Read that the Holden Commodore OMEGA at
around $40,000 doesn't come with a spare wheel....
so, spare wheels at wreckers will now get premium prices... lol
Maybe people will start to put their spare wheel on the bonnet
like land rovers..??
or on the back boot lid like ROVER V8 sedans
One problem...
How do You open the boot or the bonnet????
Must be very heavy with a wheel on it..??
or just drive with a flat tyre..!!
so, what good is roadside service if You don't have a spare???
LEE
Lee, could you please stop crowding these boards with sensationalist stories from tabloid-level news media?! No offence, but it seems to occur on a
daily basis and it's kind of unnecessary. Some of it does make me laugh though. 
The lack of spare wheels is hardly a new phenomenon, and usually in much more expensive cars than the Commodore. For evidence of this I'll even cite
an article from 2 years ago about the Commodore spare wheel, which states that both Holden and Ford dropped the full-size spare in 2007 for a
space-saver. http://www.carpoint.com.au/news/2009/holden/holden-reinvents-the-spare-wheel-...
Sporting European cars such as Alfa Romeos and BMWs especially have been supplied with nothing but a can of tyre sealant and an air compressor for
decades on many models, which have no room to carry a spare wheel.
The Commodore body shell does have a full-sized spare wheel well in the boot, so anyone who wants to may carry one conveniently stowed. In the article
which I linked to above, they say that the full-sized spare on a Commodore is a zero-cost option. It is important to note though, that many people
don't require a spare wheel. Tyres and road conditions have greatly improved over the last few years. In fact, I have been driving for roughly six
years and have never encountered a puncture or had to change a tyre. I can't even remember any of my friends or family having had a puncture during
my lifetime either, except for one occasion when a relative managed to slash two tyre sidewalls open against a concrete curb, hence requiring a
tow-truck anyway. Meanwhile the average motorist's inclination to work on their own car has dropped away dramatically. I know quite a lot of drivers,
not all of them female, who would not know how to change a wheel if they got a puncture, and would instead choose to call for roadside assistance.
Add all of this up and the trusty spare tyre is no longer necessary for most drivers. Removing it from a new car gives a substantial saving in both
weight and cost, which benefits the consumer. If the space normally consumed by the spare tyre is used to provide extra luggage space, then the
benefits are even greater. Obviously, if you're going through the centre of Australia, then a full-sized spare tyre is a good idea, but for the
average motorist it is merely an inconvenience.
Funny - I did most of my tyres in the first 6 years of driving (Bssssssssss - smokin...).
Having said that, I still do a tire every other year. Must be WA roads.
Newt
TELECOM vehicles here in the country carry two spare wheels on the rear...
its still very easy to pick up a nail in your tyre here...
and 30+kms to a tyre shop..
but I think many people would have no idea a space saver can only go on the rear... and would freak out when they saw it...
I've already had a puncture in our suzuki swift..
and had many in our Lancers...
Lee
I had three punctures last year. One on the Ford (EB) and the other two on a mate Toyota Hatch (92').
I commute along the F3 about 50 minutes a day and for me a spare wheel is essential else I'd be late for work. I always allow myself at least 15
minutes Lee to get to work for traffic, an accident (which is common sadly) and of course it takes me 10 minutes to change a tire and was my hands.
Yes, I agree. The need to change tire these days is fairly redundant if you spend you life in the city, along the coast with a town / settlement 15
minutes away at the most but when I was living out at Dubbo if you didn't carry a spare you were a nutter and in all respects if you lived even
further west then you were bordering on irresponsible since the distances and infrequent roaduse could spell disaster.
"Murphys Law states that the chances of you getting a flat is relative to the amount of mobile coverage you have and the need to be somewhere
important".
On the other matter:
Lee, could you please stop crowding these boards with sensationalist stories from tabloid-level news media?! No offence, but it seems to occur on a
daily basis and it's kind of unnecessary.
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geez... ive been driving my splitty for 12 yrs with out a spare! i carried a can for a short while in the begining, but have seemed to have lost that.
Back in 08 I blew 2 tyres at the same time. I was driving the ridge way - which all Central coast residents know is a little rough, but a quick way to
get from one side of the coast to the other quickly. It had been raining heaps and some of the edge of the road had broken off. Must have hit a sharp
bit and I burst both tyres on the passenger side.
A spare was pretty useless in this circumstance! Thankfully my brother was able to take one of the tyres for replacement while I fitted the spare and
I was able to limp to work.
I for one would take a spare any day of the week. We got a roofing nail that destroyed a tyre just the other week. I didn't know until afterwards that a space saver can only be used on the rear until well afterwards. The biggest problem was getting new tyres approved by fleet systems and the idiots at jax who said they had a set approved only to be told after waiting for an hour that fleet wouldn't pay for them.
We did seem to have this topic a few weeks back when some other car made the papers for not being equipped with a standard spare.
Like Waveman said the amounts of flats these days is far less but no one has control over how much debris is on the road which is the main cause.
As mentioned alot of Euro cars dont come with a spare.
Mums Peugeot 206 Cabriolet doesnt because the hydraulic motor for the roof takes up the boot floor.
It was $38,000 new and all they gave you was 2 cans of spare in a can with no option of a spare.
The spare tyre in my 2000 Laser has never even been bolted onto the car, neither has the spare in my bug which came out of a 1993 honda Civic and in
the 16 years dads had his 626 it hasnt had a flat either but I do know plenty of people that have had more than a few flats, its just luck of the
draw
But one of my VW mates here in our club works for the NRMA roadside and he gets called to alot of flats in a day usually because people cant get the
wheel nuts off because the tyre shops use their big f**k off rattle guns.
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Bought a new Mustang in the US on the Penrose buying trip late in 09-it has 19" wheels and a spare wheel well that will never get anything near a 19" wheel in it.It came with a liquid filled aluminium cylinder and a small air compessor thats all sits in a neat frame and uses the original spare wheel centre bolt to hold it in.I guess it's all OK untill you shred a tyre.
That's it. I've had enough. I'm gonna get this sorted. I will lobby all motorbike manufacturers to design their vehicles to carry a spare wheel.
Then again. I can't be stuffed, just like I cant be stuffed carrying a spare in our bus for the last 10 years.
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Originally
posted by h
huh? wot the.. who's that? |
Do what I do, ballance the spare on the passenger seat, tried laying it down but not enough room.
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This guys got it nailed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWfzPLeQSAM
And here's Smiley's spare.......
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Originally
posted by The_Bronze.
There a service provider that don't provide service and they won't even answer the phone so you cant even have a whinge. |
That piece of wood would take up MORE room that a spare.. lol
but they are plentiful around Scone etc.... lol
just watch out from brown snakes when getting the log...lol
LEE
SSSSSSSSSSSSS not air going down... lol [snake]
Greg,It's been a bit of a headache-couldn't get any satisfaction with a certain "Conversion Expert" in Melbourne,so put wheels in motion to have the "Import Approval"taken from that crowd.To do this you need to deal with a Government Agent,who were really helpful,but time and motion aren't high on the list.Had the "Approval" transfered to Performax in QLD in early October,got the car to them end of October,and it was finished just B4 Xmas.They had to wait about a fortnight for the Compliance Plate,so it was ready to pick up Thursday B4 Xmas.Wade is going to Gympie this Friday to pick it up-but now I see that the floods are closing in on Gympie as well.Hope it goes OK.Performax actually completed the car in less time than the wanker in Melbourne ever botherd to return phone calls.
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I had a puncture in bendigo, quarry hill cemetery road twice in one week on the same corner
talk about shit luck.
First one was a nail, 2nd was a 3 ich long M10 bolt.
lol was even the same rear left wheel both times 
So in my case a spare didn't save me 
Those rattle guns are lethal in the wrong hands. Whenever I use a rattle gun to fit wheelnuts I ALWAYS turn it down low and finish tensioning by
hand.
If I ever take a vehicle anywhere that will use one, I like to loosen the wheelnuts and retension them myself afterward.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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| Originally
posted by vlad01 I had a puncture in bendigo, quarry hill cemetery road twice in one week on the same corner talk about shit luck. First one was a nail, 2nd was a 3 ich long M10 bolt. lol was even the same rear left wheel both times So in my case a spare didn't save me |
The jaguar XJ220 came with a can of finnieleak (spelling?) no spare. If it's good enough for them it's good enough for my buggy.