Are you sure your newly purchased car has a temp or spare tire back up?

[docrocky]

I am sure many of you living out back in the countryside have an automobile for your wife/spouse to drive into town for the variety of reasons. I mostly drive my pickup but on occasion when going to visit the kids say a few hundred miles away we will usually use her car or van. My wife (78yo) had a 98 Dodge Caravan which she loved dearly. With 15" rims, the van sat up just right to open the door, turn you body to meet the seat with you body and easily climb aboard. The windows were real wide and she felt very comfortable with her visual fields (newer ones look like they came out of a chop shop). The 3.3 l was perfect for power, etc. But "ole Nellie" was starting to get old and needed to be set out to pasture. Ohio/Michigan rust was starting firmly on the underside, A/C no longer worked even after recharging et. Since I did all the oil changes, brakes, new tires, wheel rotation she was a pretty nice runner, but I started worrying about out of town runs where I had to go thru some tough inner-city routes and was afraid of a breakdown, even with only 77K. The irritating problems were it lacked electric windows (her choice) and no sliding door on the driver side. We also had a single mother at church struggling with transportation and finances and she was in dire need for reliable transportation to work on a daily basis to support herself and a darling daughter. This was strictly in town driving 10miles max to job and no freeways. I knew the vehicle would be safe and I did a through work up and replacement, battery, tranny fluid, radiator flush, etc. etc.

I found a 2014 Chrysler T&C (36K), nice bells and whistles, little to no exposure to winter salting, with the Chrysler full warranties as well as their "?deluxe" prep etc. which met my wife's needs and wishes. Since this van had "Sto&Go" seating and I asked the sales where the temp tire was stored under the vehicle and where the down crank opening was located in the passenger compartment, and shown it was in front of the front consul, in contrast to the rear compartment and location of the wheel in front of the rear bumper. He showed me the location of the car jack, lug wrench and temp tire crank down. He also shoed me a onboard time compressor for use on flat tires.

3 or 4 weeks after purchase and all going well, wife informs me dash warning show a low tire pressure. I go out and fill all tires to specs and note the dash warning that oil change is due. The small decal up at the upper left hand corner of the windshield shows it was not due till 40K. Since I do my own oil changes, I got under the car to see where the oil filter was and what access I had to it. I then noted that there was no temp tire in the cradle. I immediately called the Dodge dealer and was told that according to the vin number of the vehicle, did not come with a temp and the air compressor should take care of any tire problems.

Sure a compressor will fill a low or flat tire bur won't work if there is a major puncture or a blown tire. Sure the chances are very remote, but if you are out a reasonable distance from home and that happens, road side assistance ifs of no value. The vehicle will have to be towed to a facility to replace your tire, but its 10PM Sunday
or your wife is 30 miles from home and you are out plowing, etc.

Ask your kids, family, friends: "Are you aware that you have no back up if your tire goes." New temp tire/wheel costs over $400. My tire shop people were able to find a used wheel/tire from either a "totaled" or flood car.

Just a warning to my rural and farming friends...city folk too.

Rocky...81yo Namer Vet...'69-72.




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[4570Man]

Who has ever changed a tire that still rolls with the spare? I’ve got leaky tires, but I’ve never felt the need to air them up on the side of the road. That seems like a pretty stupid design.

 

[fishheadbob]

My wife's very expensive car came with run flat tires, no provision for a spare and not really anyplace to put one. No jack or tire iron either. When it was time to replace tires I went with conventional tires, a can of Fix A Flat, yes I know that might damage a tire pressure monitor, and bought her the AAA for $80 or $90 per year with flatbed service included. This is an all wheel drive car that shouldn't be towed but always put on a flatbed. Since runflats cost a lot more than regular tires the savings more than cover the AAA. Plus, my wife drives a lot of miles and wouldn't change a tire if she had to. Fast forward 100,000 miles. We've had a few leakers in that time, but nothing that a compressor couldn't fix enough to get to a garage.
I guess if she has a destroyed tire on a Sunday night I would have to go get her at the tire store, but even the big chain tire stores don't normally have most sizes in stock but order them from some warehouse somewhere. I've had to order tires from big stores that are sometimes a few states away. Frankly, I'm no kid and don't want to change a tire on a rainy, snowy Sunday night.

 

[bunyip]

My pet hate is those spares that look like they came off a wheelbarrow, my own spare is the same as the rest on an alloy rim.

 

[k0ua]

My 2013 Chrysler T&C came with a spare tire. I think your dealer fed you a line of BS.

 

[RNeumann]

To save weight and increase mileage a lot of new vehicles have no spare tire. It’s a whole new world out there! As mentioned, good tires and road side assistance plans- through your insurance or AAA is a good idea.

 

[Peter 315]

Saves the car makers millions of dollars

 

[k0ua]

No... there is supposed to be a spare tire on his vehicle. Why do you think they put a spare tire carrier and lowering system in the car? Did the window sticker reflect a "spare tire delete" on the sticker. I doubt it did, but if it did, then there was no spare tire. My guess is the dealer stole it, or someone else stole it. Not an easy thing to do without access to the interior to of the vehicle to lower the tire/wheel to the ground so you can fish it out. to the side.

In any case he is missing the spare tire. If the window sticker reflects that one should be there, I think the dealer should come up with one.

Let me ask you this, say you open up the air cleaner and find there is no filter element in there. Don't you think the dealer should solve that problem in a new car? Or any other part of the car that is normally included and is missing. How about you try to roll down the passenger window for the first time and discover there is no motor to drive the crank assembly on that side. Just missing. Whose fault is that?.. It ain't the owners.

 

[Creamer]

I have a 92 Ford F150 that is basically done but the spare has never been used - kind of a waste but not uncommon. My 05 Silverado has never had the full -sized spare used either. My o5 Odyssey has never had the spare used either.

My daughter's 2013 Elantra does not have a spare but did come with 200,000 mile roadside assistance with the telephone number on a little sticker on the window. My daughter had to use it the other night and all worked well. I am sure that costs less than supplying and carrying a spare all those years.

 

[TractorGuy]

I have owned 2 different vehicles that came with a flat fix kit consisting of a can of goop and an air pump. First was a 2003 Corvette Z06. Second was a 2013 Mustang GT. I wouldn't consider either a cheap or economy model car.