Spare Wheel or Puncture Repair Outfit?

[Dippydog]

Didn't know whether my V70 had a full size or space saver spare,so out of interest I checked today and it has a space saver.If you get a puncture that the gunk and compressor combo can fix it should be remembered that it is still only a temporary solution not a long term fix and once the gunk has been used the tyre must be replaced and cannot be repaired.I do have a 12V compressor in case the tyres decide to leak around the rim or some scrote decides it is good fun to let the tyres down or just to generally help out any stranded motorist who may be in need of the use of such a device.

[ThomasG]

Originally Posted by OV4

The ‘bump on a log’ would be me, in my XC60 without a spare wheel.

I’m not in favour of changing wheels on motorways and haven’t done so - thinking myself lucky that, so far, I’ve only had one puncture on a motorway and that one sufficiently slow that I was able to slow down, leave at the next exit, and change the wheel on a lit petrol station forecourt (it was autumn, evening, and dark. 1995 Honda Accord - great car).

Why I’d be a log-bound bump:
in my XC60, without spare wheel, a motorway puncture (fully flat) means stop immediately, even if it’s rush hour on the M25 and you have to halt in lane one because there’s less and less hard shoulder. If you continue to a refuge or to the next exit there’s a high risk of needing a new wheel as well as a new tyre, and when the breakdown recovery people come they’ll need to take you somewhere that can supply a new tyre and, possibly, a wheel. If it’s the weekend, and you’re on a driving holiday? Wave goodbye to your plans

With a spare wheel, however:
there’s the option to stop immediately and wait, as per the first scenario - but there’s also the option to continue to a place of safety, change the wheel, and be on your way. It’s the weekend, and you’re on a driving holiday? No worries

Hence my thinking that it’d be good to get a spare wheel and accompanying kit for long trips and driving holidays, so that when my luck runs out I’m not then immobilised for three days while the Volvo dealer in Zurich (I drive to and from Austria and Germany quite often) sources a new wheel of the correct size and design, and readies their credit card terminal for the ALMIGHTY BEATING they’re about to give my wallet.

Quite my reasoning, too
Difference is that I drive Poland and south(ish) of France. Residing in London, of course.

As a matter of fact- I lost that tyre (the only time that Ive lost a tyre) on return trip from "just across the water"

Luckily it happened within UK so I could use AA.
Unluckily it happened on UK motorway so I could not change wheel myself.
Even less luckily it happened on a 2 mile stretch that had no hard shoulder, and I had blue flashing lights behind me in 20 seconds flat.

If it popped when I was still in France, I'd just stop, swap, go. I tend not to use motorways there- with my usual load I don't want to go fast, and I enjoy sceneries on side roads.

So, yes, spare tyre with me always, checked every 6 months and again before any major trip.

I still carry 2 tins of gloop and compressor, but that is for small holes at low speed and close to garage that can patch it up for me properly.

By now used it once.

[anton differing]

I specified a space-saver for our V40, but for long trips I have a full-size spare - last thing I want is to be caught half-way across France with a tyre with a maximum speed of 80kph and with a deadline for a ferry.

[Pigeon]

All punctures I have experienced have been one of two types:

1) Really slow ones which manifest themselves only as the tyre losing pressure a bit quicker than the other ones, and don't get any worse until you notice the nail in the tyre and pull it out, at which point they turn into type 2.

2) Really fast ones that stop you in your tracks, which are caused by a large hole and can only be solved by changing the wheel. Gunge of any kind is useless.

And with a Volvo 164, you have two spare wheels

[ThomasG]

Sorry, this was reply to different thread- ignore.

[Grimble]

Please note that on your tin of gunk there is an expiry date.......
The compressor will be a write-off after use as well.

[GreenBrick]

Having just bought a Gas powered car, lots of boot space has been taken up by the tank, so I am now taking a good look at this issue.

It's a good point that punctures are slow enough to get home on or so catastrophic that foam wouldn't work.

The only catastrophic failure I have had was when an inner-tube popped, and that went straight off. All others have lasted days, weeks, years.

I'm in the AA, so maybe lose the spare and risk it.

[jonnyf90]

Full size spare with matching alloy in my 960.
Think it even has the original Michelin bi-directional tyre from 1996 which I must get round to changing!

I used to carry 2 in my 940 saloon - one in the spare wheel well and another just in the boot (matching alloys, again) after getting 2 punctures on the pasenger's side simultaneously on the M3 near Winchester.

Never thought a can of foam would be any good - mind you - most of the morons driving these days couldn't change a wheel if they wanted to!

Cheers

[Proghound]

The only time I've ever had a serious puncture I was on the M25 at 6am on a Saturday morning about 13 years ago, having just got off a 13-hour flight back from South Africa. I was in a Ford Escort designed in the days before the advent of space-savers, and I changed the wheel on the hard shoulder in 10 minutes (listening out for the sound of tyres on the rumble strip and ready to run like hell). Whatever it was left a hole an inch wide - no tin of goop on earth would have fixed that.

Nowadays I wouldn't have a car that didn't at least have the option of a spare wheel (space-saver or otherwise). And for longer/faster/time-critical trips, it would also need to be capable of storing a full-size wheel in that space.

It just so happens that both my cars have not just space-savers but complete spare sets of OEM rims, each with at least one non-directional tyre. Thanks to my Dad as a caravanner sharing my opinion on space-savers, I also have a steel rim left over from his previous S40 which will fit my C70.

[jonnyf90]

I thought S40s had 4 bolts and C70s had 5? 🤔🤔

Cheers