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13 Nov

Does It Even Save Space?

Posted by Christine in Blog. Tagged: , , , , , .

This was the plan:

  • Go to work
  • Work through lunch
  • Leave early
  • Run errands

This is what happened:

  • Go to work
  • Get flat tyre
  • Call out breakdown service
  • Go to garage for tyre repair
  • Leave late
  • Run errands
  • Feel exhausted

I am pretty confident that a puncture and/or flat tyre will ruin anyone’s day, but it wasn’t until I discovered that the tyre inside my car was a space saver thing that I actually felt very cross.

I had never heard of one before (not good on car stuff), but quickly learnt that their purpose is to be small and light, enough to get you to a garage so you can sort out a replacement.

What is the point of that?

Firstly, it’s not that much smaller. Then throw in the fact that you can’t drive over 50mph on it, and you really shouldn’t be driving on it at all. They’re thin, they’re light, they have little grip. They could almost be classed as a death trap.

What is the issue with having a regular tyre as a spare?

If I had a normal spare tyre my day would have gone:

  • Go to work
  • Get flat tyre
  • Call out breakdown service
  • Work throuh lunch
  • Leave early
  • Run errands

I would have gone to the garage at some point over the weekend, handling matters in my own good time. Life would be much simpler.

Thankfully, everyone involved was very kind and helpful, and it actually wasn’t all that stressful. It was just the stupid, small, pointless tyre messing up all my plans that got me angry.

9 responses to this post.

  1. Posted by Mum on November 13, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    When I bought my car I paid extra for a proper spare wheel to replace the little “temporarily re-inflate your tyre enough to get you to the garage” canister that was supplied with the car. I’ve never had to use the spare but it was worth the money just to have peace of mind.

  2. Posted by Christine on November 13, 2009 at 9:08 pm

    I’ve never had to use the spare but it was worth the money just to have peace of mind.

    If I had heard of them at the time, I would have done the same thing! Noted for the future.

  3. Posted by Richard Elliot on November 13, 2009 at 10:07 pm

    Yep, I think the car manufacturers are primarily saving money, to erm, fund their F1 programs?

  4. Posted by Bassano Clapper on November 14, 2009 at 12:01 am

    Be careful with the ‘get you home’ re-inflation thingies

    Some of them will write your tyre off making it irreparable
    Can be very handy though

  5. Posted by fourstar on November 14, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    Yep, I think the car manufacturers are primarily saving money, to erm, fund their F1 programs?

    So not working too well that, given the mass exodus :)

  6. Posted by Jordan Allen on November 14, 2009 at 5:05 pm

    I am truly surprized that Car designers never (Except for the Prowler, Crusiers and maybe the SSR) seem to go back to the 1910’s, 20′, 30’s and 40’s for inspiration as cars back then had at least 1 true spare tire on top of the trunk strapped down with leather straps to the back of the car, and you have maximin truck space for your stuff, or there were two spare tires behind the frontwheel wells and in front of the front doors. As much as I would like to include Morgans in here as well, I do not think they have ever changed their designs….

    If we are that concerned with aerodynamics now how hard can it be to design a shark-nose and have the spare tires inside a sleeve like a CD cover? Sort of like the old covered Wheel Wells of the Mercedes W196….

  7. Posted by Gavin Brown (RubberGoat) on November 15, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    Oooh – new blog theme – nice one! :D

    Yeah, those tyres got banned in NZ because people were driving around on them thinking they were as good as normal ones and having fatal accidents due to lack of grip/worn out tyres.

    It’s worth noting that a lot of ‘green’ cars take the spare tyre out completely to save weight – often for that gunk that fills the tyre up (which I would never trust personally). But if you take my brother-in-law’s car as an example (Skoda Fabia Greenline Wagon), he always has a lot of stuff in it anyway as he’s either got the kids in it or he’s using it to transport DIY stuff or pull a trailer.

    So my question is, how does the small amount of weight of the spare tyre save him money or increase his fuel efficiency, if that’s the case?

  8. Posted by Christine on November 15, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    Oooh – new blog theme – nice one!

    Cheers. Needs tweaking but it’s a start.

    So my question is, how does the small amount of weight of the spare tyre save him money or increase his fuel efficiency, if that’s the case?

    I am still baffled by the entire idea.

  9. Posted by Alex Andronov on November 23, 2009 at 6:00 pm

    My guess is that it does make sense for fuel efficiency reasons… But then why can’t we just get the guy in the repair truck to bring us the right tyre we need?

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