Spare tire replacement kit

You should not drive on the donut any longer than necessary. I'd try to keep it under 50 miles.

The tire light will be lit when you use the donut. The system does not have the capability to recognize a 'real' or 'spare' tire. It only knows that one of the registered tires is missing (if you had put a different full-size tire on, it still would have lit).

I haven't used the jack.

 

cajunejacz24,

I have not had a FLAT tire yet so can't speak of changing it, but I did get a screw in the tire since they were building a new dealership next door, must have been after detail they did that...but I asked if there is any special process for jacking (since he took the tire off and it made me think of that...), he said no really not, just ensure you are in the jack points and CHOCK the front tire so the car is stable...Did you Chock the front tire so the car didn't shift while jacking or when changing the tire???

As for the Tire Question they are "RATED" at 3,000 Miles but you need to ensure they have correct pressure...I think there are some threads on here that many are not, and it's not a defect more than a situation just sitting in the storage area. I would not drive above 55 MPH on them either. Since your in L.A. traffic can be crazy but "remember" you have the donut on not the regular tire...sometimes we can forget....

The less miles you drive on it the more life you have for future use....

Good Luck!

 

Chocks are essential.

My Prius has so much slop in "Park", it will roll a several inches when in "Park." I am going to have the dealer look into it on my next visit. It is way too much slop.

 

Save yourself the aggravation. They will say it is normal. Mine has mre than I am used to as well.

 

I wont get aggrevated. But I will mention it to them every time I see them. And I have not filled out my customer satisfaction survey yet!

 

Use the parking brake, which is a good idea to do anyway especially if you park on an incline. Then you wont have any slop at all.

 

It's pointless mentioning it to the dealer - it's normal. And it's unfair if you bag them for it in your survey. It's a mechanical limitation with the parking pawl in the transmission (or electronic shift controller). It's not designed to hold the vehicle solely on its own, hence why you use the park brake. The same applies to any motor vehicle with a conventional automatic transmission.

More info [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parking_pawl"]here[/ame].

 

Maybe car geeks use the parking brake on an automatic transmission vehicle. But I am 52 yrs old and I have never, that I can remember, seen anyone ever use the parking brake in an automatic transmission vehicle for parking purposes.

But I am sure I will find out everyone here does. LOL!

 

The only time I would engage the parking brake while parking is when the car is parked on an incline or uneven surface. As a matter of record, I am 64 years old.

Yes, always be mindful of your speed when driving on "donuts" and get it replaced soonest possible.

 

Ditto the above----and I'm over 70yrs old. The emergency/parking brake is for an emergency/incline parking, eh??

 

Probably a regional thing too. I live in the flatlands.

Though we do have our fair share of hills.

 

Never? In 52 years? Wow. I'm only 40ish and I have witnessed parking brake usage an uncountable 1000s of times. Heck, I've personally used mine thousands of times. Oh well, must be an east coast thing. I thought I was just being nice to the transmission by keeping the load off the gears and parking pawl.

 

Are you saying that you've never used your park brake as well?

Anyone that doesn't use a park brake when parking a vehicle, regardless of whether it's an auto/manual/CVT or whatever should have the book thrown at them. Besides putting a massive amount of pressure on the parking pawl when parked on a hill, and making it extremely hard to shift out of park, what do you think will happen when that pawl fails and the car rolls away?

<face palm>

 

As I wrote, I have never!

And I have never seen anyone else in a auto tran vehicle use one.

And I will say that those that do use one in an auto tran vehicle are in the very smallest minority. But obviously the most zealous.

 

The parking pawl does an adequate job for normal parking. I only use the parking brake on hills or in a situation where rolling would be catastrophic (think parking near the rim of the Grand Canyon).

Tom

 

Never been in my car then have you?
I always use the park brake, I'm a mechanic, I know how pissy the park pawl is!


It is about 4mm thick! This isn't a Prius part in the picture.
Here is why you should apply the park brake

When you jack a car always select park and engage the park brake even if you don't use it normally.

Never fit the space saver spare on the front, if you have a flat front tyre then fit the spare to the rear, same side then fit the rear wheel on the front.

I drove at 110km/h on the spare, I was 300km from a repairer when I got a flat. I didn't notice any issues.

 

I agree using the emergency/parking brake when parked is a good safety measure (belt-and-suspenders), but there is one time of year it's good to not use one - winter if it gets cold enough to freeze and there's snow/slush around.

You might get water on the brake cable in a bad place, and then have that water freeze so that when you go to release the brake nothing happens . It has happened to me once (not in my Prius), at which time I got out of the habit of using the parking brake during the wintertime (and usually by the time spring rolls around I've lost the habit ...)

 

Yes, yes.... And tow truck drivers regularly drag vehicles out of parking spaces and across parking lots and streets on the rear tires, and the rear tires never turn. Just make a flat spot on the tire and a skid mark on the pavement. LOL!

I am certainly not advocating that people should not use the parking brake when parked. I just have never seen anyone who does, and I dont. But when changing a tire I do.

And since when do people follow the manual all the time? LOL! Go over to the OCI topics. The thread should be published and named "Mutiny on the Manual."

 

Is the "never put the spare on the front" recommendation true even if the spare radius is the same as the other front tire radius? That is is it a transaxle issue or something else.

That is a lot of work on the side of the road (at night in a cold rain, with out a light, on a muddy shoulder, before the wedding ;-)

1 remove flat front and replace with spare.
2.remove rear and replace with flat.
3.remove spare and replace with rear.
4.remove flat on rear and replace with spare.