On the road, no one is safe from a puncture. And when this happens, it is better to have a spare wheel suitable for driving in your trunk so as not to put yourself in danger.
It’s every motorist’s nightmare. Blowing a tire during a trip is enough to worry any driver, especially when it’s the first time it happens. If you find your vehicle parked with a flat tire is already nothing funny, being the victim of a puncture while driving is much worse. You should already know that when a tire bursts, the trajectory of your vehicle is greatly affected, especially if you are driving at high speed, on a highway for example.
Once the fear has passed, the road holding has been mastered, you have to find a place to stop. Again, the stress is greater on the motorway because the hard shoulder is not the safest place there is. Finally, you have to be able to change your wheel, in conditions that are not always ideal. If you don’t have the equipment and the jack is a completely unknown object to you, all you have to do is call a tow truck and wait for it to arrive.
Several types of spare wheels and not all are equal, far from it!
If you have decided to play the mechanic – which will save you time and possibly money depending on your insurance contract -, it is essential to know what type of wheel will replace the one that is now out of service. Today, fewer and fewer vehicles are sold with a spare wheel, manufacturers preferring to equip them with a simple anti-puncture spray. If you don’t have a spare wheel, we can’t recommend too much to buy one because it could save you a lot of pain in the event of a puncture.
But when buying, you have two options: choose a classic spare wheel or a spare wheel. What difference is there between the two? The spare wheel is similar to the four wheels of your vehicle (provided of course that you choose the right size) while a wheel is smaller and thinner. The only advantage of the latter, apart from its lower cost (count between 75 and 130 euros), is that it can be stored more easily in a trunk.
But, unlike a conventional spare wheel which can allow you to drive normally provided the tire is sufficiently inflated, the space saver is only a spare wheel. One month mounted, it can only allow you to join the nearest garage to be replaced… With new costs to be expected. The lifespan of the space-saver wheel is very short – 100 kilometers at most – and its characteristics require you to adapt your driving.
Smaller than the other wheels, the disc causes the vehicle to become unbalanced, which can be dangerous, especially on slippery surfaces. This explains why it is recommended never to exceed 80 kilometers per hour.which is not a problem in town but is more problematic on the motorway, which is, as you will have understood, definitely the worst place to puncture a tire!