no spare tire

^I got a flat on the interstate close to home and drove a few miles to my exit and changed my tire a few minutes later on the shoulder of a lightly traveled side road. Easy.

Direct contrast to when my cousin called me wanting me to change her flat tire. She got a flat on I-80 in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. Lots of traffic. I changed the tire on the shoulder of the interstate with cars and trucks whizzing by at 70 mph. Her car was shaking while I had it jacked up as I changed the tire. It was scary.
 
Potholes are terrible in Pennsylvania. I hit one back in April that blew out a tire only a few months old. Fortunately I have a spare and it wasn’t too far from home. I was able to pull off the road to change the tire, but with my back issues it wasn’t fun. I will always make sure I have a spare.
 
I don't own a cell-phone. All of our vehicles have spare tires. (except for the recently-inherited MGB which we will find a spare for before we bring it out next year)
 
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Some road debris can be rather surprising:
 

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ArmchairMillionaire23 said:
I don't own a cell-phone. All of our vehicles have spare tires. (except for the recently-inherited MGB which we will find a spare for before we bring it out next year)
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It's funny, thinking back. I recall not having a cell phone - and not wanting one. Now I would almost feel naked without one. Having said that, we don't use it much - even though we have no land line. Still, I wouldn't venture out without it now.

Just a suggestion: You can buy a "throw away" (aka "burner") phone for a few bucks to carry when you travel. ANY phone - even if not activated (I think) can call 911. A burner phone would be good for road-side assistance. Just don't give out your number and you're covered, heh, heh. :cool: YMMV
 
DFW_M5 said:
Some road debris can be rather surprising:
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I had that exact same thing happen to me except the wrench ended up completely inside the tire. I had my tires replaced at the closest Wal-Mart and the guy told me that happens a lot. I'll bet it was a rear tire. He said the front tire runs over the tool and it kicks up at just enough of an angle so the tool gets embedded into the rear tire. He then showed me a clear jar on the counter of all the weird things they've pulled out of tires. I donated the wrench to his collection. :D
 
Koolau said:
It's funny, thinking back. I recall not having a cell phone - and not wanting one. Now I would almost feel naked without one. Having said that, we don't use it much - even though we have no land line. Still, I wouldn't venture out without it now.

Just a suggestion: You can buy a "throw away" (aka "burner") phone for a few bucks to carry when you travel. ANY phone - even if not activated (I think) can call 911. A burner phone would be good for road-side assistance. Just don't give out your number and you're covered, heh, heh. :cool: YMMV
Click to expand...

My wife has an old Trac-Fone we hang on to for when we travel out of town. Sometimes we even remember to bring it with us. :facepalm:
 
My Cadillac doesn’t have a spare either. I personally prefer a spare, but I believe car manufacturers switched to save on weight (impacts MPG) and lower costs.

One thing to note, run flats seems to wear much faster than non- run flats. I hear the same from friends that have a variety of car makes/models.
 
A long time ago I made the decision on which new car to buy based on which one had a full-size spare or a small donut. I guess the choice now is a donut or none.

Several years ago I was driving across country and hit a pothole big enough to blow out both tires on the passenger side. Couldn't find 2 matching tires and ended up paying for a hotel room in Mobile Alabama. Very expensive pothole. Now I have roadside service and carry plenty of cash (just in case).
 
Koolau said:
Just a suggestion: You can buy a "throw away" (aka "burner") phone for a few bucks to carry when you travel. ANY phone - even if not activated (I think) can call 911. A burner phone would be good for road-side assistance. Just don't give out your number and you're covered, heh, heh. :cool: YMMV
Click to expand...
911 shouldn't be called for a flat tire.
 
Most cars come that way now but you might be able to negotiate for a full tire. We did.
 
I personally would not buy a car without a spare. I would insist upon it . It's just asking for something they should have included to begin with IMO, and I shouldn't have to ask for it.
 
Some information about runflat tires-

Driving very far, typically 25-50 miles, when the tire is flat will damage it internally to the point where it can't be repaired. But that's very different from needing to stop on the spot because of a flat vs choosing to stop so the tire remains repairable. I did an on-line survey with Corvette owners a few years ago and could not find anyone who had a tire come apart because of driving too far while flat. One guy went over 400 miles on a flat runflat because it was middle of night in the middle of nowhere.

The one time we had a flat on our Corvette was in a location where no flatbed could get to us and nobody around to help us remove the wheel and take it to a tire shop for replacement. Cell service was spotty. The tire was already unrepairable because of a sidewall cut, so we just hopped in and drove a little slower ~30 miles up the famous "Tail of the Dragon" in Tennessee to the nearest tire store.

Spare tire, runflats, or nothing; buy one of those small compressors that plug into your cigarette lighter and a tire gauge. Since many problems are slow leaks, you can drive clear across the country if you stop as often as necessary to air up the tire.
 
I would prefer to have a spare tire, but we want to drive Teslas and they just don’t come with spares. We keep two spares in the garage so for local driving we would just have AAA or Tesla tow the car home and then change out the tire. For long distance driving it does take on some risk to drive without a spare. But it seems the trend is for more manufacturers to build new cars without a spare tire now, so I think it’s just something we are going to have to get used to.
 
I think this is the way it is now in all new cars. I bought a VW Diesel Passat 4 years ago and it also had no spare and came with run flat tires. I actually get better mileage in this car (with a 2 liter engine) than I did in my Toyota Prius which came as a surprise and it runs far better and has far better comfort. Regarding run flat tires I have had two fail on me and they are significantly expensive ($600 each). One had a small bubble outside the run flat zone and had to be replaced. Here in Europe we do not have all season tires and we must have two sets of tires. One for winter and one for summer. It is during the changeover (I have a service that comes to the house in a large fully equipped truck and does it for me for roughly $50) that the bulge was discovered and I had to replace the tire as it was out of Pirelli warranty. The second tire had a large wood screw in it and apparently you cannot fix this as in a normal tire so again it had to be replaced. I did buy a cheap spare and put it in the trunk but haven't needed it yet. The run flats do work and I ran that tire with the large screw in it for 2 years before I replaced it. Being retired we have driven roughly 15,000 miles in 4 years. I mostly bicycle everywhere.
 
There is a related problem that many expensive cars use odd size tires that are not easily available. I was reading a story recently of a guy who was driving through Vermont in a BMW X5 and had a flat tire which necessitated a new tire due to sidewall damage. It took four days to get the correct size replacement tire!
 
Luckily I’ve never had a flat in my corvette. No spare, and all 4 tires are different. Back tires are wider than fronts and tires are directional so the tread is different on each side of the car.

I’ve only ordered full sets of tires, so I’m not sure how difficult it would be to find just a left front if I needed one. My current tires are 12 years old, so I’m due for a new set.
 
Miata Owner

Miata's don't have a spare. I've had some bad luck in that both of my front tires have had issues (nail in one, ripped sidewall in another) and the run flats performed good enough to keep me out of trouble. I think it's one of those things you'll have to decide if it's worth the trouble or not. It's funny that I haven't used a spare in over twenty years until I got the Miata. I'm comfortable with the decision I made to live without it.
 
Old Microbiologist said:
I think this is the way it is now in all new cars. I bought a VW Diesel Passat 4 years ago and it also had no spare and came with run flat tires. I actually get better mileage in this car (with a 2 liter engine) than I did in my Toyota Prius which came as a surprise and it runs far better and has far better comfort. Regarding run flat tires I have had two fail on me and they are significantly expensive ($600 each). One had a small bubble outside the run flat zone and had to be replaced. Here in Europe we do not have all season tires and we must have two sets of tires. One for winter and one for summer. It is during the changeover (I have a service that comes to the house in a large fully equipped truck and does it for me for roughly $50) that the bulge was discovered and I had to replace the tire as it was out of Pirelli warranty. The second tire had a large wood screw in it and apparently you cannot fix this as in a normal tire so again it had to be replaced. I did buy a cheap spare and put it in the trunk but haven't needed it yet. The run flats do work and I ran that tire with the large screw in it for 2 years before I replaced it. Being retired we have driven roughly 15,000 miles in 4 years. I mostly bicycle everywhere.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised your VW Passat diesel didn't come with a spare. I bought the same car in 2015 and it had a spare, jack and jack handle. This one was assembled at the VW Tennessee plant.
 
Accord Hybrid is not what it claims

Look closely on internet about complaints before buying. I bought a new Accord Hybrid for my wife in 2018. They claimed 47 mpg city or highway. What a lie! It only got 36-37 mpg. The manager at the dealership said he had one. I told him I would trade mine for his if it got 47 mpg. He was only getting in the 30's. It is also misfiring now. I should have bought the Camry Hybrid which she had previously. Our daughter is still driving it with no problems and a 12 year old battery.
 
Lsbcal said:
Did you conclude anything from the above posts?

We rejected the new Honda CRV because it does not have a spare. Would hate the uncertainty if we were way out there in a national park. So in this case we will look at the Rav4 instead (when Covid makes vacations more practical).
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the trunk for the regular accord and the hybrid accord are the same, so as part of the negotiations i had them put the spare tire and jack and wrench, etc that would normally be in the trunk of the accord into the accord hybrid.
 
I don't have AAA bc I dated a state trooper in college that told me he spent many hours waiting with stranded ppl for AAA contractor to never come and he would never ever recommend them. Lowest priority. So i have towing ins for a blistering 14 a year. I can hire any company that can come and usaa will reimburse me overnight seemingly. Used it twice. Once during a pcs at a hotel in MD when I was alone and once when a car wouldn't start and we didn't want to screw with it. Reimbursed both times. No worries. Last flat DH changed in the driveway to the spare as I lovingly stood over him saying "not worth the effort or risk. Call a tow" and he said "I need the practice and the exercise" eyeroll
 
Ronstar said:
Luckily I’ve never had a flat in my corvette. No spare, and all 4 tires are different. Back tires are wider than fronts and tires are directional so the tread is different on each side of the car.

I’ve only ordered full sets of tires, so I’m not sure how difficult it would be to find just a left front if I needed one. My current tires are 12 years old, so I’m due for a new set.
Click to expand...
I've had a several Vettes (all with runflats) and I think I had one flat which I was able to plug without taking the tire/wheel off the car... (the TPMS alerted me of low air pressure) I have runflats on my Jeep now but I also carry a compact spare with it which I didn't do with the Vettes... But there is a big difference running runflats on a Vette and on a Jeep. The Jeep weighs at least 2000 lbs more than the Vette. As light as the Vette is "I'd" be comfortable driving it more than the 50 miles that the runflats are rated for.... Not so with the much heaver Jeep.

Also, "IMO" I don't think I'd want to drive any HP car with 12 year old tires on it.... Unless I was just driving it to church on Sundays.:)
 
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