17" and you get a puncture. What happens next?

evileye_wrx · October 28, 2006, 16:11

I'm soon to get my SP12 17" Wheels from Silverstone Performance so thought it might be a good time to ask the question that has been bugging me for some time.

If you have 17" Wheels on what do you do if you get a puncture?

Obviously, it's going to be much bigger than the space saver in the frunk so would I be better off humping one of my 16" rear wheels about with me instead? Or should I just forego any spare wheel at all and go for a 'Slime' type spray as I do carry a Halfords air compressor that works off the cigarette lighter?

What do others with 17"'s do?

Phil

loadswine · October 28, 2006, 16:29

If the wheel and tyre combo isn't too far from the original rolling radius, the spacesaver would work, wouldn't it?
It would look odd, yes, but get you home.
Is there something else being changed at the same time that negates the use of the spare?

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 16:43

As nigel said, the space saver would do as something to get you off the road, but a better solution would be to use one of your 16s in the front cubby but sit it upside-down so that you can still fit stuff in there.

I don't know what effect having 2 tyres of differing rolling radii on the back axle would have though - i.e. in terms of the LSD as one wheel would be turning faster than the other? if anybody could comment?

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 16:51

probably do the same as the new boxster or Rx8, rely on a can of foam, if you shread a tyre then its the AA/RAC

dreambackup · October 28, 2006, 16:53

the problem is you only have the passenger seat for the replaced wheel. but it's the same problem with the OEM 16" rear (at least: I can tell because I had one!): they don't fit in the frunk...

as for the spare use, it shouldn't be a problem as long as it's still about the same radius as the original...

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 16:55

Quote from: "Richie"sit it upside-down so that you can still fit stuff in there.

Wouldn't that be impossible? - there's an alarm at the bottom of the bin - you have to put a wheel in there face up or it will squash the alarm!

If you do swap the spare for tyre weld you'll need some new ballast in the front bin to replace the weight you lose.

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 17:09

Quote from: "simonp"
Quote from: "Richie"sit it upside-down so that you can still fit stuff in there.

Wouldn't that be impossible? - there's an alarm at the bottom of the bin - you have to put a wheel in there face up or it will squash the alarm!

If you do swap the spare for tyre weld you'll need some new ballast in the front bin to replace the weight you lose.

good point, forgot about that s:oops: :oops: s:oops: could always relocate the alarm i spose.

Mind you if a 16" wheel doesn't fit in the cubby then that ideas out the window anyway.

Back to the question i posted above; Would use of a smaller tyre and a larger tyre on each side of the rear axle cause any issues due to the LSD ??

Richie.

dreambackup · October 28, 2006, 17:15

I wouldn't say about the front 185 15" but I'm 100% sure about the rear 215 16"...

I had to use the passenger seat and was glad the wife was not here that day s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 17:26

I know the GT Four came with a space saver but nobody with aftermarket wheels would use it as it soon shagged the 4 wheel drive, dont know if its the same with a LSD if your replacement is too out of sink with the opposing wheel?

VVT-i · October 28, 2006, 17:39

There shouldn't be any problems useing the spare wheel.. after all it is designed to fit the front and the rear and will have a very close rolling radius to the original fitment tyres. As for the differential.. surely its job is to allow the wheels to turn at different speeds, as they do when you are cornering.

One word of warning that not a lot of people think about with reguards to the various Tyre Welds and other instant sealers....

If they work, and I do mean IF.. In my experience as a tyre fitter, 99% of them don't.

You get a puncture and you put in this god awfull stuff.. voila, puncture sorted (if your lucky) then, because you think your tyre is now ok (no.. not ALL people will go get it proffesionally repaired) you continue driving your car.. next thing you get ANOTHER puncture, there is allready instant sealer in your tyre so it gets sealed and you are totally unaware of it, good thing??? NO, your 2nd puncture could be a 3"nail near the sidewall of your tyre, and I certainly wouldn't fancy driving down the road with a tyre like that on what is most probably the 2nd most expensive thing i have ever purchased... that is a blowout waiting to happen.

Also, putting these sealers inside a tyre make it a lot more difficult for a tyre fitter to find the puncture. When the weight of the car is on the tyre it leeks, take the wheel off and put it into a tub of water and hey presto!.. it no longer leeks.. this is because there is no weight on it. Even if the tyre fitter finds the puncture, the fact that the tyre has this crap inside it makes it difficult to clean the inside of the tyre to get a patch to stick... and because these sealers are a liquid, it has an affect on the wheel balance, and you can't balance them because this liquid is constantly moving inside the tyre.

My advice... keep the space saver in the car, if you get a puncture, use it, and if you have a can of sealer... throw it to *&%$ away.

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 17:51

fair point, but I dont think most roadster owners would have a puncture repaired anyway but go for a new tyre instead (I always do on reasonably perfromance cars), but yes its not ideal. But on the other hand Porsche and Mazda supply it with their cars as an emergency get you home, so possibly if used as its meant to then its ok?

your the expert obviously, I'm just making an observation. s:)

s:)

VVT-i · October 28, 2006, 18:02

Perry190....... I'm not 100% sure, but with most cars that come with a can of sealer in the boot, you can actually get a spare wheel as an optional extra, its just that their might be nowhere to put it s:roll: :roll: s:roll:

As for repairing a tyre... if a tyre is speed rated above 130mph, then it really shouldn't be repaired, the materials used for repairing tyres is rated upto 130mph, so repairing a higher rated tyre affectively (sp) means you are reducing it's marked speed rating. If you do get it repaired, as long as you are driving within the legal limits, then you wouldn't have any problems... but a repair is only as good as the fitter reparing it.

In an ideal world, everyone would get a new tyre rather than a repair, but unfortunately people have different circumstances and for some people a repair is the only way to keep the car on the road s:(

s:(

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 18:37

very true matey, the tyres on the back of my porker (19's) were over £230 a pop! I was dreading a punture s:shock: :shock: s:shock: s:lol: :lol: s:lol: s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

I think if i had 17's I would use the space saver unless i was going on holiday and had the front boot full of gear (just to a tyre place) unless i knew it was only 2 miles or so then i would use the gunk to get me there and a new tyre.

Anonymous · October 28, 2006, 22:18

IMO I don't think you'll have difficulty using your spare as a get you home option in place of the SP wheel/tyre combination.
According to a tyre size calculator the SP package only makes a minimal difference
front:
stock 185x55x15, SP 205x40x17 difference 1.88% (11mm)
rear:
A) stock 215x45x16, SP 215x40x17 difference 0.67% (4mm)
B) stock 215x45x16, SP 245x35x17 difference 0.50% (3mm)

As the spare is made to fit front or rear I don't think it would create a problem providing you stick to the maximum suggested speed limit for the space saver

Then again I'm not an expert.

Anonymous · October 29, 2006, 16:52

VVTI

when i was in europe this year I was chatting to a guy with trike that had really wide wheels at the back. he said as he was unlikely to be able to get a tyre off the shelf in europe he had got them filled with some sort of treatment that seals punctures?

any idea who supplies this service/ He reckoned it was about £40 per wheel

Anonymous · October 29, 2006, 16:58

Thinking about it, it may have been ultraseal? I know they came to you to carry out the treatment

VVT-i · October 29, 2006, 17:40

There are numerous products that alledgedly do the same job.. a lot of tyre retailers will carry out this procedeure for you if you wish... but be aware of the pitfalls i ponted out in my earlier post.

I just remembered... we had a sales rep come into our garage trying to get us to stock this stuff (can't remember the brand), he went through his sales pitch pointing out that we could charge £10 for each tyre that we preped with the sealer... then he came to the demonstration of how miraculous his product was. He got a wheel from the back of his van, filled it up with his product and useing a pointed implement proceeded to puncture the tread of the tyre....

"pssssssssss"

he then rolled the tyre along the floor....

"psssss.... psssss... psssss"

he then picked it up and bounced it a couple of times and it stopped

"psssssssss"... but only for about 2 seconds s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

he put in a little more sealent and rolled it again...

"psssssssss"

he then rolled it to his van..

"pssss... pssss...pssss....pssss....psssss....psssss...psssss"

he got in and drove off.

He never even asked us if we would be interested in offering his miraculous product to our costomers... i wonder why. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

enid_b · October 29, 2006, 17:58

pssssssssssssssssss.................pssssssssssssssss lol nice one vvti

i cant imagine anything more embarassing for a rep to have his goods fail in front of prospective punters.

poor chap.

E

heathstimpson · October 29, 2006, 18:23

Quote from: "dreambackup"the problem is you only have the passenger seat for the replaced wheel. but it's the same problem with the OEM 16" rear (at least: I can tell because I had one!): they don't fit in the frunk...

It's surprising that Toyota did this; you learn something new everyday s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

loadswine · October 29, 2006, 19:56

Quote from: "VVT-i""pssssssssss"

he then rolled the tyre along the floor....

"psssss.... psssss... psssss"

he then picked it up and bounced it a couple of times and it stopped

"psssssssss"... but only for about 2 seconds s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

he put in a little more sealent and rolled it again...

"psssssssss"

he then rolled it to his van..

"pssss... pssss...pssss....pssss....psssss....psssss...psssss"

he got in and drove off.

He never even asked us if we would be interested in offering his miraculous product to our costomers... i wonder why. s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Oh no not another psssss artist!! s:D

s:D s:lol: :lol: s:lol:
Sorry couldn't resist. I love it when these miracle products on demo fail spectacularly.

Anonymous · October 30, 2006, 07:59

£10 a tyre doesnt sound like the stuff I was looking at, but ofcourse could be exactly the same s:? :? s:?

m http://www.ultrasealbrighton.co.uk/testimonials.php m

I might give it a shot at some point, but will do a little more searching first

Anonymous · October 30, 2006, 08:04

perhaps I wont

NOTICE: Ultraseal is not suitable for use with Low Profile Tyres used on cars with a sidewall measurement of 35 or less.

Anonymous · October 30, 2006, 11:30

Quote from: "heathstimpson"
Quote from: "dreambackup"the problem is you only have the passenger seat for the replaced wheel. but it's the same problem with the OEM 16" rear (at least: I can tell because I had one!): they don't fit in the frunk...
It's surprising that Toyota did this; you learn something new everyday s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Don't worry Heath, I can confirm that the 16" OEM wheel DOES fit in the frunk happily, as I had to do it when I got a puncture.

Maybe Dreambackup forgot to take the space saver out first before trying to get the 16" one in... s:wink: :wink: s:wink: s:lol: :lol: s:lol:

Btw, I'm fascinated about the opinions on the puncture repair sealant in this thread as that's what Vauxhall supplied with the VXR, so that's my only back up in case of a puncture. After reading through all the info here, I think I may very well just ring the RAC and get them to come and get me instead of risking it.

Anonymous · October 30, 2006, 11:46

to be honest I think its generally ok if you stick to the guidlines ie

stick to 50mph and only use it as a temp measure, which of course is similar to the space saver anyway

aaronjb · October 30, 2006, 11:52

I found it somewhat amusing that the tyre place by me now sells Holtz tyre foam stuff.. considering I was under the impression that tyre fitters hated the stuff because of the mess it made!