No spare tire, no problem? Toyota tire puncture repair kit to the rescue.

I started driving in 1967, and before that my parents took us on extended summer vacation every summer in our family cars. In all that time I can remember maybe 5 flats. My ‘22 Prius doesn’t have a spare and I’m not the least bit concerned about it. I was taught to take care of your vehicles and practice preventive maintenance.

 

it's a personal decision, like insurance. i've had a donut in the hatch for 11 years, never used it.

 

Guess the OP never travelled into dangerous parts of the town and prefer to wait for the tow truck which may never come.

 

i wouldn't make the trip to florida and back without one, even on i95, too may desolate areas

 

I had a friend who was missing from a Christmas party, because he drove a high end Mercedes with special tires. He had no spare. 5 PM on Christmas eve, all the tire stores even in a big city closed early. His car was towed to the dealer ON Saturday night. He had to take an Uber to the motel. He found out that Monday that the tire was a special order and took two more days to be delivered to the dealer. Basically, he gambled and LOST.

 

Yep, things can, and have, happened. That’s why taking care of your equipment and being aware of your surroundings is an important skill to develop and master. Tornadoes strike frequently, causing the weather alerts to go off quite often in my area (and areas I have lived in), and many people have had their homes destroyed by them. But I don’t live in a tornado shelter, and I haven’t built a bomb shelter just because someone might set a bomb off. Neither do I wear a bulletproof vest just because mass shooters are running around.
And while we’re at it, being in a dangerous area and putting that spare tire on is going to be just as dangerous, perhaps even more so since you will have a tire iron out that could just as easily be used as a weapon against you. Just saying.

 

Which kit are you referring to exactly, is it the one where you basically use a sticky "rope" and shove it into the hole? If so, that's the one I have in each of my cars, as none come with spares. If that fails, I'll still have the goo kit that comes from the factory.

 

On a business trip to South Africa, our contracted airport shuttle van suffered a flat tire. The driver/security man didn't know how to change it. But he was armed and might have been trained with that gear, so I told him to stand watch while I changed the tire.

Changing a minivan tire on the side of a freeway in Johannesburg at 2am is not the funnest thing to do just after a 15-hour air trip.

 

I’m assuming (based on the many “problems” you say the Gen 3 is “known” for in your many posts) that you are also carrying a spare 12 volt battery, a head gasket, a brake accumulator, the tools and equipment to clean the EGR system and perform all the other repairs, right.
I find it interesting that you are concerned with having a flat but don’t think doing preventative maintenance on the transmission is necessary.
Sorry about being a sarcastic jerk, just COULDN’T resist.

 

i wouldn't take the gen 3 for a long trip on a bet. we take the hycam, which is much more reliable, has a full size spare and is more reflective of historical toyota quality

 

I like the situation on our venerable '10, having a spare (factory supplied!), and a BlackJack Plug Repair Kit. Plus a decent quality, floor-standing bicycle pump.

 

I'm on day eight of a 2023 Prius Prime, having put 700 miles of freeway driving to get it home to south Florida. Keeping our fingers crossed after we have minimized our risks is all we can do. Driving on the freeways, such as escaping south Florida before an approaching Cat 3+ hurricane, the odds of getting a blowout with a properly inflated tire with usable tread, or a side-wall puncture that cannot be handled by the tire puncture repair kit are low.

The odds of getting rammed in the rear or side-swiped by speeding "video game" drivers was my biggest worry bringing the car home.

 

Do these vulcanizing string plugs work for Prius 19” (Prime XSE) radial tires?

What is the advantage of using the plug over using the goo?

I’m trying to build a hurricane escape plan that will not leave me stranded in some rural town without a Toyota dealer, in the hurricane path waiting till after the hurricane for a tire to be trucked down. At some point I hope to buy a replacement tire to take with me, but it is already season so I’m considering my options and the plug kits are very inexpensive.

 

Duplicate post deleted. Why two I haven’t a clue.

 

Do your normal travel routes all have full cell phone coverage so that you can call AAA?

Portions of this country have substantial areas with spotty or no cell service, so help depends on assistance from strangers and/or a significant hike.

 

I doubt anybody is questioning the value of preventive maintenance, but a flat is rarely the result of the tires being "neglected". No matter how defensively I'm driving, I will not be able to spot a screw or nail in my path if I'm going faster than about 15 mph.

The supposed "problems" with the Gen 3 mentioned in your post offer plenty of warning before ultimately reaching the point of failure, so one would presumably take care of those before embarking on a road trip to Mordor. A jump pack works wonders for an unexpectedly dead 12V. But a flat tire is entirely different because:

1. one can almost never prevent it,
2. it takes less than 15 minutes to fix with a spare handy, and
3. even if all the other Gen 3 "problems" strike at the same time, one can still fix the flat and drive to a safe location with reception and wait for a tow.

 

Our Prime XSE came with roadside assistance that probably calls the same folks as AAA. Supposedly the roadside assistance is going to help put the goo in the tire, unless the tire is destroyed or has a sidewall problem, then they are going to tow us somewhere, upon which we have to taxi to a hotel or home, and wait a week for a tire to be trucked to wherever they towed us.

For me, the worst possible bad day amplifier for this will be if I'm escaping a pending hurricane. I think I need to have at least the replacement tire with me, and hope the shop will be open (not boarding up for the storm).

I replaced my 2009 Prius on the thought I didn't want to trust it in a hurricane, but it at least had a (compact) spare tire. This "no spare" thing is serious stress I didn't expect with a new Prius.

 

If only they made a run-flat tire in the size we need..

 

That's one way out, but run-flats still come with a significant weight/MPG penalty for every mile you drive, not just the 50 that it will last once deflated. And once that's happened, it's permanently done, you're replacing it. Doesn't matter if the air was lost out a leaky valve stem or a serious puncture.

I can't condemn them as useless, just not my preferred method for dealing with tire hazards.