Flat tires......rediculous

We have had two flats in the past three weeks. Well, a flat and a leak. One was a pothole on a muti-thousand mile trip and the other was a screw close to home. Prior to that, it was about 3-5 years and that one was a 3/8" drill bit. None were caused by neglect, but I have seen other people cause their own flats that way.

And a plug kit.

I check mine at least once a year. Part of my part time job is checking the spare tires of cars that come in for resale. So far, only one has had more than 10 PSI in the spare.

I've been driving for over 50 years. I haven't needed it yet except for two traffic accidents, which were naturally covered by insurance.

Me neither. But I do keep one that isn't dirty and smelly. It's strapped down in the back, which I think is far far safer than having it loose in the car.

I'm not sure the full size is an advantage other than that you can drive on it at interstate speeds. Once you install the spare, you no longer have a spare so you still ought to get that bad tire fixed or replaced asap.

 

Had two flats on my 2021. Required two new tires.
I purchased a fullsize rim and tire on Ebay for my 2017 and always carry it when I travel.

 

I think the major advantage of a full-size spare is that it can be driven indefinitely without limitation posed on the most compact spare which is usually something like a max speed of 50 mph and no more than 50 miles distance. You are correct that once the spare tire is installed, the original flat tire should be repaired or replaced ASAP. This is mandatory for the compact spare within 50 mph and 50 miles allowed whereas the full-size spare gives me the flexibility of waiting to repair/replace at a later time at my convenience. For a car just driven for short commuting or around the home, a compact spare may be fine, but on a long road trip, I would not want to have the limitation of a max speed of 50 mph and 50 miles distance traveled.

For most cars that have a special storage space outside of the normal cargo areas, the compact spare is a convenient solution for space saving. But for the PP and many newer cars that come without a compact spare, that special storage space does not exist. Thus only benefit of using a compact spare which is to save space no longer applies. The compact spare is slightly narrower than a full-size and thus lighter, but the diameter is about the same by design. In a PP, a full-size spare fits more securely in the rear seat footwell requiring no additional tie-down compared to a narrower compact spare.

A case in point. I once had a flat on our SUV by a curb stone slash on the side wall while visiting family away from home. The car came with a compact spare suspended by a hanger on the underbody. I did not have too much problem replacing the flat 19" tire with the compact spare and I was back on the road in less than 30min. Driving back ~15 miles to where we were staying in a city at the time was not a problem. But I knew the damage was not repairable, so I had to find a tire shop that could replace it. Well, no tire shops near had the size and type of tire I wanted in stock at their shop. Plus since I had to have the tire ASAP, I could not use the cheaper online tire shops. I ended up paying ~$280 for a tire and installation and had to extend my stay for the trip one extra day to wait for it. Since my travel was flexible, an extra day did not cause too much problem, but if I was staying at a hotel, that could be an extra night of stay and would have changed the rest of the travel itinerary completely. I had to get the compact spare replaced before returning home for a 500+miles trip mostly on an interstate highway usually driven above 70mph. If I had a full-size spare, I could have just kept the original itinerary and come home as planned, and then at my convenience, order the replacement tire online for a discount and have it installed at a local shop which would have cost less than $200 total.

There is of course pro and cons of carrying a full-size spare all the time. In the case of our Pathfinder SUV, a full-size tire would not fit on the underbody hanger. Having it in the cargo is not practical. Installing a special tire carrier on a hitch or a roof rack is both costly and will reduce fuel efficiency. So, yes for a car that is already equipped with a compact spare, it is a good enough compromised solution. But again, for a PP that has no special space for spare tire storage, compact or full, I don't see any benefit for a compact spare, other than maybe being slightly lighter so it is easier to handle than a full-size tire.

 

When we bought our 2010, new, it had 40 psi on the temp spare. The cars manufacture date was 15 months previous.

 

What had it been inflated too? The spares in my cars had max pressure ratings of 60psi. The compact ones generally should be filled to a pressure higher than for the regular tires.

Another important factor to consider is service life. Being sheltered from elements, and not carrying a load, a spare's service life is longer than the tires in use. It is still recommended to replace them at ten years though.

 

Yeah it was the stock, temp spare, should be 60 psi. Dealership completely mailed in the PDI. Tried to fob off a dead 12 volt as well. I’ll give them a “plug”, for anyone local: Open Road Toyota Port Moody.

 

You very clearly drive in a very different environment than I do. Over the past three decades, my household has had exactly 0 flats from potholes, and 1 from a possible underinflated tire when spouse was on a mountain hike trip with friends. Plus 1 from a bead leak, at least 2 from valve core leaks, and around a dozen from road debris punctures -- nail, bolts, screws, even a plumbing pipe hangar.

The same inflators (12V or bicycle pump) used to top up or refill a main tire, work for the spare tire too.

When traveling, I prefer getting flats resolved today, not tomorrow. I just returned from a couple days camping and hiking off-grid in a remote area with very sparse cellular coverage (a single bar received out on the end of a boat launch, from a single carrier, enough for a single phone to text and load simple email but never able to load any weather or news webpage). This guy was in a far more accessible and serviceable area than we were:

https://ktvz.com/news/2020/07/15/bend-mans-pickup-breaks-down-in-rural-area-upset-by-delay-in-aaa-road-help/

 

I carry 12v inpact wrench, 12v pump and a tire plug kit. I got my first flat couple months ago, and able to fix it in 15-20mins.

 

the sealant is not a permanent fix. It will cost almost a new tire replacement when the dealer clean up the mess inside and patch it up.
Did your sister bring the car to the deal to clean up the sealant?

 

of course, it is just like a temporary spare to get you out of the sticks and into a tire shop

 

Just saying, you can fix 95 percent of the flat tires with a plug kit good enough to get to a tire shop in a few days. Yes, it's work to pull off the tire, repair it and put it back on. But not much more than the work required to change the tire.

 

Needing a spare really comes down to personal situation and risk assessment, IMO.

In our case, neither of our vehicles (PiP & Leaf) have a spare, and I believe we have had flat/leaking tires as a result of punctures 3 times in the last 6+ years, and one more time in the last 20 years.

A bit of unluckiness but all 4 times I was aware or discovered the leak in our driveway, so was able to solve it with minimal inconvenience (used my 1/4t jack & power tools and swap on a winter tire temporarily… thankfully they all happened in the summer, lol).

My strategy is simple:

1. Have an electric air pump in each vehicle in case of a slow leak
2. Have an emergency plug kit in each vehicle in case of a major puncture (never had to use)
3. On road trips, I usually throw in my spare tire I kept from my Gen 2 in the PiP “just in case”, unless I absolutely need every square foot of cargo space (which is rare)
4. As a last resort, I have the gold CAA (AAA) membership which gives me 200km of towing to the location of my choice (haven’t had a car towed since the ‘90s, but cheap insurance…)

So far so good.

IMO, I live in a metropolitan area (and I am generally an attentive driver who avoids potholes, etc), and don’t do any off-roading and rarely travel gravel roads or areas without cell coverage, so my risk is very low. If any of these factors are different, then carrying a spare may be more important. YMMV.