That ******* spare wheel

[heero99]

Hate those donut spare wheels, so it was almost a relief to find that the repo'd 07 I bought didn't have one(Presumably lifted by the folks at the repo depot) So after checking with the local Toyota dealer that a regular size rim would fit in the well("How would you be able to transport the flat to the tire store if it didn't ?" the SM reasonably asked me. )Yet another humbling newbie moment . So I went out and bought a gently used rim and tire, and went to insert it.... So my question is, "How DO you transport the flat to the tire store, if say you are on the road with a fully loaded car and you have a flat?" (the well is too small back to front by about 2 inches, but big enuf side to side ! WHAT WERE THEY THINKING ?) Another warning if you're thinking of buying a repo. The car only had 10k on it so I didnt think of checking the tires for wear. All four had been swapped from another vehicle and two of them were seriously out of round. It's not just hidden damage or (salvage)document fraud you have to watch out for.

[richard schumacher]

Probably they were thinking that a *flat* full sized tire would fit.

[sdtundra]

Mine came with some black straps that are meant to hold the flat tire in the rear cargo area.

[KandyRedCoi]

use the black straps it came with, i only know this cus my GFs old Scion tC was the same thing

[heero99]

Yes , I wondered if carrying around a deflated full sizer in the well, and trusting that any mishap would happen within earshot of Triple A would be a better option than the dreaded donut....I'm cogitating. Neither option appeals. I've never not been able to substitute a fullsize wheel for the pigmy spare before.

[Godiva]

Well, you'd have to move everything out of the rear cargo area to get to the spare in the first place. You just put the regular tire in the cargo area because you're probably going to go straight to someplace to get it repaired and back on the car. You don't drive around very long on a spare. They're not made for it. They stopped putting full size spares in cars a long time ago.

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by heero99

Yes , I wondered if carrying around a deflated full sizer in the well, and trusting that any mishap would happen within earshot of Triple A would be a better option than the dreaded donut....I'm cogitating. Neither option appeals. I've never not been able to substitute a fullsize wheel for the pigmy spare before.

Would you be able to replace the black plastic box and the folding hatch cover, if you have a full-size tire sitting in the tire well?

Did your car come with the scissors jack that normally lives on top of the spare tire, and the tools that fit into the black plastic box?

BTW, I had to replace one of the tires with the compact spare after my wife hit some debris on the highway and the right front tire suffered an immediate deflation. The provided tire wrench is pretty short; therefore it is difficult to use. I was able to loosen the lugnuts by standing on the end of the tire wrench to apply the needed torque. The lugnuts had previously been tightened by me to 76 ft.-lb. If they had been significantly tighter, this approach may not have worked.

I found that the handling of the car was OK with the compact spare installed in the RF position. However, this is for temp use only and I recall that tire is not rated for use above 60 mph or so.

[mborkow]

Originally Posted by heero99

Yes , I wondered if carrying around a deflated full sizer in the well, and trusting that any mishap would happen within earshot of Triple A would be a better option than the dreaded donut....I'm cogitating. Neither option appeals. I've never not been able to substitute a fullsize wheel for the pigmy spare before.

deflate the spare and bring a small air compressor to fill it up when you have to

[TonyPSchaefer]

Originally Posted by heero99

So my question is, "How DO you transport the flat to the tire store, if say you are on the road with a fully loaded car and you have a flat?"

Happens to me every day. There's not a single day when I don't have a fully loaded car so packed with stuff that I can't even finagle a tire in the cargo hold.

On a scale of probability, I think the odds of that are pretty, pretty low. I'm not saying it can never happen; in fact, shortly after I win the lottery someone's blowing a tire with a completely fully loaded Prius.

Outlier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[qbee42]

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

Happens to me every day. There's not a single day when I don't have a fully loaded car so packed with stuff that I can't even finagle a tire in the cargo hold.

On a scale of probability, I think the odds of that are pretty, pretty low. I'm not saying it can never happen; in fact, shortly after I win the lottery someone's blowing a tire with a completely fully loaded Prius.

Outlier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

True, Tony, although the odds of selective probability say that the chances of having a flat increase dramatically if you have no room to carry a flat. Likewise the odds go up pretty fast during heavy rain or slushy days, especially if you are wearing dress clothes.

Tom