Spare tire
-
Ugh... No spare? I’ve never run into that before. Are you sure there’s not a small spare mounted underneath the rear?
-
Just as crazy as no spare is Mrs. George's experience about 3 months ago.
She was downtown, and ran up onto a curb or something, delivering a gash to the sidewall.
No worries! We have a (full-size) spare, right?
She called roadside assistance, and the woman who came to put the spare on said that she couldn't get the lug nuts off the existing wheel. It seems that there are little "caps" on the lug nuts, and you need a special tool to remove the cap. That little tool is part of the toolkit in the car, but she didn't have it. Apparently, since we bought the car used, that little tool was not checked for.
She ended up calling for a flatbed truck, which took the car to a dealership which was able to replace the tire.
Here's what I'm talking about:
That thing in the center is the cap removal tool. It costs $5.
@Klaus , what car is sold without a spare tire?
-
Just as crazy as no spare is Mrs. George's experience about 3 months ago.
She was downtown, and ran up onto a curb or something, delivering a gash to the sidewall.
No worries! We have a (full-size) spare, right?
She called roadside assistance, and the woman who came to put the spare on said that she couldn't get the lug nuts off the existing wheel. It seems that there are little "caps" on the lug nuts, and you need a special tool to remove the cap. That little tool is part of the toolkit in the car, but she didn't have it. Apparently, since we bought the car used, that little tool was not checked for.
She ended up calling for a flatbed truck, which took the car to a dealership which was able to replace the tire.
Here's what I'm talking about:
That thing in the center is the cap removal tool. It costs $5.
@Klaus , what car is sold without a spare tire?
@george-k said in Spare tire:
Just as crazy as no spare is Mrs. George's experience about 3 months ago.
She was downtown, and ran up onto a curb or something, delivering a gash to the sidewall.
No worries! We have a (full-size) spare, right?
She called roadside assistance, and the woman who came to put the spare on said that she couldn't get the lug nuts off the existing wheel. It seems that there are little "caps" on the lug nuts, and you need a special tool to remove the cap. That little tool is part of the toolkit in the car, but she didn't have it. Apparently, since we bought the car used, that little tool was not checked for.
She ended up calling for a flatbed truck, which took the car to a dealership which was able to replace the tire.
Here's what I'm talking about:
That thing in the center is the cap removal tool. It costs $5.
@Klaus , what car is sold without a spare tire?
Yeah, I ran into that situation a number of years ago. I our case, it wasn’t a tool but a special converter that went over the end of one of the lug nuts. -
It turned out that the tire could be repaired on the spot. Phew.
The car is a Mercedes V class. I think these days most new cars don't have spare tires anymore, so I don't specifically blame Mercedes. Even if it had a small emergency tire, that would only have been of limited help since we need to drive back 500 miles tomorrow and I think that would be no fun with a baby tire.
-
-
You guys are way behind the times
Link to video -
This all reminds me of something odd we saw the other day driving down the freeway. There was a Lexus SUV that apparently lost an entire rear tire. The ,tire itself continued rolling merrily down the berm while the car was riding on just the rim. Not quite sure how that happened.
Bet a new rim will cost a bundle.
