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Spare Wheel Or Not?


DAN_B

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Im also in the 'foam only, not had to use it yet' brigade, which rightly or wrongly has done me proud for the last five years.

Rairly am I i driving the kitcar on an essential journey, at which point, if it fails, its only an inconvenience, and I can either use the can of foam, or not.

Daniel

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Carried a spare wheel, jack and wheel brace for 20 years and never used them once. During the refurb last year decided to bin them and go naked at the back. Not yet(!) needed a spare.

Tempt fate much? :)

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I took mine off 10 years ago and have never missed it. I have a can of foam sealant for luck. The spare is a poor solution in my opinion because on my car at least, the tyres are directional and the front and rear wheels are a different offset. So it was only a replacement rear offside tyre. And statistically, in the UK at least, that is the least likely tyre to get a puncture in!

Ben

Good point! I carried a space saver steel wheel for a while. But reduced that to a can of foam. I'm sure a net search on a mobile would find a very local, to where puncture happened, place that would sort the wheel out.

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Then again, some feel safer with having a buffer behind them in a low speed hit up the trumpet. As I say, really down to you. :)

But then again, think of all the weight in the spare wheel, then think of it attached to a piece of thin glass fibre by a couple of bolts and then consider whats going to happen to it in any sort of crash that brings you to a very sudden halt. That's an awful lot of mass that" going to get flung forwards/upwards.

Also I don't really get the low speed impact thing. The spare wheel is going to be hit in its strongest place if your hit in the back. So it's just going to get pushed into the tub, its not an impact absorbing structure designed to collapse. In fact, if you take it a step further, instead of the front - deformable - impact absorbing end of another car hitting you, you're actually adding a nice rigid structure that will take the brunt of the hit and concentrate it down into an area the size of the wheel!

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I'm with you on that Mr G, just saying that's how some people feel - incorrectly, in our joint opinions! :yes:

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I understand! :d quoting was just a handy way of avoiding using "some say..."

It's two and a half years now since I owned a car with a spare wheel of any sort. Have been on run-flats on the tin tops for the last two, so don't even have a gunge kit with those!

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Personally, Id go with the tyre repair kits (bike style) rather than foam. BMW, (I think) do some really good ones that come with little compressed air cylinders to re-inflate the tyre. I know Blatters has recommended one of the kits a number of times - he's tested them in anger too!

I think this might be the one..

Tirerp.jpg

Obviously, similar to the previously shown kit, but with a bit of added German efficiency ;):laugh:

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I bought a VX220 turbo new in 2004 which had a can of foam as standard. I've also owned Westfields now for 6 years and only ever carried a can of foam, never a spare tyre. I've never had to use it in any of the cars. In fact my entire in-car tool kit these days consists of a can of tyre foam, an AA card and a mobile phone.

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Personally, Id go with the tyre repair kits (bike style) rather than foam. BMW, (I think) do some really good ones that come with little compressed air cylinders to re-inflate the tyre. I know Blatters has recommended one of the kits a number of times - he's tested them in anger too!

I think this might be the one..

Tirerp.jpg

Obviously, similar to the previously shown kit, but with a bit of added German efficiency ;):laugh:

Do you have a link to this, pse? I have a Nealy "Rat's Tail" kit, but need to get hold of the CO2 canisters for next season (and ditch the compressor).

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I just Googled for BMW bike tyre repair kits...

Google

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How about here:

http://www.motorwork...6&y=21&spPage=2

Not much money either. The nasty foam with VAG cars costs about £45 from what I've heard.

Good link, they do the spare gas cylinders too - worth picking up some extra ones, obviously the kit is intended to inflate a bike tyre, not sure if it'll have the extra puff for a car tyre without a few extra.

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