More New Cars Are Not Fitted With A Spare Wheel At All
Tuesday, 17. August 2010
- Image by Scott Clark via Flickr
It seems that every week I have something to say about tyres – and this week isn’t going to be any different. It would seem that there has been a growing trend towards the removal of a spare wheels from new cars, first of all replacing a full spare with a skinny emergency wheel and more recently with a puncture repair kit consisting of either a can of foam that you squirt into the tyre inflating it and sealing the puncture at the same time, or a small compressor operated from one of the car’s electric sockets and a can of gum, used to seal the puncture. Now whilst this is admirable from the green perspective, as you use more fuel when carting around a full sized spare, using a tyre repair kit can be costly in terms of lost time, it can be very awkward using some puncture repair kits according to the RAC. The cost of providing the spare is something that the manufacturers haven’t missed either, which obviously works out much more than the cost of a can of tyre repair foam. The RAC has also pointed out that the repair kits are useless when treating a tyre that has tyre wall damage and once the tyre has been temporarily repaired with foam or gum it needs to be replaced as soon as possible which is another expense. This is clearly not good from a green perspective as a tyre that could have been repaired is having to be replaced, even though it may have had very little wear. Run flat tyres are an alternative but are expensive to fit in the first place and they are expensive to replace. The RAC are therefore recommending that if you have an option to have a full sized spare fitted in the car when you order it you should do so, especially if the car is for business covering high mileages. What are your thoughts on spare wheels being replaced by repair kits? By Graham Hill
