Yup. I'm super OCD about tires, anything older than 5 years old gets replaced regardless of tread, anything with dry rot gets replaced ASAP, anything with questionable tread gets replaced. I haven't had a tire leak from a defect or age in a long time. I do, however, periodically pick up a nail or similar that leads to a plug. My wife shredded a truck tire at highway speeds several years ago after hitting a piece of metal in the road, that was a serious pucker moment for her. Even though our F150 has a full sized spare, it was far too heavy for her to even dream of changing.

A bit OT, but it never ceases to amaze me how Porsche guys will spend thousands on suspension but continue driving on ancient tires. Age is just as important as tread remaining! I buy a lot of Porsches with older tires that ride like crap and sound like a 4x4 on mud tires.

I would never have a car without a spare. I would never own a car with runflat tires, as they simply do not perform as well as non-runflat. Don't even get me started on the mandatory TPMS and backup cameras


I see it as a safety item, not quite as much so as a helmet on a scoot, but for either one, when you need it, you really need it.

+100. It doesn't matter what kind of car, or suspension or brakes or wheels or whatever you have, if the tires are crap, you're not going to be able to stop, accelerate or swerve to avoid an accident. I generally buy the softest, grippiest tires I can for whatever car I'm putting them on, even the SUVs. I want lots of grip if the missus has to hit the brakes. I don't care if she gets 30k miles instead of 80k miles. I generally get 1-2 years out of a set of tires in my cars which means 12-25k miles. More grip is better than less for fun and safety.

During a road construction on the highway that I had to go through to get to work I started getting flats once a month for a couple of years on my El Camino. It was a nail or screw picked up on the way home. I would go out to the garage to go to work and do a walk around and find a flat. Grab the floor jack, impact wrench and change the tire.

The spare is a pain to get to in the smugglers box behind the passenger seat. I went to a local junk yard amd bought a $20 rim and kept the best tire from a worn out set. I still have a spare, spare. A week before I was going to get a new set of tires I had a nail. I drove for a week on the spare spare.

After the road construction project finished I did not have a flat for the entire life of that last set of tires except for the nail the week before the the new tires were going on. That nail was from my house re-roofing.

After 300,000 miles I don't remember how many sets of tire I have bought for my Elky. I get 25K to 30K out of the tires. It became impossible to buy good tires for the 14 inch rims a few years ago. I had to get a set of 15 inch wheels to get decent tires.

Buy a plug kit. It's really easy to plug your average nail/screw/whatever hole and 9999 times out of 10000, the plugs work fine. I'm guessing your rarely get the elky up ty hyper speeds. Hell, even if the plug was temporary and you then took the tire to a place to get one of those plug/patches...

I have a plug kit for the Porsche that is for road trip emergencies only. Never had to use it so far. I prefer to take the tire to a tire shop and have them patch the hole on the inside the right way. I don't trust plugs except in emergencies.

Just a couple of weeks ago we drove back from Enid on a 102 degree day. I bet the pavement was 125 to 140 degrees and we were driving 70 to 75 MPH. Those conditions can spit out a plug.

I bought a spare for our Boxster and had to use it recently. Even pumped up to its max pressure, it was barely adequate to slowly drive the few niles back to the house. I can't imagine having to use it while on a trip, far from home.

You can't fit the flat tire in the trunk, either of them, so it has to go in the passenger seat. Not ideal, if you have a passenger along for the ride.

Stupid, stupid, stupid...

JR

I can't remember the last time a spare tire came in handy. I think in my life time it may have been never.

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This is more and more common. Tires are better and the percentage of people that have actually had a flat is in the low single digits. (Personally, I've never had one in 40+ years of driving.) There's also increasing tire sizes and staggered wheel set-ups making even emergency donuts tricky, and shrinking storage. My BMW Z4 M coupe had room for little else with a rim with tire wedged back there. My Solstice? Not a chance. Even a 3-series sedan would lose most of its trunk space.

I've needed one about 10 times in 30 years. Maybe once a year in the last 5.

I'd be really happy to have a full-sized spare in every car I own.

JR