New cars with no spare tire or donut
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COcheesehead
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Haha. I owned a few with run flats. They really should be called sometimes run flats. If the side wall goes out, you are stranded. It happened to me.
And wait til you have to buy new ones $$. Blow the dough.
And wait til you have to buy new ones $$. Blow the dough.
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Andre1969
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It's actually not a new concept. Chrysler had some type of run-flat called "Captive-Aire" on its 1957 station wagons that had a third seat. The third seat took up the space where a spare would have been stored.
However, I don't know how well it worked, because for 1958, they started putting the tire upright in the tailfin on the passenger side. I imagine people complained about the price of replacement tires. Plus, blowout were a lot more common back then, so trying to market a car with no spare was probably a bit of a hard sell.
However, I don't know how well it worked, because for 1958, they started putting the tire upright in the tailfin on the passenger side. I imagine people complained about the price of replacement tires. Plus, blowout were a lot more common back then, so trying to market a car with no spare was probably a bit of a hard sell.
easysurfer
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I think the no spare idea is one way car companies try to meet clean air requirements. No spare tire, lighter load so better gas mileage. Of course, that does nothing if you are stranded on the road with no spare.
Well, you’ll be breathing cleaner air while you wait for a tow truck ..
Seems kind of silly to me. I’ve had multiple flat tires over the past 10 years and the thought of no spare would trouble me.
easysurfer
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A few years back my car hit a big pothole and got a flat. Good thing had a spare as the flat wasn't a tiny nail puncture. Needed a new tire.
Car-Guy
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I've had at least one "car/suv", at all times, with run flats for the past 20+ years and no spare. Note, run flats are only good for about 50 miles with zero air pressure. (So they say) All my trucks had full sized spares. I do carry a can of fix a flat, a good plug kit including a 12v inflator. So far, no issues that I couldn't resolve on the spot.
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This is not a new thing. I know that the 2006 Miata did not have a spare tire. That was 17 years ago...
Dtail
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This is exactly what I’ve heard… what a ridiculous approach! It smells more like big corporations pinching pennies!
MC Rider
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Mine just came with a can of foaming goo and a dinky inflator.
I bought a donut tire, better pump, and jack. Also a tire wrench.
It works. Have not had a flat or needed that stuff in 4 1/2 years I have had the car.
I suspect a lot of people would just call for help. I'm looking at you can't use a stick shift drivers. If you have a spare and a jack and all but can't use it, how great is that?
I bought a donut tire, better pump, and jack. Also a tire wrench.
It works. Have not had a flat or needed that stuff in 4 1/2 years I have had the car.
I suspect a lot of people would just call for help. I'm looking at you can't use a stick shift drivers. If you have a spare and a jack and all but can't use it, how great is that?
Umm, you do realize that you are only supposed to use the donut to get to the nearest tire replacement center right? It's not meant to stay on the car and you just keep driving for however long you feel like it. How long has the duct tape been on your rear passenger window?
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Even if never used, tires dry rot. My new car and it's donut are now 18 years old...
Out of Steam
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I saw this site for buying a replacement spare tire just in the past couple of days.
https://modernspare.com/
https://modernspare.com/
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Mine just came with a can of foaming goo and a dinky inflator.
I bought a donut tire, better pump, and jack. Also a tire wrench.
It works. Have not had a flat or needed that stuff in 4 1/2 years I have had the car.
I suspect a lot of people would just call for help. I'm looking at you can't use a stick shift drivers. If you have a spare and a jack and all but can't use it, how great is that?
The person who is nice enough to help you uses them.
Andre1969
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Fuel economy is a big part of it, but not in the way you might think. Dropping 25-30 pounds, or whatever a compact spare weighs, by itself, probably isn't enough to change the fuel economy numbers that you see on the window sticker. However, it might be enough, to affect a manufacturer's Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) average, where even the numbers to the right of the decimal point can make a difference between passing, or heavy fines.
The CAFE numbers are also different from what's on the window sticker. For instance, I had a 2000 Intrepid that was rated 21/29. But I remember looking up its raw laboratory numbers, and it was something like 24.XXXX city/37.XXXX highway. Those raw numbers were what they actually put on the window sticker, through 1984, but in 1985 they rounded them down, because a lot of drivers weren't actually getting anywhere near those numbers. They rounded them down again, sometime around 2007. I think my old Intrepid is rated 18/27 by the new metric. But, that 24.xxxx/37.xxxx is all that mattered, for CAFE fine purposes.
Andre1969
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Be careful. I had a blowout on my '67 Catalina back in August, on my way to a car show. Its tires still looked almost brand new, but were about 14 years old!
Even worse, my "spare" tire was one that had been on the car when I bought it in 1994. In 2008 I had gotten some bigger rally wheels for it, and new tires. I figured the spare was three days older than God, so I ended up replacing it with one that had been on the car.
It was a damn miracle that the thing still held air...and got me maybe another 70 miles, before I could tell it was starting to let go. Fortunately, I stopped at a shopping center that had a WalMart with a tire center, and they had a tire in stock that would fit the spare. And then that got me home.
One of my friends had a blowout a few years earlier, with an '89 Cadillac Brougham. Unfortunately, more modern cars often don't handle blowouts with as much dignity as older cars, and when it went, it tore up his plastic wheel well and messed up some other trim.
Souschef
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I found this out when my 2016 Hyundai had a flat. In the trunk was a tire inflator and a box of sealant.
I ordered a spare tire kit that came with a jack and jug wrench.
I ordered a spare tire kit that came with a jack and jug wrench.
My car has a pump and a can of fix a flat, I can get a compatible donut spare and jack that will fit from a scrap yard from another vehicle built on the platform but haven't bothered. I have roadside assistance and rarely drive where I'd be out of range to get help. It's AWD and I'd rather just be flat towed to get new tires and not worry about transmission issues due to incompatible circumferences and I'm still going to have to deal with a new tire(s) ASAP anyway. In 34 years of driving I have had two flats (one rapid deflation from a bad valve stem) and one a catastrophic blow out on same tire after a 4K mile road trip that I believe was from damage caused by the deflation prior. Tires are pretty reliable anymore if properly maintained so while I don't particularly like not having a spare, I don't worry about it.
REWahoo
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I'm not comfortable driving a vehicle without a spare, so I purchased a donut at a salvage yard for the spareless new car I bought in Sept. While I do plan on calling roadside assistance if I have a flat, I've been in a situation where I was told it would be 3-4 hours before someone would arrive. I want another option.
