultra-blue Escort GT with no more than 1000 miles on it. I was driving down the road and heard the loudest bang and then ka-kling ka-kling ka-kling. I pulled over and saw that one of the new Eagle GT+4 tires on the passenger’s rear was completely flat. I took the tire/wheel off and to my amazement saw the biggest hole in the tread I had ever seen. An adjustable wrench had made its way through the tire and right into the alloy wheel! You had to see it to believe it. The guy at the tire store said it was not very common for a large tool to go right through a tire and into the rim! I had to roll over it perfectly for that to happen. Needless to say, that was a real fluke and the last flat tire I can recall changing.
Probably kicked up by the front wheel so the rear hit it at the perfect angle.
I’m going to say a couple of years ago, I don’t remember exactly when. But a co-worker had to use his spare this morning!
Exactly. It was so strange – I can still hear the noises from that mishap!
Last year I took out the spare in my 2013 Focus to inflate it to the proper pressure and have never been able to get to factory jack into its original configuration, which means it moves around a bit, but only when I’m in reverse on an incline. I did the same thing in my Sable.
I had a to change a rapidly-deflating tyre about 3 weeks ago, which was lucky as it happened about 100 yards from the house. The screw that caused it wasn’t even completely embedded in the tyre so it was just fresh. I was still in my work clothes (suit trousers and shirt) so that made it harder. I was being all smug as I’d bought a full-size spare wheel for my car when I ordered it. Little did I know that it would involve unscrewing some spring contraption and then pulling a handle that dropped the spare wheel out onto the ground with an almighty clunk! Renault, in their wisdom, have chosen to place the spare under the car and devise some random device to drop it out of the car. After that it was only £7 to have the puncture repaired (I was too embarrassed to give him that, so gave him the full £10 note). I still have to put the spare back up into the wheel well, so it’s still in the boot waiting for a day I can trick my wife into helping to put it back ?
In July, 2012, I drove my 1969 Charger to the Chryslers at Carlisle show in PA. The east coast had record heat that summer; Ive been to Iraq and it was Iraq-hot. Anyway, as I was getting ready to get on the road to go home on Saturday afternoon, it was 104 degrees as displayed on a local billboard and very humid. And of course, the Charger has a black interior and no air conditioning. About 100 miles into the trip on I-81 in West Virginia, my right rear BFG Radial TA blew out, presumably due to the heat as it only was about 2 years old with about 10,000 miles on it at the time and was in otherwise good shape. So I pulled into a WalMart parking lot just off the interstate and changed the tire, using the original bumper jack and original bias ply tire. I was a bit apprehensive and kept it under 70 mph but it was good enough to make the remaining 200 mile drive home.
Here it is just before the blowout
Well, it sure has been a dog’s age – considering all of my driving for my musical career, and the fact I’ve used mostly the same car the whole time – damn, it’s got to be 1998, and even that flat was because the tire was rubbing against the inner wheel well from a bad shock absorber.
The last time was only a few months ago (spring of this year?). I was on the way home from work at midnight (I work 4pm-12pm), ran over something, and had to put the spare on from our 2002 Buick Regal.
From what I remember, the spare had NEVER been used at all. And we were the 3rd owners of the car.
And before that? Years. Maybe 8 or 10 years.
I had the misfortune of needing to use my 07 Accord’s donut twice in a span of under six months. Fortunately only one of those occasions required a completely new tire.
In fall 2013, when I got a flat on my TSX. Luckily I had enough air remaining to make it home from the train station. Put on the compact spare in my garage and drove it to Sullivan Tire the next day. The 228 has run-flats, so I guess that’ll probably be the last time I’ll ever use a spare :/
After never needing to touch a spare since the early 80s, I blew three tires in the course of a year recently. Pretty annoying. There is a lot of construction in this area, though, so a lot of nails and random metal bits littering the roads as well.
Last flat was in 1996. I had a ’66 Mustang GT, with a warmed-up 289, a 4-speed, and a few handling improvements, and was making a run from Fredericksburg to Charlottesville, VA on route 20 – a two-lane masterpiece winding through the hilly Piedmont. On a long curve just east of Stony Point I was holding third gear somewhere past 4000 rpm and way, way over the speed limit and heard a bang. Immediate flat in the left rear. Fan on the alternator had broken apart and flown up into the hood, leaving a kink, with one or more chunks then puncturing the tire. For some reason, I am still here to tell the tale.
Twice a year, when I rotate the air inside the spare.
🙂
Maybe 7 years ago, I picked up a drywall screw in the tire on my Magnum. Wound up calling AAA, because I could not get the lug nuts off. The AAA guy was this huge (6’3″, probably 300lbs of muscle) guy who looked like he made a wrong turn enroute to the NFL…and he needed a pipe on a 4′ breaker bar to get 2 nuts off.
The scary part: the gorilla with the impact wrench was the dealer.
I will not go to a tire shop that uses impact wrenches to do the final torque on a wheel. It’s a good way to warp a wheel or a brake rotor. I had a guy once who cross-threaded a lug nut and just drove it on with his impact; he probably didn’t even know he did it. I ended up having to drill it out, shear it with a big breaker bar, and replace the stud.
I have a great independent tire shop near me that actually uses a torque wrench to do the final torque on wheels- they get my business.
The dealer had just done the brakes. I usually use a tire shop that uses a torque wrench.
While I’ve run over a number of sharp objects that have caused slow(ish) leaks over the years, I struggle to remember the last time I had a flat. I’m guessing it was 15 or so years ago, when I ran over some sort of metal spike on a dark night, driving my ’96 Maxima.
I can probably count on one hand the number of true flats I’ve had in 37 years of driving, but when I bought my Mustang convertible (no spare), the first thing I purchased was Ford’s “spare tire kit.” Even in my weekend/pleasure vehicle, owning a car without a spare just doesn’t seem like a smart move.
IIRC, I had a set of fairly worn out Pirellis on my Sunfire GT in 2006. The flat was what prompted me to buy a new set of tires for that car. I think I had a large drywall or decking screw in my tread. I was able to patch it at home but I was skeptical of the tires longevity. I wanted to replace the tires before winter came, so I got a nice set of Kelly Chargers that lasted the life of the car in my ownership.
I have not been able to release the spare on my Olds minivan. The U-bodies and U-body specials have pickup truck style winches for their spare tires. The winches had plastic gears and they frequently strip out. So, now I have a 30+ pound counterweight under my vans 3rd row seat. No matter, as my tires are about 18 months old and I don’t drive very far these days…
For a couple of my vehicles at least twice per year because I have 5 matching tires and do a proper 5 tire rotation. Others haven’t been touched in years or in the case of a couple of them never by me since I haven’t had them that long and they don’t have a spare suitable for including in the rotation. Which reminds me that should be added to my list of maintenance that needs to be caught up on some of my vehicles.
The last two times I’ve actually needed a spare I was quite happy to have a full size normal use spare because both times it was on trips out of state and in one case the 50miles/50mph thing wouldn’t have cut it since the chunk of metal I ran over tore too big of a hole to repair and the needed size was not something that was in stock in the middle of nowhere.
I haven’t changed a tire in at least 25 years. My father taught me how to change a tire when I was a teenager in the 1980s – in 1988, I actually asked for and received a lug wrench for Christmas – but I only ever had to do it a couple of times when I was younger. At this point I don’t think I’d trust myself to be able to do it correctly. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one occasion since the early ’90s when I’ve had a tire go completely flat while I was on the road, without being able to get to a tire shop first (more on that in a minute). I’ve also gotten up in the morning a few times to find a flat tire. In these instances, I called AAA to change it.
We bought a 1998 XJ Cherokee new that came with a full-sized spare mounted in the cargo area. We sold it in 2013 without ever having used, or even removed, the spare.
My wife drives a 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT which we bought used in 2007. It has a spare mounted under the rear of the vehicle. I’m sure the spare is the original, and we’ve never used or removed it as long as we’ve owned the vehicle. I’d still use it if necessary, but I wouldn’t want to drive very fast or very far on it.
The Cherokee was replaced by a 2014 Ford Escape, which has a space saver spare in a well under the cargo area. In early 2016, while driving the Escape, I ran over an object on the highway. It was dark out; I didn’t see what I ran over, but I felt it. A moment later, the low tire pressure light came on. The tire felt like it was still riding OK, so I drove a few miles until I got to a more built-up area, and got off at an exit where I knew I could find a well-lit parking lot to pull over. As soon as I got off the highway and into stop-and-go traffic, rather than traveling at constant speed, the tire began to go down noticeably. I found a parking a lot and called AAA, who came and put the space saver on.
I knew that the tires on the car were nearing the end of their useful life (it still had the cheap set that came with the car from the factory), so I figured it was no great loss, I’d take the car to get a new set of tires – a little sooner than I was planning to, but I was going to have to do it soon anyway. The next morning I came out to find that another tire was flat. It must have had a slow leak that I hadn’t noticed the night before, but had deflated overnight. I didn’t have another spare, so I had no way to drive the car. I had to call AAA again, to send a flatbed to bring it to the tire place.
Last was a 2013 Prius on the shoulder of a busy Louisville interchange after running over the remains of a recap semi tire that some jackwagon truck blew out in front of me.
But I’m thankful for the CC since it reminded me that I’ve been wondering how to do it on a Chrysler minivan. Seems that since the advent of Stow’n-Go, the spare has been relocated from the rear to a position underneath and between the driver and passenger seats. I was wondering how the hell someone was supposed to get to it in that position and found a nice youtube video describing the procedure. There’s a tool in the back that fits into an interior hole between the seats that drops the spare to the ground (enclosed in a plastic half-case). Then, using the same long tool, there’s a plastic ‘hook’ used to reach under the vehicle to hook the spare’s rim and slide it out (with the cord still attached). It’s a rather clever arrangement and, frankly, better than having to wrestle a spare out of some well in the back.
As to the abandonment of any kind of spare in lieu of temporary inflation ‘kits’, I’m torn on this one. The weight/cost savings are okay, as well as using the space for something else but, man, it would suck to be stuck on the side of the road with nothing other than a can of fix-a-flat to get going.
I guess the best case scenario might be having a gratis arrangement with the manufacturer where they come out, haul you in somewhere and, if after business hours, arrange a loaner until the time when the tire can be repaired or replaced. If they all did something like that for those vehicles where they got rid of the spare, well, maybe it’s not so bad. But woe be it to the later owners who are no longer entitled to the courtesy.
I believe it was in the mid 90’s in Allison’s Cressida passing through Sacramento, somehow the tread peeled off a rear tire and started slapping the bodywork and then the rest of the tire exploded before I could get to the shoulder.
Since then we’ve had a few flats but always caught them at home, put the car up on the jack and took one of the other cars with the bad tire/wheel to get it fixed.
I intensely dislike the idea of no spare and relying on roadside assistance – that works great when you never leave your densely populated European country or the American Northeast or Midwest, not so great when driving through the desert or Kansas or even the Rockies during a snowstorm – half the time there’s no cell phone service or you are so far away from civilization that it’ll be hours before anyone comes to help. Runflats don’t run if the tire is cut or blows out. Not every flat is due to a nail or screw.
+1
With TPMS, a slow leak is usually caught in time. But “not every flat is due to nail or screw,” the “tire mobility kit” only covers 90% of cases. Better be safe than sorry.
Between 2010 and 2015 I have changed tires three times, for three different ladies I did not know. In two occasions it was pouring rain.
This is no joke… really happened.
I’ve had 3 flats in five years due to screws/nails in tires but the last 2 cars have had run-flats so I didn’t really have to GAF until I could find the time to take it in- the run flats are good up to 50 and unless we go out to the suburbs there’s no way we go that fast.
My old car had alloys and I think 90s alloys + Chicago potholes = recipe for disaster. That car popped a tire like twice a year.
This is kind of the CC effect for me, as I had an incident involving my trucks spare today. I actually remove the spare on my truck every fall when I get it rust proofed, so they spray the area under the tire.. It also gives me a chance to work the tire winch to keep it from seizing up (like so many do here in salt country). When I do this I check the tire pressure before I reinstall. A couple of years ago when I went through the routine, the valve stem on my Michelin spare was leaking. So I had that fixed and while I was at it. I sandblasted and powder coated the wheel. Since then, I have been keeping my spare in the box during winter and then put I back under the truck during spring.
Well this year, I got lazy and just left it in the box this spring. Today I had to go pick-up an order form a local lumber yard and forgot to take the spare out before I left. Well, after I got the load in the truck, I had no room left for my spare. And I didn’t have my winch handle in the back of my truck to reinstall it under the truck. Luckily, I was able to get the tire on top of the load and make it home without losing the tire or the damaging load.
Normally though with all my cars, I check the spare semi-regularly for tire pressure at minimum. I have never done the 5 tire rotation though. My dad used did it for a while with his Torino though, since it came with 5 Magnum 500’s and 5 matching Goodyear Polyglas tires.
Last time the spare was out, would be just over a year ago when I got the green Olds. I was scrapping the tan one, and wanted to swap things around to keep the best wheels & tires for the good car.
Last flat was 4th of July weekend in 2014. Ran over something metal on the freeway that caught the inner sidewall on a rear tire.
I don’t keep track of these kind of motoring moments but I do remember the time
I had a flat and pulled off at a dumpster site. No jack! But I did have a come-a-long.
Using a handy spot on the dumpster I had no trouble changing the tire.
The trouble was the come-a-long twisted and the release lever was tight against
the dumpster. How embarrassing, one corner of my Rambler hanging from a dumpster.
A bit of work and a lot of luck helped me get the Rambler back on the ground.
So, I was proud of myself for thinking to use the come-a-long but I had to kick my butt for not thinking about what could go wrong. AAA? Don’t need that, I got me.
Well that was back when. Now I got an old me……..
I believe the original spare is still residing in the trunk of my ’64 Falcon. It’s a REMINGTON tire. It came with the Falcon when the car when was given to me in 1989 as a motorized present. I’ve always assumed the Remington was the orig. spare that came with the car back in 1964; I’ve never seen another Remington tire. (There’s was a jack in the trunk, too. Still have that as well).
The Remington tire has been driven on for about 15 miles back around 1995/96. It’s been parked in the trunk ever since. I probably should not drive on that tire now should I need to, but considering it’s likely been residing in the trunk for nearly 53 years with little use I’m just going to leave it there.
I do have radial tires on the Falcon. In fact, I could use a new set of radials in the near future . . .
I think Remington was one of Goodyear’s off-brands, and I doubt that it was original to your Falcon. I had to look it up, because I thought I remembered that Remington was Montgomery Ward’s store brand. But that was Riverside.
Thanks for the info about the Remington, J P C. The Falcon was originally bought at Valley Motors in Hanover, Pennsylvania and put into service on Aug. 3, 1964. (That date is stamped in the owners manual). The 1st owner was a lady over 65 and I am the 2nd. The plaid ‘mat’ is still in the trunk and I figured the Remington was the original spare. If not the Remington, I wonder what brand of bias-ply tire could’ve been in there? Can’t imagine a donut spare would’ve been stuffed in the trunk back in ’64 . . . but what do I know? I didn’t spring to life until ’73.
I have no idea what brand of tire was originally on your Falcon. Didn’t Ford use a lot of Firestones back then? I tried to look at the shot I took in the trunk if a 61 Falcon with an original spare, but could not make out the name on the tire.
At least in the Los Angeles area, Firestone sold mostly to Ford, U. S. Royal to GM and Goodyear to Chrysler. All three car and tire companies had plants here. There is even a street named Firestone Bl.
Last time I had to change a flat was probably 4 years ago on my Tacoma. Believe it or not all 4 tires on that set got a flat one way or another and were repaired. I didn’t even need to keep checking the spare “descender” mechanism as I got to use it so much. I still keep a good eye on it though and make sure to clean under there when I do my weekly pressure washings in the driveway.
With my new sets of summer and winter tires I’ve only had one leak so far and the TPMS caught it. I used to think they were stupid as it would be obvious to anyone with a clue if their tire goes flat. Very useful though if a tire slowly goes flat and gives you time to get to the tire shop without having to remove it.
Also funny that it happened to my winter set that had the sensors while my summer set does not. Toyota makes you buy the sensor at $80 each plus install plus calibration to the truck’s computer. I’m too cheap for that so I get to see the TPMS icon all summer long.
When? At the last All American Day, as an anchor for my shade gazebo. I’m paranoid about it blowing away and wreaking havoc on someone’s big buck paint job.
I had spent the day with my sister, out in a rural area about 30 miles from Salt Lake City. I was driving our old 1996 Ford Contour on my way home; it was just getting dark. This happened about five years ago, but I was already plenty old enough to play the “helpless elderly lady” card; I’d only gone about a mile when I hit a nasty pothole and BLAM! Flat left rear. Pulled over to a too-narrow shoulder, turned on my flashers, and went to check out the state of the (full-size, never-used) spare. FLAT! I don’t think we’d ever checked it for pressure. So I just called the cops. Two patrolmen responded, a county sheriff’s deputy and a highway patrolman, both very young and very understanding and kind. The county sheriff’s man actually took my spare, drove six miles to the nearest gas station, aired it up, brought it back to me, and put it on. Must have been a slow night on the criminal-mischief front, but I wasn’t about to turn down the help. I wrote both law-enforcement agencies emails of gratitude. Sometimes it isn’t so bad being an old lady.
The last car I had didn’t even have a spare tyre. According to the used car dealership we got it from, “cars don’t come with those anymore”. While that generally holds truth today, this model DID come with a (small) spare as standard, even the base model. If any further proof was needed what a scummy place that was under its veneer of friendliness.
Earlier this year, in march or so. Don’t know if I got the tiny puncture in my employer’s gravel parking lot or on the way there but it was dead flat when I got off work. Furthermore it was a rainy week and there was only a small patch of concrete where I could even jack the car up, surrounded by muddy puddles. Needless to say I did get dirty. This was however my first ever flat tire.
Ha, my 24 year old Mercedes still has the original factory spare sitting in the wheel well in the boot. Used it once or twice to get me to the tyre shop to fix the odd leaks on my normal set of wheels, but then it goes straight back into the boot for the next emergency. Can’t use it under normal circumstance as both the trim and tyre size no longer matches the wheels I’l running on. Pity; it a beautifully preserved Pirelli P600 with tread as deep as the Grand Canyon.
Aww, now you’re gonna need the spare! Half the battle reaching a goal is often just to take what seems like futile action towards it.. and then it usually takes care of itself somehow without consequence. Now with the goal of continuing for another 30 years and beyond without needing a spare handy knowing you have no spare is now just tempting fate, lol!
Good luck! 😉
I’m not answering this question because I know if I talk about it I’ll have my first flat ever requiring a spare. Of course it will be on a steer tire, taking a hard corner on the Coquihalla doing 80 mph with a full load of passengers and luggage over a bunch of bobbing heaves before that big valley where everyone itches to do 100+ downhill with flying abandon…
All my vehicles came with spare tires. The couple I’ve owned with ‘donut’ spares, had them swapped with a full size rim and tire.
My most exciting spare tire adventure happened with my ’98 Nissan Altima, coming back home from Virginia Beach on a hot July Sunday afternoon in 2009.
I had checked my tire pressures just before leaving (something I don’t usually do) but had neglected to reinstall the right-rear valve-stem cap. Guess which valve had the slow leak. Guess which tire went completely flat 20 minutes later, inside the Chesapeake Bay-bridge tunnel!
First, I heard the ominous roaring sound of a deflated tire. Then the metallic sound of my steel rim rolling on pavement. In my rear-view mirror as I exited the ‘tube’, I enjoyed the thrill of seeing the large black ring of tread from my shredded Michelin bounce away into the railing!
Then I limped slowly a half-mile to the first emergency turn-off.
Unloading all my tools and crap from the trunk to reach the spare, with the traffic whizzing by, sure was fun!
Finally, I got the spare mounted and was just putting everything back in the car, when a yellow Chesapeake bridge-tunnel service truck pulled up to see if I needed help!
Since my spare looked a bit low, I asked if they had an air-pump.
“no, sorry” came the reply.
I made it off the bridge and drove carefully, 12 miles or so to the first service station I saw, only to discover they were closed, and I had no change for the tire-pump!
Then several more miles until I found an open service station, where I could get change for their tire-pump.
Today, In addition to full-size spares, I keep 12-volt tire pumps in my vehicles!
This year, I did have to put the spare on my ’96 Camry to pass inspection. But that wasn’t exciting.
Happy Motoring, Mark
There was a time, when there were “service stations” that there were air and water hoses in the ground next to the gas pumps, free for the taking all the time, even when the station was closed. No change needed.
I had a blowout back in the ’80s after running over a huge Craftsman screwdriver that stuck in the tire. I’ll never forget the sound. The car only had about 8k miles on it and I wanted to put better tires on it than the orignal Goodyear Vectors anyway because for some reason everyone of those I had seen wore funny. I went one day to Sears and wanted to see just what the screwdriver was worth. It was actually more than a new Vector tire would have cost. I came out ahead. PS…If you have a truck or SUV with a full size spare, check them from time to time They have a TPS like the rolling tires on later models that can trip the aggravating “low tire pressure” light.
I’ve had a number of flats over the years, particularly with my 2001 Nissan Frontier, but my dad had gifted me a 12V plug-in tire pump in advance, and that saved me just about every time in the 17 years I’ve had that truck. I’ve never used the spare, or even winched it just to make sure. However, I usually ask when I replace my tires every so often to take the best of the four and swap that to the spare, just to make sure I still have a viable one. 30 minutes on the pump always allowed me enough time and miles to get to a decent looking tire store for a repair.
The last time I remember actually using a spare is 1987 when I took my dad’s 1975 Toyota Hi-Lux SR5 short-bed from ATL to Birmingham, AL to see a Girl I met during a medical residency interview a few months before. Just outside her city the LR tire blew out and shredded–dad still had steel-belted radials so it was a memorable tangled mess. Changing it was not a problem (the spare was good), but I was a grimy sight to see when I finally got to her place. She was both amused and sympathetic.
The only other time I handled flats & spares was in the early 1990s when I was seeing a visiting RN who lived on the southern Jersey shore. I was staying with her and she left for her rounds, and minutes later not two blocks away was calling me frantically because she clipped a curb and blew out both tires on the passenger side of her Mishubushi Galant. “No problem, Donna” and went out to see what she wrought. I ferried her around in my truck at the time (cramped as it was), and we returned to her car. I just took the two flats off and we went to Pep Boys where she bought two new tires that were mounted on the old rims, and returned to her car and put the new ones on. She thanked me as only a Girl can. Though it didn’t work out in the long term, I still keep in touch with her.
Best tire change story was my then yoga spouse (like an office spouse) at work telling me that a few years ago she changed a tire on the roadside in a dress because her then bf who was with her was a total wimp and klutz. She was a former paramedic and outdoorsy type who is into off-roading with her current fiancé, so she was no shirking violet to confronting adversity and wasn’t into playing helpless and she suffered fools poorly. She pointedly did the change (all 110 lbs of her). I called it pioneer spirit. She and her Jeep are now in the high altitudes of Northern Colorado.
The odds of getting a flat tire are:
1. directly proportional to the amount of rain falling;
2. inversely proportional to the amount of air in the spare; and,
3. a dead certainty if you’re wearing white.
Hit ice block and a pothole, so had to use the “donut” spare 2 times in past 3 years.
By the way, I don’t care that I don’t have a “full size spare”, either. Waste of space, weight and rubber.
Last August on my 2005 Town and Country minivan before a trek from NJ to Niagara Falls. Had never been dropped. Perfect location to store it as designed from Chrysler. Dead center under the floor board between the front seats. It’s only accessible by inserting a tool in a hole in the floor and cranking it down. You need to take great care not to smash the hvac controls or radio while turning the handle. Once that’s done, just crawl under the side of the van and drag it out. Nice!
I thought it better to check it in my driveway than under the conditions tonyola pointed out.
Space-saver and 30 psi low!
It looks like Chrysler fixed the crawling-underneath-to-get-the-spare issue. Here’s the video I found describing the procedure:
Clever ! perhaps too clever….
-Nate
One of the more interesting things was it explained why there was an imprint of a tire-tread molded onto the plastic cover/plug at the bottom front of the center console.
Not more than 5 months ago, when Dad managed to flatten 3 tires in one night after he borrowed my car, ran over two curbs, one manage to bend the rim on both left side wheels, and then again with the donut on the front. (yes, we had a serious talk about his driving ability at that point- he’s 76 years old) He got cataract surgery which dramatically improved his eyesight.
The last time is when I got a screw in one of the original Dunlop’s on the Fit. TPMS caught it before I noticed. Donut went on and Costco fixed the tire because the screw was in the tread.
The General all-terrain spare under the Chevy truck is original. I do inspect for cracks and air leakage at every rotation. The high pressure valve stems are still good. Spare tires and rims were optional on full-size trucks back then. Fleets often did not expect drivers to change tires and used mobile tire services instead.
I had to use it once when under the rear of the truck in the rain and mud in the middle of the night going to work while in dress clothes. Never again. Since then I have only used it once in 18 yrs – and it is now IN the bed of the truck! And that use to to road debris in the road from an accident.
I’m just about to buy my first car with nothing to spare, a Ford C-Max hybrid with a fat pile of batteries where the fifth tire should go. This gives me pause, because I’ve mounted a spare fairly often. Old nails and screws from a hundred years of farm and house construction often surface from my skimpy gravel driveway. Time to budget for several new inches of gravel!
Run-flat tires have a bad reputation for ride and noise, so I’m searching for other ching for other workarounds. My car insurance has a road service benefit, so there’s that. Maybe they could take me and the wheel to a tire store. I also plan to buy a set of winter wheels, giving me four spares. And a Focus compact spare from a junkyard couldn’t cost much. If I ever drive into the back of beyond, I could mount that on a rear cargo tray, like a modern Continental kit.
I used the original spare once on my old ’70C 10 in the 30 years I owned it. It was around 1998, one of my rear (very old) tires threw a chunk of tread but still held air and got me to work. I left the bad tire and rim (was working graveyard shift) and asked the dealership’s tire department to get 2 new tires and replace the bad one during the next day, then I put the spare on the other side and left the second rim and tire and had it replaced during the next day. I still had my white spoke rims I bought in ’76 but the spare was a stock rim and tire.
When I sold the truck in 2006 it still had the original spare under the bed.
Never have used the spare on my bought new ’04 Titan, I should lower it and check air pressure, but I keep a compressor in the truck so could air it up after I change the tire if needed.
Used the spare in the ’86 Jetta twice that I can remember in 27 years, around 1996 I had a RF front tire blow out in heavy rain, car went up on 2 wheels and crossed all lanes of traffic from left to right and slammed into the muddy dirt berm next to the road, breaking a front motor mount, bending the rim, and losing the hubcap and the VW emblem out of the grille. No body damage, luckily. Put on the mini spare and after a few miles hit a rock that was under water on the flooded I-5 freeway and blew out the spare and bent the rim. I was in downtown LA at 2:00 AM. Put the flat original tire on the back and drove on the flat another 30 miles about 45 MPH in the rain and made it home. When I pulled the rim the inside sidewall was threads and steel, but it held together and no damage from the tire. I replaced the mini spare with a Rabbit rim and 155/80 R13 real tire, it fits in the mini spare well perfectly. Second flat was in the assisted living parking lot (around 2012) while picking up my dad to take him to the hospital for his radiation cancer treatment, changed it in the parking lot. I always carry a tire plug kit and compressor as well.
I just replaced the spare on my 2000 Golf…during routine checkout, I was trying to verify the air pressure in the spare, there wasn’t any. Since the valve points downward on the spare below the cargo area in the hatch, it is a bit of a pain to check (better if trunk is mostly empty of course)…at first I thought my air gauge was defective, but it worked OK on one of my regular tires..so tried to pump up the spare and hear hissing noise coming from the valve ….rubber near the base had started to leak….I found out that none of the major tire places will touch a spare that old without replacing it (not just the valve)….guess even spare goes bad due to age, and rubber of course deteriorates rapidly in the sunbelt where I live.
My Golf still has full-sized regular spare, but on a steel rim (vs Alloy for the others….guess that’s why I don’t rotate the spare…..maybe I should have bought a 5th alloy wheel so I could include it in the rotation. I’m a fan of spare tires, and wondering what I’ll do on next car which is libel not to have a spare.
Probably the first car repair I ever did on my own was to replace the spare tire on my Dad’s car when it got a flat in the hospital parking lot…we were visiting him in the hospital (funny thing, he had back problems 43 years ago and never had symptoms again…he passed away last year)…it was a big deal to me at the time, and I like to try to be independent, not reliant on waiting for service to come out or worse, having to have the car towed due to a flat.
Ha ha….great topic! It was a couple of years back, where I’d realized that I could not honestly remember ever driving and needing a spare tire, after almost two decades. I’ve taken the spare tire and jack out of my Mustang to remove about 33 lbs of weight, though I have put a can of Fix a Flat in there, as well as a compressor. I did smoke the curb a couple of years ago with my rear tires (315 Nitto’s), but the sidewall had a puncture and no Fix a Flat would remedy that. I’d decided to call a tow truck.
Even in that case, the stark reality is that any mild puncture is going to be slow enough that you can at least use a compressor to fill it to drive to the tire shop. Also, the other reality is that if the tire is on your drive axle, you really need to switch tires so that the spare is on the non-drive axle so that you don’t screw up your transmission. So if that’s the case, it’s either you want to remove and bolt two tires, or just call a tow truck and get it over with. Around here, it’s 40 bucks for a complete 4 tire changeover, and it only makes sense to get the leaky/ problematic tire fixed or outright replaced.
26 March 2017 on my Silverado; before that, in my new 2007 Honda Fit Sport w/ 870 miles! Low afternoon sun, hit a peice of pipe just as I was exiting I-85. Prior to that, wouldhave been in the late 90’s, I had a flat in a 73 Challenger 340, just as I was entering I-20. Since it was FREEZINGLY COLD & WINDY, NASCAR would have been proud of how fast I got that sucker changed!! LOL!! 🙂
As a young man (and broke), I would wait till the last minute to replace tires. Therefore, they would go flat on the smallest sliver of glass or debris.
As I got older and spares turned into doughnuts, tires are changed so often that the last tire I changed my own tire was 25 years ago. However, I still check the pressure on the spare every year.
Also, I noticed that spare tires are an extra cost option on FIAT 500s. Instead, you get some type of Tire Service Kit. A spare would be installed before I left the dealer’s lot.
I had a blowout the night before last in my 2008 Honda Accord, which I’ve had for 10 weeks. I don’t know if the donut spare was properly inflated, but it was by the time the AAA guy got done with it. I spent yesterday getting the blown tire (225/50-17) replaced. Naturally, I wanted it to be identical to the existing tires (Goodyear Assurance).
I called the tire place just after 8 a.m., and they said they could get the tire in by late afternoon. I had a thought. When I got my first car in 1971, wheels were 13″, 14″ or 15″, tires were 78- or 70-series, and that was that. Tires come in too many sizes these days!