A rant about the lack of spare tires on modern cars

[barnhart]

We have a 2015 KIA Sedona. Were on the way home from Canada on New Year's Day and had a flat tire. It was snowing hard.
Thankfully there was a donut spare tire, but it was up underneath. To get to it, we needed to remove a plate under the floor mat behind the front passenger seat. Then we unscrewed a bolt and it let down a cable until the spare tire was on the ground. Then we twisted it 50 more times or so until the cable was extended long enough that we could drag the tire out from under the van. Worked quite slick. But our van was quite full and no place to put the dirty flat tire and wheel. Thankfully we had a hitch carrier. and we could strap it on there.
And for the first time in 25 years since I had a hitch carrier, I also had a 6"riser/extender that keeps the carrier up off the ground and away from the tailgate of the vehicle. Now I can walk between the carrier and the van to load the van and the tailgate does not hit my totes on the carrier and it does not drag on the ground when I go over a low spot.
This is indeed is one of the best investments I've ever made and wish I would have had it the last 25 years.
www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJSCLWJ1
So go ahead and get one, plus an aluminum hitch carrier, and all your spare tire space worries are settled.

This riser/extender will also allow me to pull a trailer while having a hitch carrier above the trailer hitch. Talk about space efficiency!

I also drive a 2015 Sedona but I've never had the spare out, except to check it for air. I did recently help someone along the interstate get the spare out from under a Toyota Sienna similarly arranged, and it went smoothly.

My observation is rear tires are more prone to failure, but if I had a flat on a drive wheel, I would consider swapping a rear tire to the front and using the donut on the back. Especially if I were forced to drive some distance on it.

The existing system has worked well for me and I can't imagine lugging around a full size spare in the back. But I also drive a vehicle with commonly tires available everywhere.

[JohnH]

Also tires are a lot more reliable than they used to be so spares are needed less often.

It's been over 20 years since I had a flat tire. A more recent emergency involved a coolant air bleed hose; I should carry a spare one of those.

My grandpa onherited a car to me. It came with a set of parts including a fuel pump in the back

Once on a trip to wytheville va my fuel pump went bad and I discovered the part back there. Like he was watching out for me.

[Neto]

Also tires are a lot more reliable than they used to be so spares are needed less often.

It's been over 20 years since I had a flat tire. A more recent emergency involved a coolant air bleed hose; I should carry a spare one of those.

My grandpa onherited a car to me. It came with a set of parts including a fuel pump in the back

Once on a trip to wytheville va my fuel pump went bad and I discovered the part back there. Like he was watching out for me.

On long trips, my dad always carried a full set of tools, an extra starter and alternator. But that was back when you could actually access these parts fairly easily, and could work safely on the side of the road if necessary. I had two flats on my first long trip with my first car - all in the first day. But I was running very old tires that were already very low on tread. Poor college kid. (Both flats were blow-outs on the rear. Only blow out I've had since then was a trailer tire, doing 70 MPH, while hauling the 2010 Caravan to Oklahoma. Dual axle trailer, piece of cake. People blow blow-outs way out of proportion. See what I did there? )

[Ken]

If I knew for certain we were going to be driving some place with very limited charging options I would just take the Highlander which we are keeping.

In any event, here is part of the calculation. At our current gas price of $3.25/gallon and our current electrical price of 8.79 cents per kilowatt-hour it will be 7.5-times cheaper to operate the Tesla compared to the Highlander.

Comparing the Tesla to the Highlander is pointless. Compare it to the Prius which you are not keeping, or to whatever non-EV you might consider.

The Highlander is the other car we actually own. But nevertheless…

The Prius is about twice as efficient as the Highlander so it would be about 3.25 times cheaper to run a Tesla over a Prius. For a car that costs roughly the same for the same level of trim.

[Grace]

A few winters ago, we were with some friends at a cabin, and it snowed about a foot. When it was time to leave our newer VW Jetta couldn't make it up the driveway. My husband being from the old school, spun the tires hoping to get up the snow-covered drive. That was a mistake, because the cars sensors, put the car in "limp mode". Being in limp mode prevented us from going faster than 5 miles an hour. Fortunately, someone else had a tow rope and pulled us up the drive. But that didn't solve the limp mode problem. Hubby called a mechanic friend who suggested disconnecting the battery for about a half hour, then reconnecting it, and hopefully that would correct the problem. But we lacked a wrench to disconnecting the battery. Fortunately, a kind man in a house close by left us borrow his wrench. Disconnecting and then reconnecting the battery worked temporally, but the car did need some work after we got home.

We now carry tools, a tow rope, extra coolant, and various other emergency items in the trunk.

[Ernie]

My observation is rear tires are more prone to failure, but if I had a flat on a drive wheel, I would consider swapping a rear tire to the front and using the donut on the back. Especially if I were forced to drive some distance on it.

Another thing we have in common! I need to meet this guy!

That's what we did the other day in the snow storm. A donut on the front in snow is a very helpless feeling. I had snow tires on otherwise so swapping front to back made a huge difference. It was New Year's Day but some kind men at Bradford, PA Walmart offered to do the swap front to back for free which was very nice of them since they did not have a snow tire to replace the one that got sliced.

[Neto]

My observation is rear tires are more prone to failure, but if I had a flat on a drive wheel, I would consider swapping a rear tire to the front and using the donut on the back. Especially if I were forced to drive some distance on it.

Another thing we have in common! I need to meet this guy!

That's what we did the other day in the snow storm. A donut on the front in snow is a very helpless feeling. I had snow tires on otherwise so swapping front to back made a huge difference. It was New Year's Day but some kind men at Bradford, PA Walmart offered to do the swap front to back for free which was very nice of them since they did not have a snow tire to replace the one that got sliced.

The temporary spare will get you to a safer place to do the swap. They say it's OK to go up to 50 miles before it starts to damage the transaxle, but I would do the swap as soon as possible. (Obviously, if you have an all-wheel drive that cannot shut down the secondary drive axle, then it's either get the full-sized tire fixed before going far at all, or wait until such services are available.) If your tires are a common size, Walmart would be an option for when most actual tire shops would be closed.

I had a flat tire on my 72 Coronet in January, near Des Moines Iowa. At around 2:00 AM. I had a ride with me, and we took turns jumping out to do as much as we could in a minute or two - it was around 30 or 40 below zero (Fahrenheit).

[Ken]

My observation is rear tires are more prone to failure, but if I had a flat on a drive wheel, I would consider swapping a rear tire to the front and using the donut on the back. Especially if I were forced to drive some distance on it.

Another thing we have in common! I need to meet this guy!

That's what we did the other day in the snow storm. A donut on the front in snow is a very helpless feeling. I had snow tires on otherwise so swapping front to back made a huge difference. It was New Year's Day but some kind men at Bradford, PA Walmart offered to do the swap front to back for free which was very nice of them since they did not have a snow tire to replace the one that got sliced.

The temporary spare will get you to a safer place to do the swap. They say it's OK to go up to 50 miles before it starts to damage the transaxle, but I would do the swap as soon as possible. (Obviously, if you have an all-wheel drive that cannot shut down the secondary drive axle, then it's either get the full-sized tire fixed before going far at all, or wait until such services are available.) If your tires are a common size, Walmart would be an option for when most actual tire shops would be closed.

I had a flat tire on my 72 Coronet in January, near Des Moines Iowa. At around 2:00 AM. I had a ride with me, and we took turns jumping out to do as much as we could in a minute or two - it was around 30 or 40 below zero (Fahrenheit).

The key is to get a donut spare that has the same diameter as your regular tire. They don't all come like that but if you are buying an after-market donut spare you can easily find one that matches the car's tire diameter and then this will not be an issue. It will still be narrower so not as durable for long distances or heavy loads. But it will be something you can drive on indefinitely if necessary.

I'm looking at after-market donut spares for Teslas and they are all the identical tire diameter as the OEM tires. Just narrower to save space and weight.

Also if you have an odd size tire, you can replace it with a more standard size tire if you are willing to buy a cheap new rim. There are often 3 or more wheel/tire size combinations that will give you the same size diameter tire. For example, the different trim models of the Toyota Prius come in the following tire sizes: 195/65R15, 205/55R16 and 215/45R17. They are all the same diameter, you are just increasing rim size and shrinking tire size. So the much more common 195/65R15 can replace a harder to find 215/45/R17. That is what I'm doing right now. In other words, my spare is 195/65R15 and the rest of the tires on the car are 215/45/R17. Works fine.

[mike]

The key is to get a donut spare that has the same diameter as your regular tire. They don't all come like that but if you are buying an after-market donut spare you can easily find one that matches the car's tire diameter and then this will not be an issue. It will still be narrower so not as durable for long distances or heavy loads. But it will be something you can drive on indefinitely if necessary.

Our Dodge Caravan at work has the donut spare in a special holder under the midsection of the vehicle, and is released by cranking a cable with a special tool. That holder won't hold anything other than the small, skinny donut. We tried it. So in order to carry a full size spare you have to keep it inside lying in the back of the vehicle, not something you really want to do all the time. Super annoying.

[Ken]

The key is to get a donut spare that has the same diameter as your regular tire. They don't all come like that but if you are buying an after-market donut spare you can easily find one that matches the car's tire diameter and then this will not be an issue. It will still be narrower so not as durable for long distances or heavy loads. But it will be something you can drive on indefinitely if necessary.

Our Dodge Caravan at work has the donut spare in a special holder under the midsection of the vehicle, and is released by cranking a cable with a special tool. That holder won't hold anything other than the small, skinny donut. We tried it. So in order to carry a full size spare you have to keep it inside lying in the back of the vehicle, not something you really want to do all the time. Super annoying.

My old Sienna was the same. The issue is the diameter not the width of the spare.

Take a tape measure and see if it is the same diameter (or circumference) as your regular tires. If so you can run it as long as necessary really. Handling will be affected as well as load capacity and speed. But it will be fine and get you to where you need to go or to where you can get the tire fixed/replaced. If it is smaller diameter then you could theoretically have issues with the transaxle over time.

If you want to carry a full size spare on a minivan for remote expeditions (we used to drive back and forth to Alaska) then your best bet is either a swing-away hitch mount spare tire holder, or put it on a rack on top of the vehicle. Yakima and other rack manufacturers make roof racks designed to hold spare tires. I wouldn't do that for around town driving. But for a long expedition such as to Alaska? Most definitely.