Ditch the spare?

[WHSE]

It's occurred to me that since fitting staggered 20s I may not be able to use my spare!?

If a front tyre blows, the spare will be a different size than the other front and the diff will get hammered. But, I can't move a rear wheel to the front and stick the spare on the back because they are staggered, so it will still be a different sized wheel than the other front and it may not fit anyway (10J).

So, what's the point in me carrying the original spare? What does everyone else do? One of those jumbo tyre foam cans?

I've heard people having their spares stolen and padlocked the carrier, so the idea of just getting rid of it is appealing.

Thanks all

 

[Rioja John]

I’ve inserted tyre sealant in my tyres, had it in my last motorhome and had a puncture on our way home from Wales tps alarm went off as tyre pressure dropped to 54psi and it held at that I just reinflated tyre to factory setting when I got home and it still held 2 year later when I sold the motorhome.
I’ve also inserted it in my motorbikes tyres.
John.

 

[Texxaco]

Ditched mine ages ago, no point in lumping extra weight around when it’s no use at all. I got a tyre repair kit in its place and a decent tyre compressor.

 

[Tony Abbott]

Hi Guys, I am ditching my spare tyre, what tyre repair kit and or tyre sealent do you guys use.

 

[ginkster]

Hi Guys, I am ditching my spare tyre, what tyre repair kit and or tyre sealent do you guys use.

I carry a can of the Holts sealant and a tyre repair kit (Tyre Doctor kit from Amazon). I have kept the spare though as the above will only fix small holes. They are utterly useless for something like sidewall damage. I want the option to put on a spare to get me going again rather than potentially waiting hours for assistance. Like any insurance though I hope not to use it!

Having different sizes is no different to a space saver spare. The rolling circumference is relatively similar anyhow. Drive slowly and get it sorted ASAP. The diff will be fine, it’s doing what it’s designed to do.

 

[AdL]

It should be law that every car has a funtional spare wheel! Cost saving by the manufacturers has seen spare wheels ditched in favour of completely useless cans of foam. Any puncture for which there is no warning cannot be fixed by filling the tyre with gunge. And if you have a warning (i.e. a slow puncture) then you can get to a garage and have it fixed. Recently had to have our other car rescued by Green Flag when the side wall was damaged. Pain the neck that could so easily have been solved if carrying a spare.

 

[DXX]

Without a spare you may be at the mercy of the local garage who can charge what they want to make a repair.

 

[Ayjay]

@DXX is right. Personally, I would never be without a spare even though I tend to carry a puncture repair kit in the van and that would always be my first port of call in there event of a puncture. The puncture spray stuff can work but has its limitations, maybe even more so than the 'self repair puncture plug kits'. Back to the sealant type repairs, you hear stories that a tyre cannot be repaired once they have been used on it. I'm not sure how true that is though. My understanding is that the inside of the tyre is so messy after using it that a lot of repairers simply don't want to touch the repair job. Of course almost anything can be done for a price which brings us back to DXXs point.

 

[rod_vw]

By making a spare wheel an optional extra for the ordering process the manufacturer can do the emission tests on a lighter vehicle for its initial certification as I understand it they only have to test a vehicle in its basic form. That way they very minorly reduce emission figures to their benefit.
Hence there were T5s & T6s sold without a spare or its carrier. I believe the same applied to the Crafter / TGE models.

Personally I am all for having a spare even though at my age I may find it difficult to change it in some circumstances at least a garage or roadside repairer could do it for me and I would be on my way.