Spare tyre vs. Repair kit

[Corollanutter]

The uselessness of the tyre repair kit supplied with many cars was brought home to me last night when I wrecked a tyre and rim on a water filled pothole. Fortunately one of the first things I did after buying the car was to  purchase a winter rim and full size spare, plus the jack, brace etc. They all fit easily under the floor in my TS. The 3cm tear sustained in the sidewall would almost certainly not have been fixed by the TRC - and the dent in the rim would have probably caused another leak. Just the sort of damage I dreaded when I saw the car only came with a TRC. Now let’s see if the tyre and alloy cover sold to me by the Toyota dealer proves it’s worth! 

[Roy124]

Chris, been there done that.  In my case buckled one wheel which didn't deflate and blew the other.  Full sized wheel saved the day. Only once have I had a puncture that a kit might have fixed.  

My Corolla had the option and unknownst to me the dealer put in for a space saver.  The tyre well is large enough for a full size wheel.  Most space seems taken up with polystyrene formers to hold the jack and handle. Next time I might ask for a full size spare alloy wheel. 

 

[TonyHSD]

Sorry to hear that you went through it and good to know that you managed fine., yes a spare tyre always can be useful. I had similar situation last year and Highway agency paid to me a new tyre and wheel alignment, should have claimed for the wheel too but the stupid garage I used at the time did not told me about the wheel been buckled a bit. Time to make a claim now. Roads are in poor condition like never before, but this is the case about pretty much everything these days. 👍

[Red_Corolla]

Yes I always find it reassuring to have a spare wheel, don't particularly care if it's only a space saver as long as I can stick it on and finish the journey. Big selling point these days.

[Cyker]

Yup, can't beat a spare wheel. No amount of tyre weld or plugs will fix a shredded sidewall!

[AndrueC]

I've only once ever damaged a tyre. That was - ironically and annoyingly - on the way home from my last service having bought two new tyres and it was one of the new tyres that was damaged. But it didn't deflate and for all I know might have been cosmetic or repairable but I don't believe in repairing tyres nor do I believe any part of a tyre to be cosmetic. So at the risk of tempting fate I will offer the counter view that spare tyres are a waste of money and space because in 30 years of driving I have never needed one. Given that I can only just get all my golf gear into my Corolla boot as it is I reckon I'd have to remove any factory supplied spare anyway.

[Cyker]

That's the problem with redundant systems - You don't appreciate them until it's too late. It's like one of the places I worked at where they were looking to cut costs on a new system, so didn't spec a backup system as it doubled the cost. I'm really glad I don't work there any more as I don't want to be on the hook if that server dies for some reason and all their data is lost forever!

If you don't mind paying for a recovery company subscription and your time is not precious then it's not so critical to get a spare these days as they will usually tow you some place or fit a universal spare.

In my entire driving time I've only really needed a spare tyre once, but even so I'd not want to have a car without one as I've had so many lucky escapes and you can only be so lucky!

[Danharvey]

Glad I've seen this as there's nothing on my order to indicate what I get with my new Corolla (I would bank on the emergency kit being what has been included).

 

Emailed the dealer to get them to change it. That way if it comes with the tire kit, I've got an email trail where I asked for it to be changed.

[Roy124]

2 hours ago, Red_Corolla said:

Yes I always find it reassuring to have a spare wheel, don't particularly care if it's only a space saver as long as I can stick it on and finish the journey. Big selling point these days.

Depends on how short that journey it. 

I picked up a piece of metal, size of an arrow head, at the Service area before Southampton.  I knew we had a problem before we reached the ferry terminal at Portsmouth.  I shot through the check in kiosk, my wife returned to check in, and chucked everything out and did a racing wheel change to catch the ferry. 

In Cherbourg I set off in search of a garage as a journey to the south on a space saver was not on.  Found a garage and just got a Gallic shrug.  50 miles on another garage dropped all work and did a tyre change. 

The journey to that garage was accomplished with the full size wheel in its bag on the back seat with my two young children. 

Get a full size spare if you can. 

 

[Red_Corolla]

4 hours ago, Danharvey said:

Glad I've seen this as there's nothing on my order to indicate what I get with my new Corolla (I would bank on the emergency kit being what has been included).

 

Emailed the dealer to get them to change it. That way if it comes with the tire kit, I've got an email trail where I asked for it to be changed.

The information is in the brochure & price list document, but you have to study it very carefully. Body shape, engine size and trim all influence which you get, and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme nor reason to it.

[Corollanutter]

2 minutes ago, Red_Corolla said:

The information is in the brochure & price list document, but you have to study it very carefully. Body shape, engine size and trim all influence which you get, and there doesn't appear to be any rhyme nor reason to it.

I’m guessing it is all down to keeping the total weight down to achieve emissions targets or similar. The body style, engine choice and trim will all effect this. 

[twintopp]

i was surprised to find that i had a space saver in mine, my last half dozen cars have all had just a trc but i have never used one.

[Rambler56]

12 hours ago, twintopp said:

i was surprised to find that i had a space saver in mine, my last half dozen cars have all had just a trc but i have never used one.

I've only used the 'gunk' kit once but not on my own car.  My sister-in-law called one night to say she had a flat close to home, she also called her husband, and we both turned up to help.  He's the type you take the tools out of their hands because they're a liability, so I had to do the necessary.  I managed to fix and inflate the tyre but got the stuff everywhere!  The kit is a pain in the a**e to use, especially in the dark, with an extremely high chance that it will not be effective. I always specify a spare because they are reliable in an emergency plus using the compressor kit means literally scrapping the tyre as it can't be repaired even if it's in the repairable area of the tread due to the foam coating the inside of the tyre.  But my wife has the best idea after a puncture, she would just call the 'little man' from breakdown recovery to sort the car out.  

[Corollanutter]

So, just to update you all, the tyre and alloy insurance company (from the policy purchased from the Toyota main dealer) have strongly recommended scrapping the rim rather than a repair. The problem is that the policy only covers the first £150 of the cost. That does become a bigger problem when the price of a new rim is £355. Thankfully it seems that the tyres will be covered in full. So, I’m lodging a claim with the local council for the damage and asking them to pay the balance of the cost. Let’s see if that works. 
I went back in daylight to photograph the offending pothole and found that it was over 10cm deep, around 80 cm long and reaching out around 45cm out into the carriageway from the kerb. There were no lines drawn around it and no other warnings. The evidence from my dash cam backs that up. 
However, I’m just a little concerned that the policy sold to me by the dealer, (despite his claims of covering all your costs etc) comes up woefully short of covering a single scrapped rim. 

[Tel_man]

From what you say Chris, it seems to me that you can claim the full cost from the council, not just the balance. That will leave your insurance intact.

[Corollanutter]

54 minutes ago, Tel_man said:

From what you say Chris, it seems to me that you can claim the full cost from the council, not just the balance. That will leave your insurance intact.

The problem with that is: the claim on the tyre / alloy insurance must be made within 30 days of the incident (and anyway the claims are already started). So, if I claim from the council instead and it gets refused, (I hear they are using all sorts of reasons these days) then I'm going to be about £535 out of pocket - compared to claiming on the insurance and being £205 out of pocket. I would have hoped (very naïve I know...) that the council are more likely to accept a £205 claim rather than a £535 claim.  It's a risky business which ever way I go...

[TonyHSD]

Last year I made a claim for similar incident directly to Highway Agency, all online, very easy process, they accepted all liability and payment was made a few months later. They paid separate invoices for the tyre- special online order, tyre fitting and wheel alignment. Don’t know if local council are as organised as Highways were. , perhaps the latest does a lots of claims per year. 

[Roy124]

Check Fix My Street.  If the pothole has been reported that strengthens your case.