Spare Tire a good / bad idea?

[Trick.Mach-E]

I agree that having a spare is comforting. When I got my C-Max, I was really concerned, and considered buying one. However, in 6+ years, I never actually needed one. C-Max came with a compressor (I think Mach-E does too), helped the 2 times my tire was damaged and developed a leak. And of course if you have 2 tire blowout, the spare is just useful as not having one.

2 tire blowout? This is why I carry 2 spare tires!

Of course if I manage to get a 3 tire blowout I am SOL!!

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[Trick.Mach-E]

Modern Spare now has a kit for the Mach-E listed on their website. It’s expected to ship in May.

https://modernspare.com/product/2020-2021-ford-mach-e-spare-tire-kit-options/

We will pick one up to have on long trips. Like most others we never had a blow out and 99% of the flats I've had come from off-road excursions. I just believe it's better to have a spare tire out in the middle of nowhere than having to rely on cellphone service and AAA.

 

[RickMachE]

I don't think it would fit in the frunk, not even close. Too bad, because that would result in a nice, '57 VW Beetle sort of aesthetic.

I saw a thread here somewhere where somebody was considering (with a smaller diameter spare wheel, like a mini spare from a Jaguar or something) cutting a hole in the bottom front of the frunk and sealing it back up extended downward such that the spare could be carried there.

The Modern Spare kit has a pretty large diameter wheel and tire combo, so as to have close to the same rotational speed on the road as a regular wheel. So it'll take up some serious space, and add some weight if it rides with the car. I was surprised how tall that tire is when it arrived.

What I tentatively plan to do is to build some kind of removable frame or stanchions to go under the floor in the cargo area to raise the floor to a height that'll allow the spare wheel to be under the floor (so the floor would end up higher than the level of the folded-down seats). That way I'll have the full, flat floor, albeit higher. I'll know whether that can be done practically once I have the car I guess. If the back seats slope back too much it might foil my sneaky plan by pushing the back of the floor too far back for the hatch to close.

Another way would be to just put a cover over the tire and let it ride in the back on the floor, but I kinda hate to sacrifice that much flat floor space. That is what we did with my wife's Volt though. That spare is in there full time, and we don't really miss the flat floor space.

This plan won't work, at least using the existing cover over the back floor. The seats do slant considerably. I can't imagine you could raise the floor inches AND have it fit in the space intended. I have not examined the area closely though.

While I understand the "OMG, no spare tire" mindset, this is not a new thing. Our 2018 Fusion Energi had no spare. You get free towing for 5 years. The only issue I see currently is that the availability of the tire was an issue initially, I haven't checked recently.

For those that don't know, if you have a @Discount Tire near you, you can buy a new car and then go there and purchase tire warranties on those tires. Blow that tire out, and they'll give you a free replacement.

 

[AZBill]

It’s actually easier than it looks!

Remove nail/screw.
Clean hole
Insert plug

Not exactly rocket surgery.

Assuming it is not a sidewall puncture. I carry plug kits now in my cars without spares, but I have had three cars get flats and have to be towed; Sky, Volt and Bolt. All had compressors with fix a flat, and it did not work for any of them. The Sky had a complete blowout, shredded the tire, the other two were repairable, but the fix a flat just oozed out the hole in the tire.

 

[Mach1E]

Assuming it is not a sidewall puncture. I carry plug kits now in my cars without spares, but I have had three cars get flats and have to be towed; Sky, Volt and Bolt. All had compressors with fix a flat, and it did not work for any of them. The Sky had a complete blowout, shredded the tire, the other two were repairable, but the fix a flat just oozed out the hole in the tire.

Yeesh, your roads must be more dangerous than mine. I’m 42 but have never had a car towed, for any reason.

But if they do need it, it’s Free from Ford.

 

[AZBill]

Yeesh, your roads must be more dangerous than mine. I’m 42 but have never had a car towed, for any reason.

But if they do need it, it’s Free from Ford.

I live in the Phoenix area where we have a lot of construction trucks dropping things on the roads all the time. I once had a screw driver in my truck tire and another time a pair of pliers. Of course my truck had a spare in both cases.

My Bolt recently had front end damage from a box falling off a truck somewhere in front of me and hitting my car while driving on a freeway.

 

[P. T. Magoo]

Until I joined this forum I was unaware you could purchase tire warranties at Discount Tire for OEM tires. I'm a regular customer there going way back and will be doing that when I take delivery. Thanks for the tip, @RickMachE.

I imagine a free tow will be spiffy after I'm retired. In my current lifestyle, I have places to be, and times to be there. Plus, I like being self-sufficient.

The spare tire in the back of the Volt provides good peace of mind, and the only thing that's ever stranded that car is tire failures. Plural. After it happened the 2nd time we rolled our eyes and set it up with a jack and a spare. I'll admit we haven't had to use the spare much since putting it in the trunk, but it's good to know it's there.

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