No spare tire? How to handle flat

You either call the pre-paid towing service that Toyota supplies for couple of years, and be towed to the nearest Toyota dealer to get the tire repaired or replaced. Or you call your favorite auto club to get towed to your favorite tire dealer to fix or replace the tire. Toyota also provides an air pump that squirts sealing goop into the tire and ruins the pressure sensors ($$ to replace).

 

Or you can buy a temporary spare that fits (mine is from a Lexus CT200H) and keep it at home or carry it behind the passenger seat if you are on a long trip. If you have a flat at home as I did, just take it off and take it to a tire place to have it repaired or replaced.

 

If you are comfortable using basic tools, and don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can put together a tire repair kit to keep in the car. It is just a tire plug kit, pliers for pulling out the object that made the hole, if needed, and a disposable utility knife for trimming the plug material, at its most basic.

 

Our 2010 has the temp spare, and I carry a plug repair kit. The 3rd or 4th gen Prius temp spare wheel plus appropriate tire (check the Owner's Manual back pages for spec) will do.You can just get cheap Slime plug repair kit, but if you're being asked what you want for X-Mas, BlackJack makes some nice ones: much more solid/complete, with a nice case.

For temp spare wheel, it's item #3 here:

Wheels for 2016 Toyota Prius | Toyota Parts

The temp spare tire spec (from 2016 Prius Owner's Manual:



Here's a tire search at TireRack for that size:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSearchResults.jsp?zip-code=90210&width=125/&ratio=70&diameter=17&rearWidth=255/&rearRatio=40&rearDiameter=17

The last one (Yokohama) looks very much like what we've got.

 

"I" belong to an Auto Club. Two of them actually.

I assume it comes with a little compressor and a can of "goop".

Read the owners manual, join an Auto Club or.......get out your phone and search for towing companies.

Oh.....and if you do call a tow company be sure to tell them what size the tire is and that you do NOT have a spare.

And, as mentioned, you can always find a compact spare that fits your wheels and figure out where to carry it.

 

I'm curious why (the bold portion). I think all they can do is tow you somewhere.

 

My Prime "I hate that there's no spare, so I travel prepared" tire kit...

I carry a Safety Seal tire plug kit Tire Puncture Repair, Fix Flat Tire, How to Repair a Tubeless Tire | Safety Seal

that fits into the space under the floor next to the hatch

A lineman's pliers (which fits under the floor in the little compartment next to the right rear wheel well)

as well as a standalone 12v tire inflator with a pressure gauge that plugs into the lighter outlet (lots of examples - mine also fits in the space under the floor next to the hatch), because the one that comes with the car only can be used with the tire repair goop... and I regularly use it to keep my tires properly inflated.

 

I've driven spareless AWD Sienna for 12 years, so I have no anxiety. That said, I do have AAA Premier membership with 100 miles towing distance. I do carry a tire plug kit and 12V portable inflator. I also started carrying a full size spare tire that fit perfectly wedged in behind the passenger seat. No, you can not use one of the rear seat with this configuration, but I almost never use them anyway, so both of rear seats are folded down to make larger cargo space 99.9% of time.

 

The AWD Sienna comes equipped with run flats, at least now. Which are another option for the Prime. The tires have supposedly improved over the years, but they are still heavier, thus will negatively affect your fuel efficiency.

 

Yap, our Sienna came with run flat tires that lasted 15K miles and did not run when it got flat. We were "class" for the class action lawsuit for those "run flat tires" against Toyota and OEM tire maker Dunlop. The lawsuit was settled by the class receiving free replacement set of the same "run flat tires". Yap, we run two sets of those defective "run flat tires" each set lasting less than 20K, and both sets getting flat and could not run flat. After second set got flat, I replaced with regular tires, no spare, but never got another flat for the rest of my ownership (~70K miles).
Toyota Sienna Run-Flat Tire Class Action - Center for Autosafety

 

I put the new 3rd generation run-flat Bridgestone DriveGuard tires on our Prime. It drives find, bit more noise, bit less gas mileage, not the best on snow, much more tire reliability. These are said to be good for 50 miles at 50 mph without air...then the punctured one would be junk.

If the puncture is due to a screw, don't yank it out. Unscrew it. You'll have a smaller hole in the casing to plug.

The free Toyota towing program is only to the nearest Toyota dealer. If the shop isn't open that day, you're stuck. Many of us have emergency road service coverage on our car insurance which gives more options for the destination including a tire shop that is open on a Sunday.

The OE Toyo tires we had are very light. Very thin casing. The hole from the tiny screw was much larger than I expected. That ended my confidence in the OE tires.

I had previously installed Ride-On tire sealant into the OE Toyo tires. It did a good job--the Mrs. drove much farther than I expected with very little air leakage. She got home with low air in the tire and very slow loss of air around that screw. Tire Sealant - flat tire prevention for Cars | Ride-On Tire Protection

 

Do you know if you get one flat on the set of four DriveGuard tires, can you just buy and put 1 new tire on? For our 1st generation run flat tires on AWD Sienna, if one tire gets flat, I had to replace all four tires new. Back then it costed $250/tire, and they were very hard to find. And it needed special equipment to mount on the rims, necessitating visit to a Toyota dealer or very few tire specialists when tire got flat. You can guess how expensive that got to be. That was one of the biggest complaints on the "run-flat tires" that were on AWD Sienna back then. Since current model of AWD Sienna still have run flat tires on, they must have solved those problemes, I hope.

 

Yes, AFAIK all OEM tires that comes with PRIME are "regular" tires that can be plugged with tire plug kit.

 

Some will actually bring you out a new tire and mount it on the rim right there.
Of course, that's gonna cost you at least 2X what it would at a tire shop, even if you are subscribed to their "road service".
It will save you a fair amount of time.......but you pay for it.

 

Yeah I watched a video, a guy using a manual Harbor Freight tire dismount/mount contraption, it can be done. Just get it balanced later.

I think for 9 times out of 10: if he brought along a plug repair kit too, as long as it's not a sidewall puncture, just a nail//screw/bolt in the tread, that'd be the simplest cheapest out. I've run about 5 years now on two plug-repairs, one in an OEM, and one in a snow. I'd say it's 100% stable, part of the tire, but I know it's debatable.

 

I've had one plug repair start slow leaking after a couple years. Just replugged it.

 

Just happened to me yesterday. My admin texted me I had a flat tire. Panicked for a second, thinking there goes a Xmas gift for myself this year after spending $250 at dealer for a new tire. Took a deep breath, pulled out my portable inflator that I keep at my office to top off my tires for my vehicles and some of the office staff. Took about 10 minutes to fill tire from dead flat to about 30 pounds. Saw it was not dropping quickly. Got in car and drove 2 and half miles to my local mechanic who proceeded to plug the tire and get me back in the office in less than 30 minutes for $15.

But on longer trips I carry a spare tire I bought on eBay.

 

Get yourself a plug-repair kit, for next time. It's not that hard: easiest way is to remove the wheel first.