Spare Wheel Drama

[jims]

I have a 2004 E-Class 320D and have been concerned since day one about the lack of a spare wheel. However was assured that the puncture repair solution worked well!
Of course the inevitable has finally happened and I had a severe blowout rendering the tyre beyond repair. Mobile tyre service callout (and charge) required as well as a new tyre which highlights the weakness of the Mercedes so called solution.

As the car comes with jack and space for a spare I am now on the lookout for a wheel. Can anyone advise if a steel or spacesaver version is availble? Or recommend a breaker who may have a spare?

Thanks in advance.

jims

 

[television]

Hi Jims and welcome, yes I can understand your concern.

You can get a space saver, as you are limited to a certain speed it is not that important as to what it is.

Try dronesfield or Mercman

 

[David Nock]

I've just got my head around to accepting spacesaver spare wheels, (because the standard wheels are so big these days).
I've always thought however that repair kits were a rubbish solution (pun here folks) and this post illustrates why.

 

[jberks]

You're not the first I'm afraid.
My Mum has a smart car with a similar setup. There is a substance in the tyre that stops punctures. Great until the tyre is damaged, which on a smart, isn't that hard to do. After the second occasion where the car had to be recovered on a low loader, she now carries a spare wheel and jack. It fits behind the front seats. Not the neatest thing to look at but it saved yet another recovery last year when she hit a pot hole. The Merc, with it's 245s would have rolled straight over but the smart, with it's skinny tyres fell in the hole, wrecking the wheel and the tyre. Only this time, we simply changed it for the spare and off she went.

Try Dronsfields or Mercman. I'm sure they must have dozens of space saver spares and jacks in stock. After all, its not the kind of thing many people need. Don't forget to get the bolts as they are different for the space saver.

 

[Legoman]

my car has a space saver , so what ive done is sourced a set of 5 identical wheels , the space saver will get me home , then i can swap out until i can get it fixed. takes the pressure away of rushing to fix the tyre.

 

[3146bj]

I would like to get hold of the person responsible for the "no spare wheel" and "spacesaver only" policies and take him out into the Outback and leave him with a flat tyre, in 45 degree heat and 200km from the nearest service point where a new tyre takes 3 or 4 days to be delivered! Perhaps it would then be appreciated that a spare tyre can mean life or death in some sitautions.

 

[jberks]

I would like to get hold of the person responsible for the "no spare wheel" and "spacesaver only" policies and take him out into the Outback and leave him with a flat tyre, in 45 degree heat and 200km from the nearest service point where a new tyre takes 3 or 4 days to be delivered! Perhaps it would then be appreciated that a spare tyre can mean life or death in some sitautions.

Fair point. Here in the urban UK, I can get a tyre fixed in 1/2 an hour at one of hundreds of places. I still think the no tyre idea is mad but a space saver is fine for me. But, if I were to live somewhere more isolated then I'd ensure that a full size spare was available. That said, it was easier when a high performance tyre was a 195. Without reducing the boot space, where do you put a spare 245? And even that is skinny compared to some.

If you feel you have a need for one though, it's easy enough to do - as we did with the smart.

 

[MBZ560]

I remember a few years back when a friend had just spent £100,000 on a AMG SL, only to run over a bottle in a local car park. He was gutted to find there was no spare, just a can of tyre weld. Car had to be lifted and taken to a local garage. To make matters worse because he had lashed out a fortune on massive AMG Alloys he was told it would take two days to locate a suitable tyre.This was his first Benz and he was not impressed. Took it for granted that a 100K car came with five wheels. Another example was when a neighbours Volvo estate blew a tyre on a trip to Cornwall. The car was full to brim and although Volvo provided a space saver he found there was no room to put the original wheel. Luckily he was less then fifteen miles from home and ended up calling a cab to drop the tyre back home. I do love progress.

 

[television]

On cars like the SL65 there is no room for a spare, and very little room in the 211. Even in my SL500 the spare space saver is deflated and has to be blown up on the car. I carry 2 tins of blow up incase I used one on the wheel on the car without success.

 

[JEZ.S320L]

On cars like the SL65 there is no room for a spare, and very little room in the 211. Even in my SL500 the spare space saver is deflated and has to be blown up on the car. I carry 2 tins of blow up incase I used one on the wheel on the car without success.

With 20/295's fitted - and a skinny 'space saver' as a 'spare' - I have the AA Breakdown number in my phone.!! PLUS 2 squidgy foam cans.

 

[television]

With 20/295's fitted - and a skinny 'space saver' as a 'spare' - I have the AA Breakdown number in my phone.!! PLUS 2 squidgy foam cans.

I am in the RAC, do you know that I would not have though of calling them out, what a good idea

 

[st13phil]

Fair point. Here in the urban UK, I can get a tyre fixed in 1/2 an hour at one of hundreds of places. I still think the no tyre idea is mad but a space saver is fine for me. But, if I were to live somewhere more isolated then I'd ensure that a full size spare was available.

FWIW #1, in the UK the W204 comes with a spacesaver spare; in many continental Europe contries it comes with the "flat tyre inflation kit"; in South Africa it comes with a full-size spare. From that it seems that the local importer/concessionaire decides what the local requirement is and the car is supplied with the kit they deem necessary.

FWIW #2, bikes like my ST1300 don't have a spare wheel at all so I carry a temporary tyre plug kit which includes CO2 inflation cannisters, a can of tyre weld, my AA card and a mobile phone. If I get a puncture then they get used in that order. If I was travelling in an area where option #3 wasn't viable, then I'd have to find a way of carrying two tyres as well...

 

[Legoman]

i suppose the only other option is 'runflat' tyres . or do what we used to do when i raced mountian bikes and had no spare left , cram it full of the nearest material like grass or somin

 

[Splatt]

On several occasions I have stopped to help motorists struggling with a wheelchange. On one the chap had hit a road gully with a missing grating and it had split the tyre, he had a spare fortunately or he would have had a long wait on a dark night for recovery. With the other, and this can be a common problem, the wheel nuts had been removed but the wheel was frozen on to the studs and no amount of wrestling with it would make it loosen. We had to hunt for a solid piece of wood and give the inside rim a couple of meaty whacks to free it. Since then I have kept a large rubber mallet in the boot for this purpose.

 

[JEZ.S320L]

On several occasions I have stopped to help motorists struggling with a wheelchange..............

Ahhhhhhhh.....those were the days, when to stop to help someone who had broken down was regarded as an innocent act - not being seen as a perv/stalker/murderer/kidnapper. Sadly, I now drive by.

How times have changed - and NOT for the better

 

[100%Bitch]

Ahhhhhhhh.....those were the days, when to stop to help someone who had broken down was regarded as an innocent act - not being seen as a perv/stalker/murderer/kidnapper. Sadly, I now drive by.

How times have changed - and NOT for the better

So it was you who drove that ML past me when I was on the side of the road on Thursday. :evil:

 

[television]

Ahhhhhhhh.....those were the days, when to stop to help someone who had broken down was regarded as an innocent act - not being seen as a perv/stalker/murderer/kidnapper. Sadly, I now drive by.

How times have changed - and NOT for the better

I forgot those says of how we would stop and help someone, as you say, times are not better

 

[Shambolic]

try it in an SLK it has a flat spacesaver and a compressor that you have to attach a can of something(which I dont have and was told by local dealer would cost me to buy as car is not supplied with it from new) to form a seal on wheel and tyre. And then inflate it and put it on.
The last time I had a puncture (luckily a nail) I screwed a self tapping screw in to seal it enough and blew it up and drove round to tyre garage.

 

[JEZ.S320L]

So it was you who drove that ML past me when I was on the side of the road on Thursday. :evil:

Probably - I DID see a pile of rust though - was that YOU.?? :roll: