Spare wheels & puncture foam

Recently, my wife bought a new car, well, a jap import of low k's and years to match.
A few days after purchase, I was having a look over it & discovered there was no spare wheel, not even a spacesaver .
Instead there was a little plastic package with a bottle of foam, a pouring hose & an instruction page written in barbed wire & with tiny obscure illustrations.
When wife became aware of this shortfall, she declared she would never drive the thing out of town as she didn't want to be involved with the foam.
I made a few inquiries & found that stuff is only good for small holes, ie., under 4mm, beyond that it don't work.
So, I went to see the good guys at the car sales & they produced a second hand spacesaver wheel that fitted.
All good, problem solved but it might not have been so flash if she had ventured beyond town & had the need to attend to a puncture.

After thinking on this for a while I decided to call the AA to ask what would be the procedure if their services were required & would they man the foam pump etc, etc.
The guy on the other end of the phone said no, we would tow it to a workshop.
I then broached the question of towing auto vehicles & he said he'd towed "heaps".
My reaction to that caused a hurried exit while he consulted his boss, returning to amend his statement, "Oh, we'd put it on a deck".
I didn't think to ask if that would be on a trailer or a flat deck truck so am not sure.
My understanding was that an auto shouldn't be towed but I'm open to any corrections on that.
Must say I was blown away by the reply tho'.

Anyway, I did a bit more digging & it seems that most manufacturers are eliminating the spare wheel & have now moved on to ditching spacesavers as well.
This is all in the name of reducing weight & sorting emissions.
The spare ( or non-spare) is hidden in the boot where a lot of people wouldn't think to look so I think this is "not good".
I bet they wouldn't sell too many cars if the passenger seat were eliminated as a weight reduction excersise, lol.
My message to the car yards is please print a legible instruction leaflet to place with the foam dispenser & better still, let people know of this hidden deficiency before they drive off into the wild blue yonder.
Or better still, provide a spare of one type or another.

Next time you buy a car, suggest you check and see if the car has a spare wheel .

Yeah, good point toyboy but I didn't buy the car. ;-)

Some cars have a big enough area for a real wheel in the boot well, but many don't. I had my last car for 11 years and never once had a puncture.

Most of the time tyre shops put the wheel nuts on so tight with their impacts (torque stick, yeah right) that it isn't possible to change a wheel with the factory tyre wrench. One of those kits would thus be more useful if your wheel nuts are on too tight.

My Suzuki Swift Sport is like this - no spare. You COULD go to run-flat tyres as used on the BMW Mini cars. Harsher ride though as the run-flat tyre side walls are stiffer.

there is also other stuff which you put in the tire before hand. when you get a flat it helps seal it. never used it myself.

as far as stuck wheel nuts go put a dab of grease on the threads (and ONLY the threads). you will find the nuts come off easier and tighten up properly.

Just be aware that your "dab of grease" will significantly alter the recommended torque settings.

I heard that using the foam ruins the tyre so it can't be repaired later. Is that true?

not that i've heard of, just a real mess for the tire guys to clean out. which is why they hate the stuff.

technically that is true.
however never heard of anyone where thats been a problem. rare to get problems with over torqued wheels nuts. not sure on the specs but generally there will be a safety factor built in, so it will take a huge amount of force before you over tighten them to breaking point.

the most common problem is the nuts bind on the thread due to being dry or dirty and you get a false torque setting. which means the wheel isn't clamped with enough pressure and ends up coming loose.

better to over tighten than to be loose.

The only time ive ever had wheel nuts come loose was when I torqued them to spec, since then Ive just done it by feel. No problems either. On the track car I do it to feel on the torque wrench, just to ensure all the nuts are even.

My RX-8 has one of these with a cigarette plug powered pump. The manual says to pump the whole foam canister in!

Haven't had to use it yet, but ya never know. probably better off with a tow since a new tyre is in the works anyway.

With my BMW I got rid of those horrible harsh run flat tyres and put a set of conventional touring tyres on and what a huge difference. I simply bought a BMW tyre & mag and put it in the boot including a jack. Since it's your wife's car she could join AA and ring them should she get a flat and get them to change the wheel for her.

Yeah it stinks aye. They don??

unless your council cheaps out and puts non-tumbled gravel on the road.
then tire companies do a roaring trade.

Perhaps you could insert the crankhandle pdc, that would be a much better idea :-)