Discovering the value of a spare wheel first hand

The AA I believe carry temporary wheels, but have you asked a mobile tyre service to attend your car?

You could always buy a spare wheel and keep it in the car on, maybe. longer journeys if you’ve found a car that otherwise fits the bill.

If people refused to buy cars without a spare wheel this nonsense would stop.

There are varying degrees of low profile tyres Peter and they do have advantages but they also have disadvantages. Because of the design the extreme versions will not stand up to big potholes as rim leakage occurs , while I have low profiles they arent very low and can stand up to holes in the road .
Again it also depends on internal rim corrosion over years and I always carry a temporary “get you home ” pressurised can in case of a flat .
Amazing it works if you stick to the instructions .

You are not alone , plenty of comments on flat tyres in France, somebody agrees with me advising the two types –
1- the “get you home ” as I said (buy truck version )
2-the “ultraseal types
also the “run on flat tyre ” types .
you are also up against various “tyre laws ” in France -the tread must be the same -same make-correct size-rating and different regulations for having a breakdown on an autoroute and off it.
And yes -many complain on a holiday/Sunday the tyre repairers are closed , probably basking in the sun themselves .

It can depend on which size of wheels/tyres are fitted to your car. The sure way to find out is to jack up the car, take off a wheel and find out. My car accommodates a space-saver and to fit a full-sized wheel I would need to raise the floor of the boot. In one of the Convos I was told that a platform is available to do this, but I have not explored this possibility.

I know a Meriva owner who found their new car had no spare wheel or jack, and had to order both after delivery.

Yes –“give me one as well” Rik ! a good manufacturer money saver and a boon to garages and the big car breakdown organisations.

In seven and a half years I have had three or four punctures, requiring me to fit the spare wheel. Sadly it’s one of the skinny ones that’s reminiscent of those on a Morris Minor. Perhaps we should be given the option of an inflation kit, a space-saver wheel or a full-size spare. I would choose the latter.

I have one of those “skinny tyres ” in the shed as my newish car has one of those “futuristic ” inflation kits which I gather are worse than useless according to car forums — full size spare also gets my vote Wavechange.
Morris Minor ??– famous for the wheel vertical axle stub shearing off leaving the wheel lopsided the big old 50,s Morris’s were better .

To add to Trevor’s experiences, a few years ago I had the misfortune to drive over a concrete fence post that was lying across the carriage way.

As it was late at night and the car remained mobile and controllable, I drove it the remaining 5 or so miles home. On arrival, the front off side tyre was still just partially inflated but the alloy wheel was written off, so both tyre and wheel were replaced. A matching replacement alloy wheel and tyre were obtained from a breaker’s.

It will take up room but you could do what I did; buy a complete tyre and wheel and stick it in the back of the car – mine is an estate so easier than in a boot. You can use it when the other tyres need replacing. However, I consider all cars should at least have the provision for a full size spare wheel.

I know cross-ply and biassed-belt tyres are pretty much a thing of the past, but given, all those years ago, it iwas, and rightly remains illegal – and very dangerous – to run anything other than the same tyre construction on the same axis (ie two radials, two biassed or two cross plies), I struggle to justify the space saver approach at all.

One can argue slow speed mitigates the mismatch between three full fat tyres and a space-saver, but if you put a car with a space-saver on a snow-laden road, particularly if the s-s is on the front, the chances are that tyre would be the only one to get purchase if you braked very slightly too hard, sending you into a real spin that even modern car electronics would struggle to save you from.

And yet here is hypocritical me, as I have a space saver in mine.

Our youngest was telling me (the other day) that the best thing for safety is to use winter tyres. In winter, of course.

“… the best thing for safety is to use winter tyres. In winter, of course”

Snow tyres are best in snow, winter tyres are best in non-snow/ice for off-roaders and Siberian temperatures

Since wider temperature flexible rubbers have been in vogue – at least 4 years – all weather tyres are as good as winter tyres in winter on all except heavyweight Jeeps etc., and as good as summer tyres in summer for the same reason, except on lightweight very fast cars driven very fast.

All IMHO of course.

It will save the manufacturers even more if they don’t provide a spare wheel, jack and the tools needed to change a wheel, even if they are kind enough to provide a can of sealant. It would be good if all manufacturers gave us a choice when buying a car.

Agreed winter tyres are better in soft snow, but less good in the rain. How many winter days are rainy compared to snowy? https://www.justtyres.co.uk/news/all-season-tyres-vs-winter-tyres is an unbiased article and chimes with my behind-the-scenes knowledge (which in turn has swayed from less than 10 years ago when there was no decent “all weather” tyre.

Most articles about winter tyres mention a temperature of 7°C as the temperature below which winter tyres should be used. While the benefits of having a softer rubber at low temperatures are well accepted, I have seen no scientific evidence to support the use of this figure.