Posted on 06/14/2011 5:14:51 AM PDT by Libloather
Why your next car may not have a spare wheel
AFP Relax – Wed, May 25, 2011
Chevrolet has chosen to remove the spare wheel from one of its US models, opting instead to include a puncture repair kit, just as Michelin announces a tire that can't puncture -- does this mean the end of the spare wheel?
A long-held fixture in today's cars, spare wheels are little thought about but often essential, especially when a long distance from home. Statistics suggest European drivers suffer a puncture every 75,000 kilometers on European roads, although the number falls to every 3,000 km on some roads in Asia.
Buyers of the new Chevrolet Cruze Eco, however, will be among the first modern motorists who need not think about the spare, as the automaker has opted to include an "inflator kit" rather than a full tire to reduce the weight on the ultra-efficient model.
Chevrolet says that on-board tire pressure monitors, which are widely fitted on newer cars, have made spare tires unnecessary, as most problems can be detected well in advance.
So it announced last week that it's opted to do away with the heavy spare tire, opting instead for an electronic tire inflator and a sealant which can temporarily patch holes up to a quarter of an inch in diameter.
It says that the new solution should be enough to repressurize the tire and coax the car to a dealer for a proper repair, although in a serious situation customers can hit an emergency assistance button to summon roadside help.
(Excerpt) Read more at my.news.yahoo.com ...
I’m taking a long drive this July.
I made sure that the undermount spare could be removed and that the spare was inflated.
Seems that the Cruze Eco is a city car.
Its not for me.
Most people don’t know how to replace a spare tire anyhow...how many people do you see stranded on the side of the road with a flat, calling AAA, even with a spare tire and tools in the trunk?
What’s the difference; 90% of American drivers are too stupid to change a tire. The other 10% are too stupid to know what a tire is.
It's a city car because, like many other cars, you have to pay extra for a spare tire? It's a darn fine car--surprisingly so. The best part to me is that it is solid--not a cheap deathtrap like compacts used to be. Check out these reviews.
When we lived in Uganda I carried two spares and a patch kit. One trip in N. Uganda I used all my patches and had to resort to “drive 10 km, pump up tire(s). drive 10 km...”. to get back to the mission station. The next morning I found I had three flats on the ground and a flat spare. It took 34 patches to fix those. (LOTS of BIG thorns in Karamoja!)
OTOH, I cannot remember when I have had a flat in the USA. We live on a rough, rocky mountain road. Our Honda CR-V has 160K miles and the “nubs” are still on the spare. The Outback has 230K and I’ve never used the spare.
I could live without a spare in the USA and I’m a “belt AND suspenders” type of guy.
Other models besides the Cruze can include the inflator kit rather than a spare tire.
“Chevrolet Cruze Eco?”
Well, probably won’t be an issue cause nobody is buying them.
Sorry, the spare was banned by government regulators so the poor polar bears can live safely on their ice floes. You’re just plain SOL if you get a flat out in the hinterlands. In fact, what are you doing out there at all? Your betters want you living in a high-rise in the city next to the rail yard. Have you no shame, man? Flaunting our civic requirements like that!
False. It's the best-selling compact car in the U.S. right now (see here). And the Eco accounts for 22% of the total Cruze sales (27% on the West Coast).
RFT’s are the devil’s tires.
My 1-series BMW has no spare, but came with RFT’s. I’ve ditched those for some Michelin All-Season Pilots. My wife would just call a tow truck anyway, even with the runflats.
RFT’s are typically only rated for 20k miles and cost an arm and a leg to replace.
At any rate, this will be a boon to OnStar and other automaker instant roadside service platforms.
Reduced rubber usage is, I think, because you don’t need as many tires. Fewer flats equals fewer premature replacements. On the reduced fuel consumption, you are right that people SHOULD keep their tires inflated enough, but making calculations based on what people should do instead of what they actually do is probably not a good idea.
My 2011 BMW does not have a spare tire period. It has ‘Run-Flat’ tires which I hear are VERY expensive to replace.
2011 Mustang
It HAD a ELECTRIC PUMP only. (Even though the well for a wheel was still under the cover in the trunk.
My husband had a fit and said that is not a “road car”.
So...we bought a jack, a full sized spare (matching the 1g ones on the ground) with a matching wheel...
...it was too big!
So we had Discount Tire DEFLATE the tire, put it in the well, (now it fits...tightly) AND WE STILL HAVE THE PUMP.
Went from not road worthy to an excellent road car.
In the past 20 years I’ve only had 2 tire punctures. One was a small puncture, the other was a sidewall tear. Lot of good this inflator scheme would have done in the latter case.
Well, considering that some cars seem to have been designed by well-meaning, but clueless engineers (every engineer hired to design new cars should have to spend a year working in a mechanics shop first, just to learn how not to design things), you'd likely have to remove the engine to get at it.
I saw a car on the side of the road with a flat donut spare on the left front.
You misspelled $hitty.
“Our research says that only about half the people who have spare tires actually use them when they have a flat,” says Dave Cowger, engineering group manager for General Motors tire engineering. “Because of the convenience of roadside assistance, many of them make that call even if they have a spare.” Silphion
Member says:
“When I asked a GM Sales Manager about why GM felt “safe” with removing the spare tire, he pointed out that Roadside Assistance is becoming more prevelant, not just as a 1-year promotional from GM, but also from an insurance standpoint. It used to be that only AAA offered significant roadside assistance (towing, locksmith, spare tire delivery/change, gas delivery, etc.). Now almost every insurance offers it as a part of a ‘full’ package.”
So apparently, GM’s thoughts on this were “Everyone is covered, because most customers refuse to be without a cell phone.” http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/12-wheels-tires-suspension/2019-spare-tire-option.html
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