mmarshall

One of the things I regularly complain about in my auto reviews (and taking criticism from some of you guys for it) is when auto companies cheap out (as they do with most of today's newer vehicles), and either don't provide a spare tire at all, a bottle of Fix-a-Flat, or a donut/temporary spare.

Well, today, it was not only my turn to write about it, but to actually deal with it. A few weeks ago, my left-rear tire (an 18", 45-series Continental Contipro Contact) got a very small-nail puncture in it...the first sign was the tire-pressure indicators showing 29 PSI with the other three at 33-34. That was a simple fix, just a quick plug without the tire even having to come off the rim. But, today, on the same tire (and NOT the same puncture-repair as last time) I had a much worse dilemma. I had finished my morning indoor swim/walk at the local fitness center and was on my way to lunch at a favorite eatery of mine when the yellow tire-pressure warning light came on and the graphic-display in the middle of the gauge panel automatically switched to tire PSI-mode and showed a very low 10 PSI in the left-rear, compared to my normal 33-34 (after tire warmup). I like the way Buick does their tire graphic system, which makes things virtually foolproof....no guessing, like with cheaper systems that don't show specific PSI in each tire, but just tire-rotation differences.

Anyhow, I quickly found a parking space in the restaurant's lot, shut the engine off, got out, looked at the tire, and could immediately see why it lost air so quickly...a large, shoe-horn-shaped piece of metal sticking out the the center of the tire tread....I could actually hear the air hissing out. I figured that there was no way I could pump it up, like last time, even with my portable plug-in air compressor...something I have carried for years just for emergencies. So, on this cold windy day, I figured it was either change it myself or take a chance with OnStar and GM's Roadside Assistance, not knowing how long it would take or who they would actually send out. And, I was in a comparably safe parking lot, in broad daylight, instead of on a lonely deserted road at night.

So, I decided it was time to brush up on my old tire-changing skills....something I hadn't done for some time. The cold wind ended up making my fingertips somewhat numb, and difficult to tactile-feel things with. But I managed, without much trouble, to get the donut spare and jacking tools out out (it was the typical diamond-shaped jack with the long horizontal screw in the center). The donut spare, of course, was low, since it originally held 60 PSI, but, with my portable compressor, that was no problem. I collapsed the jack, fitted it EXACTLY under the proper rail-flange (that is VERY important to prevent unibody warp or damage). Then I partially-jacked that end of the car up, to take part of the pressure off the tire (per Owners Manual Instructions). Then I partially loosened the chrome lugs in an opposite/cross pattern from each other (which I remembered from my earlier training), jacked the car and tire all the way off the ground, loosened the nuts all the way, removed it, fitted on the spare, put the lug-nuts back on, partially retightened them, lowered the donut spare tire all the way down, and hand-tightened the lugs as tight as I reasonably could (you don't want them too tight....to about 75-80 ft-lbs. of torque to prevent rotor or thread damage). Then, using my compressor, I inflated the donut spare to the full 55-60 PSi, put everything back into the trunk......and, presto, went inside for a nice meal and to warm my hands up.

Fortunately, when you have to change a rear tire on a relatively light FWD compact like this, it's a fairly simple deal, because there is no differential/final-drive unit in the center or rear. With car-based AWD like Subarus or other similar vehicles, it's more complex, because of the (sometimes) necessity of deactivating the AWD with a fuse-puller, and shifting tires from back to front before putting on the spare. That's because of the center-differential on car-based AWD vehicles which can be overworked when dealing with tire-rotation differences between front/rear and/or good and badly-worn tires.

If all goes well, I'll get the tire repaired Sunday after church (I've got an appointment at my Chevy/Buick/GMC shop, which has treated me very well, and, by dealer-standards, reasonably-priced for service). It may or may not be repairable, but, if I end up having to get a new tire...hey, that's the breaks. The puncture position in the middle of the tread (rather than on the sidewalls) looks promising, but this is a BIG puncture.

I always prefer a real spare tire and wheel, of course. But, if the auto companies are going to cheap out, I'm glad that Buick chose to at least put a jack and a donut-spare in the Verano instead of run-flat tires (which are generally only good for 50 miles or so if they puncture or leak), or a cheap bottle of Fix-a-Flat. In this case, the puncture was so big that, if all I had was a bottle like that, it probably wouldn't have worked, and I would have been stranded for at least awhile. As it is, I'm home safe right now on my computer, typing this.
I also like the way that Buick does its sophisticated tire-PSI system and warning-lights....that made it much easier to catch a potentially very bad situation before it actually happens.

corradoMR2

Yes, thankfully Lexus/Toyota among a few others still believe in the spare tire that is a necessity for situations like yours.

Sorry about the flat, but I enjoyed the read.

mmarshall

Thanks

The threat of tire-punctures here in this area is simply part of life. Tires, in this area, face the constant possibility of picking up road debris for several reasons...the large number of traffic accidents from the colossal number of cars and debris not properly cleaned up afterwards, constant building/infrastructure construction and the equal problem of not cleaning up afterwards, auto repair-shops and service-bays that leave a lot of screws and other sharp objects lying around, junk falling off of trucks that either don't cover up their loads or are exempt from local covered-load laws, and prankster-kids with nothing better to do in their spare time than to deliberately toss stuff out in front of passing cars.


Actually, on most regular passenger cars and some car-based crossover SUVs, conventional spare tires are either completely a thing of the past or a several-hundred-dollar option. The last regular car I reviewed where one was available (as a $500 option) was the Chevy SS...and not many SS models are actually built. The last-generation Toyota Avalon I reviewed also had a conventional spare (I remember it from the one I reviewed, but can't remember it it was standard or not)....but that went out with the 2013 redesign. On the new Jeep Cherokee (which I also reviewed), a conventional spare comes only on the off-road TrailHawk version, with temporary spares on the others.

Here's an article from Edmunds, BTW, on the subject...........

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/th...pare-tire.html

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

glad it didn't result in a more serious situation and good job swapping it out in cold weather.

thanks for sharing the story and no doubt your car will be back to normal in short order.

mmarshall

Thanks, bit. I didn't post this story to highlight my own abilities. I for one, at my age, don't have as much physical strength or stamina as I did years ago, and, despite some knowledge, couldn't cope with a lot of the complexity of today's vehicles. I posted it primarily to show how important I thnk it is for automakers to include at least some kind of a spare, if not a real one. In a serious-puncture case like this (or similar one), a can of Fix-a-Flat would be just about worthless. Not only that, but after using the can, the tire often has to come off the rim and be cleaned out inside and re-balanced, as that pressurized goo accumulates unevenly inside the tire and can throw it off balance.

rxonmymind

Two tire related situations just came up recently during this week.
First was then low air pressure in my Lexus RX 350. Took the vehicle in too America's tire and had them do a courtesy pressure check. Aside from the young kid attempting to steal my ss six sided caps and swap them out with some junk caps, no joke, lol,(kids! Grr) all went well. Well the tire sensor pressure still showed on. Went back to have them check again and this time I got the service manager to double check and he "reset" it with his hand held gizmo and tried to reset it under the steering wheel. Didn't work. Well as I didn't have all day to have this looked at I knew the tires were in fact inflated to it's correct pressure and I would take this into Lexus to figure out. Well as luck would have it my wife took it into Big O tires the next day as having lights on that shouldn't be on drives her nuts. She explained it and a sharp hearing kid overheard her explain said "It's the spare tire" followed by a few "noitsnot". Well the kid was correct! Ding, ding. The spare tire in the 2009 RX350 once filled deactivated the warning light. A nice touch if you ask me and yes it's a full spare sized tire. Love it.

The second being my brother in law just yesterday had his 20" low profile tires blow out on him on his 2014 Charger. Well the tire then proceeded to slap the crap out if his fender well. The cost to fix it? $600-1800! Those steel belted rubber wrapped tires are nasty!. I feel for him.

mmarshall

Sorry to hear about your brother's car. Does he drive it on rough roads? 20" wheels, with very low-profile tires, don't leave much rubber beyond the wheel-rims for impact-protection (besides, of course, usually also giving a rough ride). I wouldn't be surprised if he hit a pothole or sharp piece of rough pavement that was hard enough to damage the tire (that's assuming, of course, that his tire didn't fail from an internal defect or from underinflation/heat buildup).

Lil4X

I had a left front throw it's tread several weeks ago on the freeway, slinging that steel belt around even as I slowed to single-digit mph by the time I exited to surface streets. Oddly enough, the tire didn't blow, the carcass, wrapped in those radial plies was still intact, although the plies were exposed. I crawled slowly to an all-night tire shop I knew in the area and they put the mini-spare on for me. I would have done it myself, but the neighborhood is kinda iffy at night, and I gave someone else five bucks for their tools and experience to do the job quickly. The next morning while scrubbing the rubber marks off the exterior of the fender, I discovered the whole panel had been knocked out of line by about 3/16" by that flailing belt. Yikes!

Then last Friday I was headed out to run some errands and the right front looked low just sitting in the driveway. Hmmm . . . cold weather? It's mate on the other side was a little low, but not nearly so much. Wasting no time, for fear of it going flat while I got out the tire gauge and checked pressures, I limped over to the same tire shop. After a thorough inspection, they could find no puncture, but the valve stem had a crack that was producing a slow leak. Six bucks later I leave with a new valve stem and all four tires aired up to spec. That valve stem was probably original to the car, so I think after 15 years it had had a good run.

In this neighborhood you need to learn either Spanish or pantomime, but it pays off. It's good to find helpful service people who do proper work at a reasonable price.

mmarshall

Thanks for sharing, Bob.

BTW, it's normal for tires, unchecked, to lose about 1 PSI or so for every 10-degree drop in air temperature overnight...and that, of course, will be nullified somewhat by normal tire warm-up every time you start and drive the car. When checking cold tire PSi's, try to do it after letting the tires sit at least 3-4 hours after a run...and out of direct sunlight, which will heat up individual tires. So, in other words, if the morning or afternoon sun is hitting one side of the car, those two tires will be warmer in the morning and cool down slower in the evening than those in the shade. This happens, of course, not only because of direct sunlight, but also the fact that the black color in the tires accentuates the heating. It's like parking a black car in the summer sun and the paint getting hot very quickly.

pman6

Speaking of changing a tire, when you have a FWD, do you still put the spare in the front, and the good tire in the rear ?

They always say put the good tires in the rear to prevent spinning out, but putting the donut in the front would give you crappy traction.

mmarshall

With a temporary spare, I would not put it on the front axle of a strictly FWD car, for two reasons, unless you either had to or are going to drive very slow and handle very gently. Temporary spares, even if they are or close to full-size and would not stress the front differential by a sharply different tire-diameter contrast, are still designed basically for emergency use (e.g., to get the car to a relatively close or suitable tire- repair-shop). They are not meant for normal handling/braking/acceleration/winter-traction or weight-bearing standards, so that is why they have a strict distance and speed-limit (usually less than about 50-60 MPH). Also, of course, when you have a tire of this type on the front axle, you have markedly different traction/grip between the two front tires, so, if you are not driving slowly and carefully,it can set up some bad steering or handling quirks. Much of this, if you read it, is usually written in the owners' manual for each vehicle.

If you have to put a temporary spare on the front for any reason (say, a front tire went flat, and it's impractical where you are to try and rotate a good tire front/rear with only one jack), the easier you drive, and the fewer abrupt maneuvers you have to make, the better off you usually are until you can get to the repair shop.

In my opinion, even on a RWD car, it's more important to have the two best tires up front, where most of the steering and braking usually takes place (except on some relatively sophisticated cars where the rear wheels have a few degrees of electronic-steering in conjunction with the fronts). True, as you say, the rear tires do help keep the rear end from spinning out, but that is usually only with relatively stupid or aggressive driving.......which one should obviously not be doing with worn or mismatched tires anyway.

Of course, the instructions in the Owners' Manual will usually indicate what the car's designers actually recommend.

bagwell

I agree with you Mike but most tire shop REFUSE to put just 2 new tires on the front anymore...I had this happen a few month ago at Discount Tire (America's Tire).

this is from the Michelin website....

mmarshall

Interesting diagram.....but if I myself am going to have to deal with hydroplaning, I'd rather have it happen in back, on the tires that DON'T do most of the steering and braking, than up front on the two tires that DO. If a tire shop won't agree to that, they simply won't get my money. Usually, though, I replace all four tires at once, so that is generally not an issue unless I have to replace one in the meantime (I hope I won't have to with this one, but I'll soon find out).

FrankReynoldsCPA

Here is a picture of one of my more recent, and certainly most exciting tire event. This tire blew while driving 80 mph on the freeway about a year ago. I kept control of the truck and came to a safe stop. As my dad and I put the spare tire on (which we had brought with us for the first time in ten years), he kneeled in the valve stem and knocked it loose, causing the spare tire to lose pressure. This comedy of errors ended with us walking several miles into town, wheeling the spare with us, until we got somebody to give us a ride the rest of the way to a tire shop, and then back to the truck to continue our journey.

This whole event would have been avoided if we hadn't gambled on old tires.

Also hit a deer later that day. Truck handled it like a boss.



Sent from my Nexus 4 using IB AutoGroup

bagwell

Mike - also wanted to add - don't ever use a plug...it's not a permanent fix - America's Tire or Discount Tire only fixes tire leaks the right way-- they dismount the tire and apply a patch on the inside on the tire.

Good luck on salvaging your punctured tire - sounds kinda bad.