What a day

[Freebird]

Yesterday I had a stairlift service call in Toledo, OH.  So I left here about 8:00 in the morning and headed that way. I got about 19 miles from Toledo, on the 80 Turnpike, and I heard what sounded like a tire going bad. Wasn't anything to do except slow down and keep going but a couple of miles later, my left rear tire blew out;  So, I knew it would be a pain but I got ready to change the tire.  This is a 2017 Dodge Caravan that I bought slightly used a couple of years ago for the business.  I've owned about 5 or 6 of these over the years and knew the routine. Pull the pad out of the center console crank down the tire, crawl under the van pull it out and etc.  Nope, turns out that this 2017 model did not come with a spare.  Only a jack and an inflator kit.  Never knew;  Inflator kis is useless with a blown out tire.  So I called AAA and they had to load me on a flat bed and take me to a tire shop. I have basic AAA and the tire shop was further than the plan allowed so I ended up paying $149.00 out of pocket for the tow. Got 4 new tires installed and got to my service call.  

So, guess what?  I HATE this trend where you do not get a spare tire with a vehicle,  More and more manufactures are doing it. I've heard the reason is to save weight and therefore improve fuel economy. What a joke. 

You can bet that I'll be looking for a donut spare to put in the back.  Those things are expensive new. I'll try to find a used one somewhere.

[luvmy40]

Call Feezles in PA, https://www.feezleautowrecking.com/ Then look around on ebay for un mounted, used spares.

 

When Kris got her "newish" Optima, it had the jack and fixaflat spare kit. Not even a pump with slime, just a can of fixaflat. We found a complete spare tire kit with mounting insert, jack, tire tool and spare donut at a very reasonable price from a scrap yard. The tire had never been mounted, everthing looked brand new. We paid less than half what a spare donut from Kia would have cost.

[bpate4home]

@Freebird Call Reeds Junk Yard on 82 in Columbia Station.  I used to be a frequent customer there and I have picked up several spare tires there both regular size and donut style.  I will say that was 20 years or more ago but I do believe they are still in business.

[RDawson]

A lot of dealers are going that route because it’s cheaper than a spare, mount kit, etc. When I was looking for Kandi’s Jeep the local dealers only had the compressor kits. Most were willing to get the spare to get the sale. I did go and buy those compressor kits and added them to the kid’s cars and wife’s in case they pick up a nail when I’m not around. 

[BlueSky]

Tires don't fail that often these days but they do fail.  I've needed a spare tire when on the road 5 times that I remember in the last 21 years.  

An oh by the way, if you own an old F150 close to the vintage of my 2002, the cable that holds the spare tire tends to break especially if you tighten it too much.  Mine fell off somewhere on the highway.  Hopefully it didn't cause a wreck behing me.  I was not aware  of it falling off.  I bought a spare wheel from a salvage yard and a used tire from a local tire shop while I as in Homestead, FL.  The new cable replacement from Ford has a spring on the end that reduces the tension on the cable keeping it from breaking.  The NHTSA tried to get Ford to recall the affected trucks but they refused.  

[Squidley]

Just do yourself a favor and buy a used full sized rim and tire. I did that on my 06 Pacifica before we gave it to our son. I found the same style aluminum rim on ebay and paid $75 shipped to our door.

[Freebird]

5 minutes ago, Squidley said:

Just do yourself a favor and buy a used full sized rim and tire. I did that on my 06 Pacifica before we gave it to our son. I found the same style aluminum rim on ebay and paid $75 shipped to our door.

That would probably be cheaper,  The problem is the space.  A full size won't fit underneath where the donut goes and besides,  I really don't want it under there anyway.  I load this van up at times with as many as 3 stairlifts.  The Donut will just take up much less room in the back.

[Pasta Burner]

I knew this was a thing with some sports cars citing weight and space and claiming to rely on run flats, but I never knew it carried over to passenger vehicles.  That’s ridiculous.

[saddlebum]

where ever they can save a penny even though they charge more.

[uncledj]

Buddy has a leaking tire on a 2011 Ford F250, so last weekend, while out at the farm with the motorhome for the holiday weekend,  he decided he wanted to put the spare on.   He didn't have the factory tire change kit, and lemme tell ya,....without the proper key, that tire ain't coming off without destroying some structure under the truck.   Youtube showed how easy it is to remove the tire using a 14mm socket, but it wouldn't work for us.   After a half hour or so he decided to drive it to a dealer to see if they could do anything with it.

Another one of Fords great ideas.

[Flyinfool]

Most shops have the removal kit for customers that have lost their key.

I have welded a nut to the top of the keyed nut......

It destroyed the keyed nut but it comes off easy.

Just don't over heat and anneal the stud.

[Pasta Burner]

4 hours ago, uncledj said:

Buddy has a leaking tire on a 2011 Ford F250, so last weekend, while out at the farm with the motorhome for the holiday weekend,  he decided he wanted to put the spare on.   He didn't have the factory tire change kit, and lemme tell ya,....without the proper key, that tire ain't coming off without destroying some structure under the truck.   Youtube showed how easy it is to remove the tire using a 14mm socket, but it wouldn't work for us.   After a half hour or so he decided to drive it to a dealer to see if they could do anything with it.

Another one of Fords great ideas.

You need a key?  My main key just took a shit and am now using the spare as a primary.  The broken one won’t start the vehicle or unlock or lock it; but I found a loophole to keep it as a reliable spare.  If I use the remote start (separate FOB) and the door keypad to get in, insert the physical key into the ignition, it will run until l turn it off.  This thread makes me want to test out changing to my spare tire on the 2014 Expy in case I actually ever need to.

[uncledj]

There's a couple of different ways Ford does it.   One is a cover over the hole in the bumper where you insert the rod to lower the spare.   The cover has a key slot in it, and the key is hidden in the vehicle key-fob.

The one I was talking about is on the end of the rod that you insert and turn to lower the spare.   It's like a mini lug nut style wheel lock.   Youtube says a 12 point 14 mm socket can be driven over the special protruding stub that the special rod fits over.   

Might be able to do it with a cheap socket, but we had good ones and we couldn't drive it over the stub.   I get the feeling the cheap sockets will stretch.            

                                                                                        

[Pasta Burner]

I’ve seen the through the bumper access before but this doesn’t have that.  The expedition access to the winch is directly above the spare inside the vehicle through the floor.  I’m guessing this design allows for not having to worry about theft and a keyed access hole.  Obviously with a truck bed this would be a bad design.

[Patch]

I can relate

Kind of like buying a new Chev with duel tanks and the switch doesn't work first trip to nowhere

Or, same truck, 5 blow outs taking 2 days to do a 6 hour trip

And of course there's Honda, blowout, jack the car, pull the donut out of of a full trunk, on a reserve with a tire wrench that is too short to break the nuts loose, to find the rim seized to the hub. Not my car was helping a Lady out.

[djh3]

Have seen this for awhile now. Shoot back in the 80's I think Caddy started this no spare thing. Anyone remember the "inflate a spare" GM . Little skinny tire and a can of air to blow it up. My son has a Scion. He had put those aluminum lug nuts on his wheels. Well 2 dissimilar metals dont work well over time. They were those 12 point special socket jobs. Twisted a couple rite off. Then your down to a close fit impact socket and hammer it on. Good thing it was in his yard when it went flat.

[Marcarl]

I had a flat once,, and after working in the mud and snow in my Sunday suit to change it out, discovered it was only flat at the bottom!!! Things they don't tell yah in the owners manual!!!

[Freebird]

35 minutes ago, Marcarl said:

I had a flat once,, and after working in the mud and snow in my Sunday suit to change it out, discovered it was only flat at the bottom!!! Things they don't tell yah in the owners manual!!!

So why didn’t you just rotate it and put the flat spot on top?   Canadians.   Geeezz. 

[Marcarl]

8 minutes ago, Freebird said:

So why didn’t you just rotate it and put the flat spot on top?   Canadians.   Geeezz. 

What do you mean..... Canadians???? We tried, but it wouldn't turn. Found out later that both back wheels needed to be off the ground and there was only one jack. Guess it was cheaper to have a spare rather than put in 2 jacks,,,,, Americans!!!! and their engineers!!!

[RoTorKev]

My Hyundai Elantra had a blow out while my wife was driving it, same thing, no spare and ended up having it trailered to a tire place. The next off day I had I grabbed a donut that I had in the garage, bought a scissor jack and lug wrench and mounted them,

[djh3]

Engineers ahhh There's one of them behind every good train wreck.

[larrydr]

I went to service a garage out of town early this spring , and when I was done the customer pointed to my rear wheel on my truck ,,it was flat  ...He filled the tire with the air from is shop compressor  and ran my hand over the tire and found a hole ...Went to my tool box and looked for a screw a bit larger than the hole and screwed it in , the leak stopped . I drove it a 20 minute drive back to my shop and the screw was still in the tire and the tire was full 

[Freebird]

8 hours ago, larrydr said:

I went to service a garage out of town early this spring , and when I was done the customer pointed to my rear wheel on my truck ,,it was flat  ...He filled the tire with the air from is shop compressor  and ran my hand over the tire and found a hole ...Went to my tool box and looked for a screw a bit larger than the hole and screwed it in , the leak stopped . I drove it a 20 minute drive back to my shop and the screw was still in the tire and the tire was full 

Great idea.  Unfortunately, the side was blown out of my tire.

[bpate4home]

9 hours ago, djh3 said:

Engineers ahhh There's one of them behind every good train wreck.

LOL.  Yes but they keep a lot of us employed fixing their 'design flaws'. 

[saddlebum]

27 minutes ago, Freebird said:

Great idea.  Unfortunately, the side was blown out of my tire.

What..... you only carry one screw?