Do we really need a spare?

[geoffff]

Great post, thanks for sharing!

Did you change what you carry after that? More spare tires? More tire repair gear?

Yeah, I certainly considered multiple spares. But in the end I just figured I should learn better how to sew up my tires - for when this happens to me only once a decade or so.

Improvements for next time... I now carry:

• kevlar thread & a big needle (instead of wire - which fatigues and breaks when flexed repeatedly)
• genuine tire patches (instead of my bicycle inner tube with rubber cement) https://www.amzn.to/gp/product/B077WCXZ9F/
• actual tire spoon (instead of my lug wrench and a big screwdriver) https://www.amzn.to/gp/product/B077WCXZ9F/
• an inner tube sized for my tires (might work) https://www.amzn.to/gp/product/B077WCXZ9F/
• tire buffing wheel for my cordless drill (instead of my angle grinder & flap wheel) https://www.amzn.to/gp/product/B077WCXZ9F/
• vulcanizing rubber cement https://www.amzn.to/gp/product/B077WCXZ9F/

Other helpful stuff I did have with me the first time around:

• TireJect bead sealant https://www.amzn.to/gp/product/B077WCXZ9F/
• ratchet strap for resetting the tire bead

 

[geoffff]

I think I posted the whole story here on EP a few years ago, but here are a few more details:

I actually patched both my ripped tires. And this is good because my first tire only got me 30 miles before failing (my wire stitches fatigued and snapped).

To break the bead, I drove up onto the tire.

To reset the bead, I used a ratchet strap (not the more exciting explosive gas technique).

 

[craig333]

Why not? I'd stick it on an non-driven corner and drive with some prudence.....

I've had to swap tires before. Detroit locker really doesn't like size differences. PITA but certainly doable.

 

[Metcalf]

I think I posted the whole story here on EP a few years ago, but here are a few more details:

I actually patched both my ripped tires. And this is good because my first tire only got me 30 miles before failing (my wire stitches fatigued and snapped).

To break the bead, I drove up onto the tire.

To reset the bead, I used a ratchet strap (not the more exciting explosive gas technique).

I love the can do attitude and ingenuity!

I carry one of these for breaking beads down. For the size, it is the best system I have found.



They make a larger version that will break larger beads down in a single shot. With this size, I typically have to do 3-4 positions on the tire to fully dismount the bead. The back bead is usually worse than the front because of the rim shape. You can run them with a small impact which makes the process darn quick. This fits inside my tire kit box all the other stuff and basically disappears under the passenger seat.

 

[RandyP]

Yes, carry a full size spare on a spare wheel. Always.

 

[billiebob]

We had a rear end fail on Christmas Eve. Thankfully on Albertas busiest highway and we were parked on the shoulder. Even as a top priority it took 4 hours for a tow truck to arrive. The driver told us virtually everyone needing a tow Christmas Eve would wait until the 28th before a truck arrived. Just like all of us tow truck drivers like Christmas and Boxing Day at home with their families.

So when you decide you need AAA...... be ready to wait.

 

[GaryMc]

I always carry one, but the last time I needed one was 1984, and I'm not kidding. Maybe I'm lucky or tire technology is just that good these days. I likely won't get rid of mine but the weight and real-estate savings has me thinking.

I’ve average a flat a year, but theyare almost always fixable with my plug kit.
That said, a few years ago, a very sharp rock went though my tread and it was not pluggable.
I would have been 50 miles up a dirt road near the Bob Marshall complex and totallly screwed without the spare.

 

[UglyViking]

I think there are so many variables to carrying spares that there is really no one size fits all. A lot of it is dependent on how far from a shop you are, how isolates you are, how much getting multiple flats is going to impact your trip, etc.

I think another thing that I didn't see discussed is the quality of the tires. I'd much rather have a single quality spare than a bunch of budget tires and a budget spare.

I just came back from a cross country trip to Montana with my trailer and we blew 3 tires and noticed a 4th was starting to split. I checked all the tires before the trip but they were budget tires and just couldn't hack it. That's just on road travel but I couldn't even count the number of people I had seen with blown tires on their truck or trailer.

Sadly, especially with the full size crowd, spares are heavy and bulky and so you're trading off storage space and weight with actual chance of getting into an issue.

At some point everything becomes a risk and you're just balancing risk to cost. If I'm hitting trails around new england I feel that a single spare is more than enough security for me. If I were doing the Dalton hwy then I'd be bringing 2.

 

[AbleGuy]

We’ll, if you had a spare (as asked by the thread title) one fun skill you could practice is quick wheel changes While Moving! as these guys have mastered it:

 

[billiebob]

We’ll, if you had a spare (as asked by the thread title) one fun skill you could practice is quick wheel changes While Moving! as these guys have mastered it:

I think India does it better. They do it for sport.

 

[Metcalf]

Every time someone says, 'it couldn't be repaired', I think of these guys....

 

[craig333]

They're also not doing it along the trail. I had a sidewall tear similar to that and I'm really happy I did not have to attempt a repair.

 

[Metcalf]

They're also not doing it along the trail. I had a sidewall tear similar to that and I'm really happy I did not have to attempt a repair.

They are also in the dirt, in sandals, in a 3rd world country. Their make it work attitude is amazing.
You can't carry everything to make life easy all the time. Having some tools and knowledge goes much further than a single one and done system.

 

[Buckstopper]

I always carry a spare but have never used it. I carry a repair kit and have an onboard compressor and have found it easier to patch the flat than to swap the tires. I have also had simultaneous sidewall flats on two tires so I had to patch both tires. I stopped at a tire shop and had them check my repairs and the guy offered me a job. No thanks but I did buy replacement tires from him.

 

[DirtWhiskey]

I really can't believe people don't have spares, or at least a spare tire and the skills to install it on the rim, repair kits, inflators and everything else one might need when boondocking. Carry a spare. I've seen $6k extraction bills. I've rarely used mine but that "one time" you really need it? Worth every second you didn't.