No Spare

[not happy]

What is it with new cars that they have no spare wheel.My ex has a new Focus and had a tiny puncture(syringe) on Friday and the pump n goo couldn't seal it.I had to go and take the flat off and go away and get it fixed leaving her standing by the side of the street,just glad it was still in business hours so the tyre guys were open.Now she has to go buy a spare rim ($350 Alloy) plus tyre
Anyone heard of the last crazy act-stick a syringe in the sidewall so the puncture is not repairable and a new tyre is needed to be purchased

[Geez Louise]

Hello Not Happy and welcome to the forums.

I haven't heard of the syringe thing thanks for the heads up. I also didn't know new cars didn't come with a spare. When did that start??

Edit: Are they now optional extras??

[Neale]

The RS focus dont have a spare because the space saver wouldnt fit over the brakes & there was no room for a spare without taking up all of the room in the boot.

I didnt know the new ones didnt have one either. Its probaly a combination of things why the manufactures dont have them.
-saves weight = better econonomy
-costs less for them
-safer to use the goop than risk people running around on those deadly space savers for long periods

I personally think its stupid not having a proper spare. It should be part of the ADR.

[not happy]

the new Commodore SSV Redline ute has no spare either-who knows of any other makes with no spare-- there is space under the rear floor for a spare-at the moment in the Focus,it has a 12 volt pump all alone in there

[2011G6E]

Syringe in the tyre is an old one, going back to the eighties in a rant I remember in a column in an old Street Machine magazine. The guy was recalling how a young mechanic he knew was having a very long and nervous wait for an AIDS and hepatitus check after checking a slow leak in a customers tyre, which involved removing the tyre and running your hand around the inside to see what had caused the leak. You expect a nail or stick or something, but he got a needle stick injury to the finger.
The rant went on, quite fairly in my mind, that druggos should be treated harshly to the full extent of the law...none of this "but that doesn't get the dealers" crap...take away the supply, ie: lock up the useless wastes of space shooting up in back alleys, and the dealers will find business a lot harder.

Looks like it might be coming back again...so be very bloody careful and don't just run your hand around inside a removed tyre to see what caused the leak...

Back on subject...some people claim there isn't room in a new car for a full sized spare. Crap. Our G6E has a full sized matching 19" alloy wheel down in there, and it doesn't infringe on boot space. Is an extra inch or two of space in the boot going to make all the difference to your puchasing choice? The Ford and Holden dealer in Rocky both told us that they fit a full sized matching spare to most of the Falcons and Commodores they sell, as they realise that in the real world in Queensland, especially out west here, you can easily be hundreds of k's from a place selling larger sized tyres.

"Space savers" are a purely economic measure by factory bean counters, certainly not a safety or convenience idea...the rediculous idea of not having a spare at all is even less so.
Some people say smugly: "Hey, how often do you have a flat anyway!?".
To which I answer: "You only need to have it happen once in the middle of nowhere..."

[seduced_xr]

my FG came with a space saver, different size carpet to the full size to. waiting for dads 2008 FG to end lease and ill steal his boot carpet and 5th alloy before we give it in

[rev]

My month old FG came with a space saver. But it seems huge. The car is an XR LE with 18s so I cant see how much space it actually saves. I thought I would pull it all apart to make sure there was a jack, wheel brace etc under it. I am glad I did. I wouldn't like to try that on a dark night on a country road without a practice run.

[not happy]

i had a space saver in my AU3 XR6-bloody pain in the bum doing over 100k back to Rockhampton at 80k's at night with everyone trying to get past me
I told my ex she needs to buy a full size spare 4 her Focus even if it a steel rim and not an alloy-I hope the steelie the same width as the alloy

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by not happy

i had a space saver in my AU3 XR6-bloody pain in the bum doing over 100k back to Rockhampton at 80k's at night with everyone trying to get past me

Wouldn't have been a space saver. Would have been a standard steel wheel that was speed limited to 80 because of the size difference with the alloy wheels.

[XR Martin]

Im not sure what's funnier, the fact that they dont come with a spare, or the fact your still under your ex's thumb

[not happy]

I not under my ex's thumb,I still have a friendly attitude towards her,she a bit useless sometimes but she not a "bad person",just glad I not living with her any more.I was on my way past where she was stuck to see my kid at her home,and I wouldn't see her stuck with no help,I thought she would have found some-one to help her b4 I got there.I didn't know the car had no spare till I got there-she stuck by the side of the road and she didn't get asked if she wanted to pay for roadside assist when she bought the car.

[BlueFG2]

i recently bought a new fiesta for the girlfriend, as i was looking it over upon getting home i was surprised to find that space for the spare wheel had a hard foam insert instead of a spare wheel, resting in the insert was a goo pump of sorts, took me a second to realize what is was.

I only assumed they included it into the fiesta as more women are likely to purchase it and it is less strenuous to use a little pump

[JC]

Originally Posted by XR6 Martin

Im not sure what's funnier, the fact that they dont come with a spare, or the fact your still under your ex's thumb

Was thinking the second bit too. What ever happened to NRMA or equivalent? If it was my ex, I'd be telling her where to stick the spare (unless she's become a friend with benefits - always a good idea to keep a "spare").

[not happy]

hope you never need to use the pump-it totally useless.If it can't pump up a syringe hole it not going to be much help.Buy her a spare n jack

[not happy]

Originally Posted by JC

Was thinking the second bit too. What ever happened to NRMA or equivalent? If it was my ex, I'd be telling her where to stick the spare (unless she's become a friend with benefits - always a good idea to keep a "spare").

it easier to help her than listen to her pleads for help and she still feeds me once or twice a week.She not a member of the NRMA-why would she with a week old car

[Peuty]

Because having r/side is always a good idea regardless of what car you drive?

[mik]

Originally Posted by not happy

What is it with new cars that they have no spare wheel.My ex has a new Focus and had a tiny puncture(syringe) on Friday and the pump n goo couldn't seal it.I had to go and take the flat off and go away and get it fixed leaving her standing by the side of the street,just glad it was still in business hours so the tyre guys were open.Now she has to go buy a spare rim ($350 Alloy) plus tyre
Anyone heard of the last crazy act-stick a syringe in the sidewall so the puncture is not repairable and a new tyre is needed to be purchased

usually sidewall punctures are from people gutter bashing/pinching the sidewall, not often to get a puncture from a nail or screw (or a syringe )in the sidewall, my neighbors kids zoom into the driveway across the road at high speed, i hear the dudum dudum as they run over the kerb....makes me wince every time,
yes its a problem in that situation without a spare, if you did`nt want to carry a spare and did`nt want to take the risk of getting stranded, the only option i can think of is get run flat tyres, or keep a few screws in the globebox and a screw driver to put in the offending hole temporarily if you can find it.
when you think about it, it is surprising they don`t offer run flats as an option on the no spare models.

[not happy]

yeah screws n driver a good idea even if she gets a spare-it a quick fix rather than change the wheel,I will put both in her car and mine=it definitely a syringe the hole so small or the builders firing a nail gun at the tyre.Can't repair the sidewall so a bigger hole won't matter

[mik]

just an after thought , have any of you blokes have tried to change a wheel on the front on a front wheel drive with the factory jack? a friend of the family turned up a while ago in a hyundai elantra, car only a couple of years old,
i noticed the front tyre was bald and offered to swap it over with the spare for her(she had no idea), this lady lived in the country and i thought it dangerous to drive considerable distance on that tyre, she said please do,

rather than drag the trolley jack out , i thought i was pulling the spare out anyway i`ll use the hyundies jack,
let me tell you, unless the woman changing the tyre was a body builder i can see no way would an average woman be able to have the muscle to get the front wheel off the ground using the factory jack and jacking point,
engine, gear box, diff weight all over the front wheels, jack was in good condition but the torque required was large, i`m a fairly big dude that can turn a wheel brace into a licorice strip if the wheel nut is too tight, so what i`m saying here is it was hard yakka for me and it would`nt surprise me if half the fwd cars a woman would`nt be able to get the car off the ground to change a front wheel wheel anyway.

[svo supporter]

New Mercs and BMW's come without spares also. They don't even have the lovely goo crap either. So it appears the Focus is following the European trend.

As for the syringe in the sidewall. Nothing surprises me. I find nails, tex screws and other stuff in sidewalls. It's generally in the rears. This is because the rear track is narrower than the front. So what happens is, the fronts pick it up and the rear comes along and wears it. So it's not a deliberate act of sabotage. In fact it's very common.

As for feeling round inside a tyre for the puncture. Stupid tyre fitter. Common sense tells you, sharp object = pain which can be done without. Commonsence practice is to use a torch and stick your head in there and look. If you can't see it that way, push on the tyre and then look again. Guaranteed to find it everytime.

[not happy]

don't know about other jacks but I have another warning.When I got my last lot of new tyres the guys at the shop overtightened the nuts.When I had a flat I was lucky I was at home as I couldn't crack the nuts with a normal wheel brace and had to dig in the garage for a stillson wrench to put on the wheel brace.If I had been away from home I would have been in deep ****.Now I have the stillson's in the car plus a bar that fits inside the factory brace -just in case

[not happy]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

New Mercs and BMW's come without spares also. They don't even have the lovely goo crap either. So it appears the Focus is following the European trend.

As for the syringe in the sidewall. Nothing surprises me. I find nails, tex screws and other stuff in sidewalls. It's generally in the rears. This is because the rear track is narrower than the front. So what happens is, the fronts pick it up and the rear comes along and wears it. So it's not a deliberate act of sabotage. In fact it's very common.

As for feeling round inside a tyre for the puncture. Stupid tyre fitter. Common sense tells you, sharp object = pain which can be done without. Commonsence practice is to use a torch and stick your head in there and look. If you can't see it that way, push on the tyre and then look again. Guaranteed to find it everytime.

It wasn't my comment about the tyre fitter.
The hole was up in the sidewall next to where the tread comes over the edge and on the front tyre so the rear wheel didn't apply in this case
The hole was tiny but the air and goo was coming out as fast as it was going in when the tyre was cracked at the workshop there was a cupfull of goo inside the tyre,the tyre guy had to wash it out with the hose-they say they have been getting heaps of tyres with this problem in the Homebush area

[not happy]

I only once had a sidewall puncture (big hole) from when I hit a silent cop in the middle of the corner,Never had a nail etc in the sidewall always in the tread area

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Peuty

Because having r/side is always a good idea regardless of what car you drive?

L/H is more appropriate. All the rubbish from the road gets pushed to the left side, because the road surface is designed for water run off.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by not happy

It wasn't my comment about the tyre fitter.
The hole was up in the sidewall next to where the tread comes over the edge and on the front tyre so the rear wheel didn't apply in this case
The hole was tiny but the air and goo was coming out as fast as it was going in when the tyre was cracked at the workshop there was a cupfull of goo inside the tyre,the tyre guy had to wash it out with the hose-they say they have been getting heaps of tyres with this problem in the Homebush area

Sorry it wasn't aimed specifically at you. It was a general comment.

The rest of my comments are a general overview from what I see. Of course like everything, there's always exception to the norm, ie where your ex's puncture was located on the car and the fact there's alot of similar causes of syringes being punctures. So please don't take offense.

[Brazen]

Apparantly the goo stuff is rubbish, it solidifies onto the alloy wheel and makes a massive mess inside the tyre making the whole tyre a throw-out job. Ironically some small punctures can be repaired by a tyre shop but as soon as you use the goo its 'game over' and you then need a new tyre.

And the tyre stores hate removing a tyre which has been gooed, very messy crappy job.

[Brazen]

also sometimes the spacesaver spare is about the ADR fuel consumption figure. 15kg will be enough sometimes to drop the fuel consumption sticker down a notch, which will knock down the CO2 emission label which will then increase the Green Guide rating.

[makattkd]

Doesn't 12 month free roadside assist come with new fords?

[brydie76]

Originally Posted by makattkd

Doesn't 12 month free roadside assist come with new fords?

Only ones built in Aus according to my dealer and the welcome letters we get (Falcons mention the roadside, others just mention to option of getting it). I got pretty confused about this when I got my Fiesta, and wasn't happy when I realised I'd have to renew the NRMA membership for 12 months (after that I will get the roadside under the servicing options).

On the topic of the Fiestas, I think the main reason why they took it out of the WTs was "market research"- ie cheaper cost and more boot space preferred over the full sized spare. Pretty happy I snagged a WSanyway- even though it's still a 14" steelie space saver. Much prefer that over the $300 option yellow bicycle tyre in the WTs!!!

[Peuty]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

L/H is more appropriate. All the rubbish from the road gets pushed to the left side, because the road surface is designed for water run off.

R/side = Roadside