CHECK YOUR SPARE TYRE _ and the NUTS!!

Chris Skelton · December 13, 2018

Was watching Mike Brewer (dull TV choices!) and he drives off in his new purchase, then, gets a FLAT TYRE!

Thought; would be ironic if the spare was useless!

Got me thinking; how often do we - ever? - check our spare, and/or the wheel nuts?

So today, dug out my spare...it was nearly flat! Never used. Inflated it.

Then....after locating the tools.....tried to loosen the nuts. Impossible!

Have booked in to my friendly (down the hill from me) garage, to get all my nuts loosened.

Where the security nut?

Do I have spare nuts, as the spare is steel, not alloy, and needs different nuts.....

It's not easy!

My neighbour pulled in. Had recently had a flat/wheel bend on M5; had great difficulty getting nuts off.......

I noticed she's still on the spare though!

Maybe I'll look out for a spare alloy.......

Drive safely, folks!

Farqui · December 13, 2018

+1 to this, I recently had a flat and didn't have a suitable tyre iron/lug nut wrench/wheel nut wrench call it what you will. Not having the right have spanner caused us to wait over an hour for recovery but we could have swapped the wheels over and been on our way.

Lug nuts are often over tightened by tyre shops and their 'windy guns'. I always re-torque mine afterwards so that I can get them off with my own spanner (which I have since added back to the toolkit).

Ha, I often have a panic as to where I last left the locking wheel nut. Friends have suffered from tyre shops/dealerships not putting their locking wheel nuts back in the car and only finding out during a breakdown, this gets expensive real fast.

Britprius · December 13, 2018

44 minutes ago, Chris Skelton said:

Was watching Mike Brewer (dull TV choices!) and he drives off in his new purchase, then, gets a FLAT TYRE!

Thought; would be ironic if the spare was useless!

Got me thinking; how often do we - ever? - check our spare, and/or the wheel nuts?

So today, dug out my spare...it was nearly flat! Never used. Inflated it.

Then....after locating the tools.....tried to loosen the nuts. Impossible!

Have booked in to my friendly (down the hill from me) garage, to get all my nuts loosened.

Where the security nut?

Do I have spare nuts, as the spare is steel, not alloy, and needs different nuts.....

It's not easy!

My neighbour pulled in. Had recently had a flat/wheel bend on M5; had great difficulty getting nuts off.......

I noticed she's still on the spare though!

Maybe I'll look out for a spare alloy.......

Drive safely, folks!

Some good advise there Chris. I bet the great majority of folks do not check there spare tyre pressures at the same time as those on the car.

The OEM alloy nuts however are designed to be used with the steel space saver spare.

To overcome the problem of tight wheel nuts I carry a 12 volt lighter plug in electric wheel nut impact gun. It came in a handy plastic case, and choice of 4 impact sockets. In my GS450H it fastens nicely in the boot on the righthand side with the small strap that I believe is there to hold a first aid kit. It saves much time, and struggle changing wheels also working on my caravan wheels when towing. At from memory it was £25 well spent.

It has come in handy removing stuck nuts for other people I have come across stuck on the side of the road. I also carry a small compressor, and a can of tyre gue.

John.

Chris111 · December 13, 2018

Thanks @Chris Skelton. I do check mine occasionally and I also always re-torque the nuts myself after any work done but good advice that I'm sure a lot of people overlook.

@Farqui and @Britprius I believe that there is a further problem for us GS 450h owners as in what do you do with the wheel and tyre that has had the puncture after fitting the space saver spare as a full size GS 450h wheel with tyre will not fit in the boot! If you've got a full car that will be a problem. I'm sure I have also read a thread on hear a few years back were the poster was stating that if you use a can of 'tyre gue' it will wreck the TPMS.

Farqui · December 13, 2018

@Chris111, ah yes that also became apparent for us recently. We sat the full size upright in the boot and everything else was dumped on the back seat. Not ideal but thankfully there were just 2 of us.

But in hindsight we should have put all of the boot back (wheel support, floor, suitcases, etc) and then just put the bad wheel on the back seat.

Other than this I can't remember the last time we had a flat. Lets hope we don't have another soon.

colin79666 · December 13, 2018

Yep - check the spare at least twice a year and have an inflater in the car should the need arise. I also carry an extending wrench as the one with the spare is too short if the bolts are done up tight/welded on. Top tip - if you buy an extending wrench check the socket actually fits your wheel bolts. I found the one I had for years did not fit the size used on Japanese cars and had to buy a different socket from Halfords when I got my Lexus - fortunately I'd tested before actually having to use it in anger. Not so fortunately I recently came to the aid of a colleague and then discovered my socket then didn't fit the works Renault 😣

Chris Skelton · December 14, 2018

Near neighbour thought I'd hexed him when he had a flat this morning!

Off to get my nuts loosened (not by the neighbour!) (-:

Chris Skelton · December 14, 2018

Even the mechanic had a hard job loosening the nuts! Imagine on a wet night......

Now have full set.

Inflated tyre. jack.Tools. Locking nut. Nuts that don't need the Hulk to loosen.

Coffee flask/Brandy...later.

Gearoidmuar · January 31, 2019

I've a Lexus IS300h, 3y old. I was concerned by not have a spacesaver wheel or a proper spare as I sometimes do long drives where a long wait for a puncture would be a no-no, so I bought a spare full-sized alloy wheel with tyre and bung it in the boot when I'm going on a long journey.
Going to the shops two days ago, the pressure warning light came on so I went to a garage and started testing the pressures. The valve in one wheel cracked (with no significant pressure on it) and the valve fell out. There I was. Completely flat tyre. Fortunately I'd left the spare in the car so I took this out and with considerable difficulty, changed it. The jack in the Lexus scores about 2 out of ten for mechanical efficiency. I'd different nuts with the new wheel but was supplied with them and its own spanner with it. I'd have had to get a lorry as these valves are Lexus specific and cost a bit as well. Had it been a puncture, it wouldn't have cost much.
I can't understand why you can't even buy a spacesaver for a Lexus from Lexus Ireland, but I'd enquired.

Malc · January 31, 2019

no hope of me ever changing my flat when I have one, physically just can't do it these days. 😐

The last time, a month or two back ( the third flat tyre in about 18 years i think ! ) and I just called the RAC, half hour later he arrived, used my spare, pumped it up a little from being a bit low pressure, changed the wheel and there i was, on my way .... all torqued up to perfection too I believe

I don't understand why new cars these days don't come with a spare wheel and tyre, weight and cost saving by the manufacturer takes it to the extreme of stupidity methinks

Malc

The-Acre · January 31, 2019

Strangely, my Celsior doesn't have a full size spare like everyone else's LS, just a space saver. My Volvo has a very clever wheel brace that has an extending handle increasing the leverage.

GSLV6 · January 31, 2019

The TPMS issues is a very good point as I hadn't considered that and have been glibly carting around tyre weld, should the worst happen. I'll ditch that now and just use a plugging kit instead if for any reason I can't get the wheel off (it's what most of the AA vans use anyway in emergencies) and keep the compressor in the back of the car. I keep such a kit on the bike and they are relatively simple to use, most being based upon finding the puncture (obviously), removing the offending item (if still embedded), reaming the hole out using a tool provided, the smearing glue on a sealing band which is then pushed into the reamed hole. It's left 5 or 10 minutes then cut off flush. It's more reliable than tyre weld anyway and you can drive up to 50mph with some to a garage to get the puncture properly repaired.

GSLV6 · January 31, 2019

Just come across this stuff which claims to be safe to use with tpms systems:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-x-Emergency-Spare-Wheel-Alt-for-Honda-Civic-Flat-Repair-Space-Saver/172713549388?fits=Car+Make%3AHonda|Model%3ACivic|Cars+Year%3A2016&hash=item2836879e4c:g:IR8AAOSw-K9ZNHBS:rk:1:pf:1&frcectupt=true

Not sure if I'd take that risk personally.

olliesgrandad · January 31, 2019

On 12/13/2018 at 6:30 PM, Chris111 said:

Thanks @Chris Skelton. I do check mine occasionally and I also always re-torque the nuts myself after any work done but good advice that I'm sure a lot of people overlook.

@Farqui and @Britprius I believe that there is a further problem for us GS 450h owners as in what do you do with the wheel and tyre that has had the puncture after fitting the space saver spare as a full size GS 450h wheel with tyre will not fit in the boot! If you've got a full car that will be a problem. I'm sure I have also read a thread on hear a few years back were the poster was stating that if you use a can of 'tyre gue' it will wreck the TPMS.

I used Halfords tyre goo on my GS300h last year and there was no problem with TPMS.

olliesgrandad · January 31, 2019

Be very Wary of putting a damaged tyre in the car unless it's been deflated.

A few years ago when I had a BMW Z3 2.8 a couple were in Scotland in a similar car, got a bulge in the tyre wall and fitted space saver. No room for wheel in the boot so the lady had the full size wheel on her lap. The tyre exploded and killed her.

mrfunex · January 31, 2019

16 minutes ago, olliesgrandad said:

Be very Wary of putting a damaged tyre in the car unless it's been deflated.

A few years ago when I had a BMW Z3 2.8 a couple were in Scotland in a similar car, got a bulge in the tyre wall and fitted space saver. No room for wheel in the boot so the lady had the full size wheel on her lap. The tyre exploded and killed her.

A ~30psi tyre exploded and killed someone? 😏

Edit: wow.. apparently it’s true! Didn’t think tyres would explode until well north of 100psi, or that 30psi would have enough power to actually kill someone!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8600833.stm