Plug In Hybrid Lack Of Spare Wheel

[MLW2233]

It is madness. Late at night a space saver will get you home. Anything else is crazy. Most cars have a puncture ever 6-7 years on average, BUT, when it happens it is total disability and crazy expense.

You need 5 tyres.

[T.O.C]

Dear Peter2673,

That slot fits a 135/80 r16 shod 16x4J wheel (the Gen 3 space-saver) rather too perfectly!

Not very elegant as upright and of course affects boot space. (You pays yer money...etc).

Toyota dealers are variable in allowing you to purchase one (type approval/litigation worries?)

whilst auction site purchase is gamble re the space-savers history.

I got round the problem by purchasing wheel and tyre separately via the internet, cost me

@ £150.

I suspect that somewhere in the global Toyota market there remains a legal requirement for

a spacesaver, hence the slot to store it securely.

Hope this helps.

[korat102]

"They replied that it would cost £154, and they do in fact have one in stock, but they still can't sell it to me because they know I'm really buying it for a plug in."

The word 'pitiful' comes to mind. There was a time that the customer was always right and they'd go out of their way to help. Toyota are driving people away with their stupidity over this 'can-of-goo' nonsense.

I will never buy a car without a spare of some sort.

[korat102]

I have been told that one the "gunk" is used on a tyre the tyre is no longer repairable. Peter your experience puts me right off buying a plug in Prius. I just hope any new Prius models come with spare wheels. £54 for gunk sounds very expensive. You may find a space saver wheel for a Prius at a scrap yard.

I think they 'are' repairable but the tyre fitters have to clean out the gunge and, unsurprisingly, they don't want to spend the time doing it.

[T.O.C]

http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres-135-80-16.html

http://www.carparts-pros.com/page_1_3.php#oeformo

These are the links for the tyre and rim respectively. (The Toyota genuine part number for the 16x4 steel rim is 4261120A50).

[PeteB]

I have been told that one the "gunk" is used on a tyre the tyre is no longer repairable. Peter your experience puts me right off buying a plug in Prius. I just hope any new Prius models come with spare wheels. £54 for gunk sounds very expensive. You may find a space saver wheel for a Prius at a scrap yard.

It put me off too - and I REALLY wanted one.

I now have a Gen 3 T3, but every day when I do 4-8 ½-3 miles trips (with opportunities for charging in-between) I lament being unable to consider one.

True, whilst I am local I might put up with having no spare, but would be bl**dy annoyed if I had to wait hours for recovery a mile or two away.

However, some planned 3-4000 mile trips to Europe and two or three 200-500 mile trips a month mean I absolutely won't consider a car with no spare (I thought space savers were bad enough!). I'm planning to look at the BMW i3 [uPDATE - see below] with range extender soon, but worry that will be the same.

Having once driven a 2007 Prius with a plug-in conversion, I'm only too aware of how useful even one with a low EV range can be. That car could do nearly 40 miles on a charge, but the tiny firm that did the conversion was still able to leave room under the boot floor for the space saver. With all its resources, it hadn't even occurred to me that Toyota would fail miserably in this respect.

I started to contemplate using a roof box for the spare tyre on the longer journeys, but that would be madness.

I've had a number of flat tyres over the years that wouldn't have worked with gunge (once there was no rubber left on the rim by the time I stopped!).

Also, with tyre pressure monitoring systems becoming compulsory on new cars about now, and an MOT failure if they don't work, using gunge may become outlawed anyway.

Regards, PeteB

BMW i3 UPDATE - still not sure if it has a spare wheel, but I have found out the range extender only has a tiny fuel tank, and can only add 75-93 miles to the 81-100 miles estimated electric only range, so a long journey without time to recharge will be quite tedious!

[noelfix]

I got a space saver as an extra with my used 2013 Plug-In from my Toyota dealer; It is a 145/70/17" Dunlop Spacemiser Mk 111 which fits in the shaped space beneath the small boot floor door. It sits vertically with 13" protruding, strapped to that door, in front of the rear bumper. The car also came with the tyre repair kit and jack.

[PeteB]

I got a space saver as an extra with my used 2013 Plug-In from my Toyota dealer; It is a 145/70/17" Dunlop Spacemiser Mk 111 which fits in the shaped space beneath the small boot floor door. It sits vertically with 13" protruding, strapped to that door, in front of the rear bumper. The car also came with the tyre repair kit and jack.

I assume you mean the hatch for the power lead? I guess it gets in the way when loading, say a wheel chair, and would have to be moved every time?

[RunningInPleasePass]

The AA guy who attended my most recent breakdown said they used this, he said it was very good for small holes, but of course useless for rips:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/parts-and-accessories/2011-08/slime/

He olso said that it can be washed out, so the tyre can be repaired, it's also far cheaper then Toyota's stuff!

[Cyker]

The problem with any goop is that it's useless if the puncture is outside the central tread area. :(

This is exactly what happened to me!

I had 4 tyres with that puncturesafe goop in them and the first winter puncture I get was right in the shoulder of the tyre

That wouldn't have been repairable under normal circumstances anyway to be fair, but was a very galling to have paid for the goop to be put in only for me to be forced to get a new tyre anyway!

I must admit the puncturesafe stuff does seem to work pretty well (A bit too well on one wheel; It plugged the valve because we didn't put enough air in after injecting the goop and I couldn't force it out even after removing the valve core and jumping on my footpump! ). I ended up driving to the nearest tyre fitter with NO valve stem in the tyre yet didn't lose any air! Not the kind of test I had wanted, but a pretty good demo!

Tyre fitters were veeeery skeptical when we took the tyre to them to have a new valve fitted; Basically wouldn't touch it until we'd cleaned the goop out, but at least he let us use their hose round back. The goop readily dissolves in water and washed out pretty easily. I was quite impressed, and they were surprised saying that the stuff they usually dealt with just stank of cat pee and wouldn't be shifted

I think curiosity got the better of them after that, although the main guy said it looked like the hulk had ejaculated into my tyres...

's been okay, but I can't really recommend it unless you're only doing urban driving as I'm still getting a really nasty transitional vibration as I go past 60mph. Bob seems to have better luck with it so it may be dependent on the rim and tyre diameter, but I think I'll just put up with my winter punctures once this set of tyres wears out :(

It's a damned shame Continental don't make ContiSeal tyres in my size, but it might be worth looking at for you guys with the big rims!

[noelfix]

I got a space saver as an extra with my used 2013 Plug-In from my Toyota dealer; It is a 145/70/17" Dunlop Spacemiser Mk 111 which fits in the shaped space beneath the small boot floor door. It sits vertically with 13" protruding, strapped to that door, in front of the rear bumper. The car also came with the tyre repair kit and jack.

I assume you mean the hatch for the power lead? I guess it gets in the way when loading, say a wheel chair, and would have to be moved every time?

Yes, it would have to be removed. Incidentally, my wheels are 15" but are the same height/circumference as the 17" spacesaver due to the different profiles. The lead still fits, even with the wheel in place.

[Sagitar]

http://www.tyres-pneus-online.co.uk/car-tyres-135-80-16.html

http://www.carparts-pros.com/page_1_3.php#oeformo

These are the links for the tyre and rim respectively. (The Toyota genuine part number for the 16x4 steel rim is 4261120A50).

Jonathan - this is tremendously helpful and I am very grateful to you. I shall order the rim immediately, but probably source the tyre from my local tyre place with whom I have had a very good relationship over many years.

Thanks again for setting it out so clearly.