Space saver spare tyre in Prius and being minus a spare tyre in Prius i-Tech (Australia)

Welcome.
Speed with a space saver spare is limited. It has a higher pressure too. 60 psi I think.
I understand that using the patch lit can mean the tire and sometimes TPMS sensor need to be replaced.
@alanclarkeau should be along to share his Prius experiences in Australia.

 

As far as I know, they're not equipping any of ours with TPMS. My FIESTA came without a spare - but I optioned it with a temporary spare. It had a canister and a neat little pump which would fill the tyre with "gunk" to temporarily repair small holes. The jury is out on using "gunk" to repair as to whether the tyre can actually be repaired afterwards - some repairers say that you throw the tyre away, clean the rim and put a new one one because the "gunk" is impossible to remove successfully - but overseas they say repairers repair the tyres OK. Maybe have a chat to your "friendly" tyre guys.

I've had space savers in my last 2 cars - not my preferred option. Essentially they drive more or less like normal, I don't think it was wet the times I used them, you use it as a temporary spare while you take your proper wheel to be repaired. I used it maybe 3 or 4 times in the previous cars - and essentially I just took the car to get it fixed, put the temp spare back. 2 other times, I used a pump to pump the damaged tyre back up which got me to the tyre service. Yes, it's limited to 80km/hr and theoretically 80km distance.

I don't like the idea of no spare - I'm planning to do an around Australia trip in the next couple of years, not sure if it'll be with the PRIUS or the next car - but I'd be taking a FULL-SIZE spare with me even if I had a temporary.

In the last 10 years, I had 2 flat tyres well beyond 80km range to next tyre service - one was ½ way between Emerald and Barcaldine - 160 km either direction to service. Would be a LONG, HOT WALK - if I wasn't in a work Commodore with full size spare.

The other could have been worse - I was in my VOLVO 940, fortunately with a FULL SIZE Spare. On Carnarvan Gorge Road on a Saturday, tyre destroyed. Headed to Emerald 250km - sorry, none in stock, Tuesday before they'd arrive. Just kept driving with fingers crossed - eventually got one at Murgon, another 650km away. Total 900km - a lot of good an 80km range/80km/hr temporary tyre would be.

 

Some users on this list use a Corolla rim either for a spare or for snow tires.
Some users here have purchased the Toyota foam pieces to fit a temporary spare on a model without a spare. I believe there is a difference in cargo deck height, though. The full sized spare is not an option int he US.
This is from the 2017 US manual, though:

 

No - unless you remake the polystyrene mouldings - which I'm not sure if anyone has - there was some discussion on PriusChat a while back both with Gen 3 and Gen 4 adaptations. Maybe do a search on PriusChat.

There was talk that a Corolla wheel and tyre from the wreckers would fit a Gen 3, but I'm not sure about Gen 4.

If I did an around Australia, I'd be alone, and probably carry it on the passenger (that's the left side for non Aussies reading this so it won't block the Hybrid Battery vent) rear floor or maybe strapped down in the loadspace with seats folded down.

 

That's interesting that your handbook has mention of a FULL SIZE SPARE - does anyone know which market this is included in?

 

@Tideland Prius is usually the expert on that here. I believe

 

Yikes what a trip...

You got my curiosity going so I started looking at Google Maps for possible routes.

How long do you think it would take?

Looks like a lot of places out in the middle of nowhere so to speak...

 

Yep, there is a lot of "middle of nowhere" here. Half of the trip I was driving with friends. Roads were good - except for the rough bush dirt track into Carnarvan Gorge, maybe about 45 minutes from the sealed road. Lovely country though. I could have waited in Emerald till Tuesday, or detoured up to Rockhampton where they would have had a tyre, but that would have added about 500km to my journey. I was living in Nambour at the time - which was a 13 hr drive, about 900km each way.

 

Thanks - it's hard to tell, but it doesn't look like the floor is any higher from the 2 second glimpse. It'd be interesting to see if the cargo capacity is the same.

Maybe we could make a bulk order to the Middle East for the SPARE PARTS needed to do it properly? Toyota USA might get the drift if Middle East TOYOTA gets a couple of thousand export orders for spare parts? Probably not.

 

You're lucky. My son had a tire go on his Prius v while on a highway coming ho,e. He was able to get hos temporary spare mounted and get to a tire dealer to get his tires replaced.

 

Are we supposed to do a tyre rotation in the UK? My dealer never mentioned it to me, but it sounds like north America is obsessed with it.

 

I do not know about you, but mine rotate as I drive down the road. Do you guys do that differently too?

 

Well, is true that when I stopped 'em rotating they all developed flat spots from the resultant skidding.

 

I almost never rotate tyres - some people do here, some don't. I was a bit intrigued when I first came on PriusChat that most USA people do.