Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

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Devils Advocate
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Sat Sep 02, 2017 11:30 am

markwilding wrote:Things have changed over the last few years. I bought a Kia Sportage 6 years ago with a spare tyre. I part exchanged it a year ago for the newer model and no spare but many more extras. There is a kit that will help me get to a garage.

One thing I will definitely not be doing is go to a scrap yard to look for a spare and stick it in the boot. I'm not sure what I will do should I get a puncture, either have a go at a quick repair or call the breakdown service.
Yes and as well as chucking a grubby scrapyard spare into the nice new interior (even if you could find one) don't forget you then need a jack, breaker bar and suitable socket........again with no stowage space for them.
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:15 am

Touched lucky here and managed to find an as new alloy wheel as fitted to my car and have had a new tyre put on it too. Couldn't really put a matching tyre on as the ones fitted are directional so put conventional "any corner" rubber on it.

Worked out expensive but cheaper than what BMW wanted for a space saver. Also with having no wheel well and the wheel just having to go in the luggage bay I figured I may as well get the proper full size job to save hassles. Add's a bit of weight though with the trolley jack and breaker bar making the journey too :mrgreen:

One other thing, I've never had breakdown cover in my life, however OH is not budging that I get some for this trip, fair enough I guess. If a stone decided to smack a hole in the radiator on the Spanish Plain even I'd be knackered with that one lol.

So, anyone any tips on who to go with. I'm just doing a 3 week plan. AA look favourite with their top plan at £107 which seems to cover a hell of a lot, I could get cover for as little as £47 with other lesser known outfits but I reckon skimping on this would land me in trouble with the boss if the worst did happen.
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Gasman » Fri Sep 08, 2017 5:42 pm

Have you asked your current insurer what your situation is as regards breakdown cover?

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Fri Sep 08, 2017 5:59 pm

There is no European breakdown cover on my policy and usually I don't bother with it, however with the boss joining me this time and with making the journey across a holiday lasting 4 days she's adamant I get cover.

It looks like I'll plump for the top AA package at 107 quid for 3 weeks unless anyone here has other suggestions.
Looking at the cheaper alternatives I reckon you could be left with a cold after reading the small print, the AA gold seems to cover most things. My thought is if you're going to buy it you may as well get one that covers you.

Funnily enough the block policy I have on the cars never even had what used to be called the "green card", I've just paid to have that added and printed out the docs for it.

Cheers
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby El Cid » Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:56 pm

You don't strictly need a green card in the EU, but in Spain most companies seem to issue them anyway when you renew. Incidentally, my Linea Directa policy has full European breakdown cover.

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby BENIDORM » Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:05 pm

DA,
For 'peace of mind' European breakdown cover is well worth it and we always made sure that we had it, and I've 'broken down' ,well the vehicle not me, 3 times in France and twice in Spain, first class fast treatment every time and even had 'follow up' calls a couple of weeks later to ask if everything was OK...
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:29 pm

El Cid wrote:You don't strictly need a green card in the EU, but in Spain most companies seem to issue them anyway when you renew. Incidentally, my Linea Directa policy has full European breakdown cover.

Sid
I untick the boxes for both legal cover (for obvious reasons) and breakdown as I never usually need them. As I say I'll pay the AA for the time I'm abroad for their cover. Interesting what you say about the green card thing though, I thought that was finished......European Union and all that!
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Fri Sep 08, 2017 9:33 pm

BENIDORM wrote:DA,
For 'peace of mind' European breakdown cover is well worth it and we always made sure that we had it, and I've 'broken down' ,well the vehicle not me, 3 times in France and twice in Spain, first class fast treatment every time and even had 'follow up' calls a couple of weeks later to ask if everything was OK...
Regards,
Gordon
Cheers Beni, I hope you never break down! As for the 5 call outs, jeez that's bad luck.......is your middle name lucky :mrgreen:

Seriously though, what sort of breakdowns did you suffer and how did the breakdown guys respond?

Many thanks.
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby El Cid » Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:56 am

Devils Advocate wrote:. Interesting what you say about the green card thing though, I thought that was finished......European Union and all that!
Yes, it's finished in the EU but there are many countries which require it.

http://www.cobx.org/Content/Default.asp?PageID=7

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:11 am

Yes, just checked the paperwork and although it is green is called the "International Motor Insurance Card"
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby wollie » Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:42 am

It is worth knowing that some wheels are inter-changable to different models and even different makes.
Well at least that was the case 10 years ago.
For example the wheels on my car has 16" wheels, the spare wheel is 15" i got a tire with larger profile
to bring it to same height.
I did a round trip of 500km with it on the back and would never notice.

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:58 am

I think there was some truth in that many years ago when cars ran on steel wheels but there are very few manufacturers now running generic wheels, so finding a match from another make of car is virtually impossible.

Also it's not just the diameter and width and correct PCD it's also finding the correct offset and hub diameter too without resorting to hubcentric shims.

Far better to find the correct wheel off the same model you need. In my case as luck would have it the bloody wheels were only made from 2013 so finding one was difficult. I did eventually find a car the same as mine being broken by a salvage firm that had been written off with flood damage, so the wheels were like new and they kindly agreed to split the set. Out of precaution I fitted a new tyre so job should be a goodun'.

I guess space savers could well be generic to some models but I did not have the will power to go in to deep research to prove this.
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:10 am

DA,
Well really I suppose that we have had a lot of trouble free trips and our vehicle breakdowns were only minor hiccups.
Twice we couldn't get the vehicle started in the morning when leaving the hotel, but within the hour the breakdown people arrived and solved the problem quickly, another occasion we had a damaged tyre and couldn't get it off to replace and the mechanic arrived and he couldn't budge it either, so we had to go to a garage, all done and back on the road within 2 hours and no charge on this occasion.
In France the breakdown people are also mechanics, similar to UK, but Spain they seem to be mainly just 'gruas' ,so always taken to a garage for repair.
Normally I would and can fix minor problems , but to be honest it is much better to be able to call and get assistance, so well worth the payment.
Anyway I hope that you have a trouble free journey.
Regards,
Gordon

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:31 am

Thanks for that Beni.

With the best will in the word if a modern car breaks down there's not much the best of us can do at the roadside, yes they are reliable but anything can happen and as per your experience being able to call someone to effect a repair is well worth spending the money for that piece of mind.

Funny you mention not being able to get the wheel off, that has been said by many of the car guys on the motor forums I visit.
They get a flat and the silly wrench supplied with the jack just will not budge the nuts.

I've just had the wheels off mine at service and made sure they were not stupidly over tightened when put back on, however I will be taking a 1 metre breaker bar and 17mm socket just in case :mrgreen:

Again thanks.
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby AkoAko » Sat Sep 09, 2017 12:06 pm

Also it's not just the diameter and width and correct PCD it's also finding the correct offset and hub diameter too without resorting to hubcentric shims

Reading that i was reminded of the old wheel spacers and accessories used to buy and fit to Minis ect , happy day , was disapointed though in some of the claims made at the time , Go faster stripes for instance , bought so many , NONE of them worked . :crazy:

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby El Cid » Sat Sep 09, 2017 1:54 pm

It's worth remembering that to use your (Spanish) car in Spain, it MUST conform to what is on the Ficha Tecnica. For example, fitting larger wheels or wider tyres are not allowed and will result in an ITV failure. If stopped by the police they can check that your car conforms to the Ficha Tecnica.

Using any old wheel and tyre as a spare might well not conform. The "emergency" spare does not need to conform as it is clearly marked as an emergency only wheel and you are restricted to 80kph.

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby knowal » Sat Sep 09, 2017 10:09 pm

In 45 years of driving I have had only 1 blowout. Sticky goo and a pump would have been as much use as a chocolate teapot. I remember changing the right hand front tyre on the Ford Ka near Almería prison on the motorway like it was yesterday. My daughter ran back with a triangle whilst I put one closer to the car. I had the job done in less than 10 minutes, although some people say it is illegal to change it yourself on the hard shoulder.
I wonder who could have cleared the problem any quicker?
When I bought my Ford Focus Estate, second hand, it did not have a spare as standard, so I got a new rim and tyre and it just fitted in the well which is really for an emergency "pram" wheel. I never used it in 61,000 km of motoring.
I've now got a Clio which has no spare wheel and I would need to have a winch type mechanism fitted under the car to store a spare properly. So I've decided that I'll rely on recovery in the unlikely event of a blowout.
I will say that the Ford Ka blowout was an old tyre which was getting low on tread, not to mention the sun exposure it had out in Spain!
I think it is best to keep good tyres on a car, which probably reduces the risk of a blowout. A garage or car port is always a good idea to reduce sun damage to the sidewalls.

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby wollie » Sun Sep 10, 2017 8:19 am

That takes me back.
Several years ago (40) me and a friend went on a trip, when we got a flat tyre we had neither a spare wheel and no jack but we had the spanner to take wheel off.
We had to lift the opel kadett front take the wheel off, a man driving gave us a pump and repair patches etc, the trip was 500+ miles and this only incident.
The cars that time were lighter but still a good lift for one me, the other person had to put in the props and we drove it off them.

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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby Devils Advocate » Sun Sep 10, 2017 10:07 am

Same here, can count on the fingers of one hand the times I've had a flat tyre. Last one was funnily enough in Torre del Mar in the Vitara we have over there, had to change it on the main road in monsoon conditions haha.

The only other recent one was hitting a huge bolt that flew off a scrap lorry on the M6, took the tyre and the alloy wheel out completely.

Hence I'm sacrificing luggage space to take the full size spare on this trip, probably won't use it but daft to take the risk.

Just put 4 premium brand tyres on the car as I'd had enough of the runflats and sold them on. Some people have said I was daft to do this but at the end of the day I'd still need a spare or to call the recovery people if one of them let go in Pyrenees, plus the journey will be more comfy with conventional tyres.
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Re: Modern cars, no spare wheel. Worried?

Postby RichardCoeurdeLion » Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:27 pm

The fitter at my local place told me that if you use the spray can of goo to inflate the tyre, the tyre has to be scrapped.


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