QOTD: Feeling Deflated?
I blame Chris Tonn for a minor annoyance that befell me the other day. Maybe it was his fault, maybe it was fate. Maybe I jinxed myself.
For reasons immediately lost to the ether, the two of us found ourselves embroiled in a discussion on spare tires. Unlucky when it comes to flats, Chris bemoaned his puncture-filled past as I gloated that, despite years of driving in remote locales, my last flat tire was probably a half-decade ago. Someone or something was listening. Sure enough, just two days later, a rusty nail sliced through my front passenger-side Continental.
He won’t pick up the tab, the jerk. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable here.
Anyway, the embarrassingly narrow factory hoop is back where it should be, all nice and patched, but not until after I swapped it for the full-size spare I keep stashed in the trunk at all times, right next to a GM jack carried over from four sedans ago. This is where having a set of mounted snow tires comes in handy. You know, besides that whole winter thing.
Because factory full-size spares in passenger cars are seen as often as Bigfoot, I don’t leave home without a makeshift one. My last two cars never even emerged from the factory with a space-saver spare, the cheap bastards (or is that me?). Fun fact: the Chevy Cruze only offers a space-saver on LT and higher trims, though the previous-gen Eco (my last car) dropped it for weight-saving reasons. Not having that peace of mind allowed me to sail past the pumps! GM didn’t leave me empty-handed, though — in this car and the last, the factory fixed me up with a product I’d only use if forced: the inflator kit. Never trusted them, and don’t plan on ever using one. It’s no guarantee of a fixed flat, and there could be complications even if it works. (Or so I’ve heard.)
Also, I want the option of driving however far I want, at whatever speed I choose, without having to worry about keeping it below 50 mph until I get the full-sizer patched. And that’s why a good measure of my car’s trunk space is permanently sacrificed by the presence of a worn 205/60 R16 Blizzak. I want there to be a complete solution on hand should I drive over your kid’s toy soldiers.
What I’d like to know today is: how many of you upgraded your flat tire preparations after finding them lacking? Or, like many, is it the last thing on your mind?
More by Steph Willems
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We bought a 2001 CLK320 this year. For the first time in my 40 years, I tried to casually buy a car. Lesson relearned... A month after purchasing the car I picked up a bolt in the rear tire. I babied the car to employee parking, checked the spare and sure enough it was flat. I threw it in the back of the work car and filled it up that evening at a gas station. At 2 am, I get back the the car. Keep in mind all employee parking for 1000 employees is on the side of a hill- nothing is level. I pulled out the recover gear from the Merc, and sure as I can tell it's never been used. I figured out the factory jack and after about four inches of lift just enough to get the flat spot off the ground but not enough to put a new wheel on, the jack folds in half. Not only is the jack bent and unusable in either direction, but on this car, the jack attached by a horizontal peg that fits in a corresponding hole in the side of the car. That peg was pointed downwards and the pressure made removing the jack next to impossible. Still had the work car to pull supplies from, so I took the jack out of the Ford Escape. Tried and true scissor jack- with a lift block on top! I've never seen this on a jack. As a cheap means of lifting leaf sprung vehicles, yes, but never a jack. I found one of the few spots under the car when the jack will even fit. I was able to lift the car enough to get the Merc jack out and high enough to replace the wheel. But as the wheel came off, I noticed, the Ford jack also starting to fold in half only sideways. Quickly I pulled the spare from its chock block position and slid it under the bare rotor just in time for the car to jack to completely collapse. What should have been a 10 minute tire change turned into a 3 hour ordeal involving running home in a company car and getting proper tools from the garage. I grabbed a decent scissor lift from my old parts bin for the Merc on trips I carry my cordless impact gun with sockets for the lugs and the end of the scissor jack.. Even on the truck, the entire process takes less than five minutes and is safer that both the Mercedes and Ford options.
We bought a 2001 CLK320 this year. For the first time in my 40 years, I tried to casually buy a car. Lesson relearned... A month after purchasing the car I picked up a bolt in the rear tire. I babied the car to employee parking, checked the spare and sure enough it was flat. I threw it in the back of the work car and filled it up that evening at a gas station. At 2 am, I get back the the car. Keep in mind all employee parking for 1000 employees is on the side of a hill- nothing is level. I pulled out the recover gear from the Merc, and sure as I can tell it's never been used. I figured out the factory jack and after about four inches of lift just enough to get the flat spot off the ground but not enough to put a new wheel on, the jack folds in half. Not only is the jack bent and unusable in either direction, but on this car, the jack attached by a horizontal peg that fits in a corresponding hole in the side of the car. That peg was pointed downwards and the pressure made removing the jack next to impossible. Still had the work car to pull supplies from, so I took the jack out of the Ford Escape. Tried and true scissor jack- with a lift block on top! I've never seen this on a jack. As a cheap means of lifting leaf sprung vehicles, yes, but never a jack. I found one of the few spots under the car when the jack will even fit. I was able to lift the car enough to get the Merc jack out and high enough to replace the wheel. But as the wheel came off, I noticed, the Ford jack also starting to fold in half only sideways. Quickly I pulled the spare from its chock block position and slid it under the bare rotor just in time for the car to jack to completely collapse. What should have been a 10 minute tire change turned into a 3 hour ordeal involving running home in a company car and getting proper tools from the garage. I grabbed a decent scissor lift from my old parts bin for the Merc and on trips I carry my cordless impact gun with sockets for the wheel bolts and the end of the scissor jack. The entire spare-changing process takes less than five minutes including packing and unpacking and is safer that both factory Mercedes or Ford options.