Questions about spare tires on car

[Workaholic]

Again after 2/3 weeks into looking for a new car and I stumble onto the Volkswagen Touran and more questions:
It's a great car by the looks of it (guy didn't feel like taking us for a test drive so dont know what it feels like....) but the main thing that hit us was:

THERE'S NO SPARE TIRE!!!!

His excuse was that with this model you get a tube which is similiar to glue and you just apply to the bust/blown tire and it heals it regardless of the size of cut etc.

Questions are:

1) Is the car road legal (as I'm sure somewhere I read that you need a spare tire or you can't drive long distances etc...)
2) Is it safe to stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway and apply the liquid to say "driver side front" tire....." when the usual approach is get out of car and walk up the bank and await rescue!
3) Does these seals work? or do they go again after a few miles?
4) If they work, how long do they take to seal?
5) Have those roadside phones on motorways been taken out of service yet? I sometimes leave my mobile at home and don't want to be left on the motorway if the seal fails.
6) What's the shelf life of the seal in the bottle? and how do you store them? hot weather included?
7) How much do they cost to replace?

Questions 3 and 4 asked baring in mind on some motorways there can be a considerable distance between junctions/service stations....

[MadduckUK]

stolen from ciao

although the extra seats can be very useful, so would a spare wheel. instead you have a mini compressor and a bottle of goo which you squeeze into the tyre. Of course if you have a blow out, slash to the tyre or get 2 punctures you are stranded, all you can hope for is a member of the recovery services towing you to the nearest garage to have any old tyre put on because you can't be fussy in the middle of nowhere. So when purchasing this vehicle, bear in mind you may have to purchase an extra wheel to put in the back of the car for long journeys.

[99Flake]

A lack of spare tyre is very common now, you get the goo instead. BMW have been doing this on their M series for a while now. It is safe and does work but as said above a blow out means needing that very nice man from the AA.

Quite often you get run flat tyres on those cars anyway so you can limp home.

[dave87]

All the highway code says is that if there is a spare tyre fitted, it has to be in road worthy condition. It doesn't say anything about there having to be one.

[Flibb]

If you have no spare and no bottle of goo, the recovery services can refuse to recover you unless you pay. Happened to a friend, he was a member, but the T&Cs are that you must have a tyre or bottle of gunk in the car. Even if the gunk fails to sort the problem you did try so they should sort you out.

[SilentDeath]

^ that is a good point, not sure if its true or not. Never had a puncture though...

2) Is it safe to stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway and apply the liquid to say "driver side front" tire....." when the usual approach is get out of car and walk up the bank and await rescue!

What happened to changing the spare youself? I certinally wouldnt walk up the bank - its bloody cold out there most cars only takes a couple of minutes to change the wheel and on mine most of that is trying to remove it from under the boot :/

If you do get a car with a spare, id say its definatly worth getting a can of the stuff aswell, they cost about £10.

also if you do use the can, the tyre will need to be cleaned before it can be repaired, no idea how much extra places change for that.



Anyway with the can of stuff, you have a max speed of 30mph (i think, says on the can) and I would guess its good for 10-20 miles.

[MD]

mine has no spare, but you have just rememinded me to check there is goo - only had the thing 8 months - oops

[Workaholic]

What happened to changing the spare youself? I certinally wouldnt walk up the bank - its bloody cold out there most cars only takes a couple of minutes to change the wheel and on mine most of that is trying to remove it from under the boot :/

Anyway with the can of stuff, you have a max speed of 30mph (i think, says on the can) and I would guess its good for 10-20 miles.

Point of the thread is that there is no spare tire and due to the car most probably being always used for 7 seat config and other shopping there will be no space to hide one. My (or my parents') Ford Galaxy has it hidden under the car held up by a metal rope in the boot....

Hmm, I guess I've have a line of oldies behind me waving their hands and shouting ******..... after I've repaired the tyre.

mine has no spare, but you have just rememinded me to check there is goo - only had the thing 8 months - oops

No sweat.....

[jimbouk]

My old P reg fiesta had one stowed on a metal tray under the boot, only fell out a couple of times because the screw holding it up undid itself a bit...

I guess you could buy one of those skinny emergency tires that have become trendy on new cars these days. Still not ideal for long journeys but it's got to be better than a bodge job with glue!

[depresion]

The only real problem with the tyre sealing compounds is that it makes a right mess inside the wheel/tire, and it's equaly as nasty to clean out when fitting a new one to the rim. Blow outs are extreamly rare with modern construction and as for getting two punctures I'd say it's a lot easyer to have 2 cans of gunk than 2 spares with you.

[joshwa]

Get a spare wheel / tyre from a scrap yard, and strap it to the roof. I'm sure VW would appreciate the marketing (and then they might include one in their next model)

[hitman67]

I laugh at you all, with my full size spare strapped to the back door

My families old A2 had a can of gunk, and I could not get the studs to line up with the hub whatever I tried.

[Workaholic]

Get a spare wheel / tyre from a scrap yard, and strap it to the roof. I'm sure VW would appreciate the marketing (and then they might include one in their next model)

But then I wouldn't be able to fit in some car parks and surely break my back getting the tyre off......

I laugh at you all, with my full size spare strapped to the back door

My families old A2 had a can of gunk, and I could not get the studs to line up with the hub whatever I tried.

Hmm I'm sure that somewhere I read that thief saw those tires as opportunnities to steal!

[hitman67]

Hmm I'm sure that somewhere I read that thief saw those tires as opportunnities to steal!

Even though it's only a steelie it has a locker on it, and it is a heavy buggar! 235/85r16 A/T

[SilentDeath]

Originally Posted by SilentDeath View Post
What happened to changing the spare youself? I certinally wouldnt walk up the bank - its bloody cold out there most cars only takes a couple of minutes to change the wheel and on mine most of that is trying to remove it from under the boot :/

Anyway with the can of stuff, you have a max speed of 30mph (i think, says on the can) and I would guess its good for 10-20 miles.

Point of the thread is that there is no spare tire and due to the car most probably being always used for 7 seat config and other shopping there will be no space to hide one. My (or my parents') Ford Galaxy has it hidden under the car held up by a metal rope in the boot....

Hmm, I guess I've have a line of oldies behind me waving their hands and shouting ******..... after I've repaired the tyre.

But my point, was that if your unsure of the saftey aspects related to standing by your front wheel whist squirting a can of goo inside it... what good could a spare wheel possibly do you?


And I think you will find its not a rope, metal or otherwise holding up the tray and your spare wheel - It is a bolt, a rusty long one, which goes through the boot, and into an equally rusty steel tray (holding a very almost equally rusty steelie).......... making it possibly one of the most annoying and frustraiting things to be done on a car in the dark, on a muddy country lane/mud track (parked with the rear of the car over a nice soggy mud puddle)... where the one tool you need more than any other is a can of wd40... and not a socket set luckly that has never happened to me. It happened to my dad though, but the primera has the spare inside the boot....

[Workaholic]

But my point, was that if your unsure of the saftey aspects related to standing by your front wheel whist squirting a can of goo inside it... what good could a spare wheel possibly do you?


And I think you will find its not a rope, metal or otherwise holding up the tray and your spare wheel - It is a bolt, a rusty long one, which goes through the boot, and into an equally rusty steel tray (holding a very almost equally rusty steelie).......... making it possibly one of the most annoying and frustraiting things to be done on a car in the dark, on a muddy country lane/mud track (parked with the rear of the car over a nice soggy mud puddle)... where the one tool you need more than any other is a can of wd40... and not a socket set luckly that has never happened to me. It happened to my dad though, but the primera has the spare inside the boot....

My (dad's) Ford Galaxy spare tire is kept at the rear of the car underneath the bodywork, to get at it we need to open the boot, then a cover and using a wrench/socket set *slowly* unscrew a cap. This then allows for the supporting *rope* to lower which holds the actual tyre....

All cars are different in this case!