I broke down and bought a spare tire kit-ugh

[Genxer]

I had a flat in my Honda a week ago. A bad pothole in a dimly lit area and no way to move over in time. I wasn't the only one. There were maybe a dozen ppl changing flats. But... I had a spare and drove on to work. Seriously considering a spare for the Stang now, because sometimes I drive it to work. I've been on a couple of road trips with it and thought. "What if..." I have a plug kit at least, but it would not have fixed that flat, because it split the tire and bent the wheel.

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[Bikeman315]

PLEASE, please tell me you did not pay sticker price for your Mustang. The price listed should not be the price you're paying for Ford vehicles and/or parts.

It's not $832 US dollars, it's more like $585 listed including their 10% VAT.

I can go pick up a spare from a Ford dealer for less than $200 saving over 20%. - Doing some quick math on the Aussie spare to remove VAT and find a market rate of 20% off, it would be right around $420 for the complete kit, $529 list price.

Will Ford do this? No. But once you adjust for the USDM, the price wouldn't be bad compared to the free market solution here.

Your 100% right, I forgot to take into account the difference in currency.

The Ford wheel/tire you show is the regular spare. It will not fit over Brembo's

 

[Bikeman315]

I had a flat in my Honda a week ago. A pothole in a dimly lit area and no way to move over in time. I wasn't the only one. There were maybe a dozen ppl changing flats. But... I had a spare and drove on to work. Seriously considering a spare for the Stang now, because sometimes I drive it to work. I've been on a couple of road trips with it and thought. "What if..." I have a plug kit at least, but it would not have fixed that flat, because it split the tire and bent the wheel.

I'm looking at the mods you've made to your car. Considering the costs of these just consider the spare another mod. Yes, of course, it will not improve performance. Until you need it.

 

[Bikeman315]

The only time this would be useful would be on a trip a significant distance from home.

I'm sorry but this is so far from being true. That is, of course, if you have zero road debris within a 25 mile radius of your home/work. What difference does it make if you are stuck at 3:00AM on the side of a dark two lane 20 miles from your home or 200?

 

[Zooks527]

Well, you still have to buy several parts to make it fit like OEM .

What do you need to buy beyond the kit? Sure, I tossed the breaker bar and socket in there, but I have those on hand for my semi-annual wheel swap. It's just as convenient to leave them in the trunk of the only car I use them on than in my tool chest.

 

[Zooks527]

What difference does it make if you are stuck at 3:00AM on the side of a dark two lane 20 miles from your home or 200?

Or, in my case, 60 miles from home in the middle of a traffic jam with a side cut and AAA quoting 90 minutes minimum just to show up. Swapping the spare on myself had me home in time for dinner and probably before AAA would have been there.

Now, the above was in my BMW with RFT that also didn't come with a spare. In that case, the spare ate a bunch of my trunk, but I was stunningly glad to have it. Fun fact: a RFT will fail immediately with a 1/2" side cut instead of giving you "50 miles" to get things repaired.

 

[Zooks527]

The PS4s alone cost .10 a mile to drive.

You're only planning on getting 15k miles out of the PS4S? Sure, Max Performance Summers are soft, but mine look to go a lot longer than that at the moment.

Now, from a warranty perspective, Michelin gives you a 30k treadlife warranty on the fronts and 15k on the rear if staggered, so if you assume the fronts are $700 all-in for a set and the rears are $800 all-in, it's $2300 over 30k miles, or $0.076 a mile before the warranty leaves. As I've never been able to come in under a treadlife warranty, I'm assuming I'll go longer than that.

 

[Zooks527]

I am at 10k on the rears and they are toast.

Call Michelin CS. Not completely sure how it works on an OEM tire, but they may kick in up to 1/3 the cost of a new pair.

If I go to the beach and it’s 450 to rent(week) for 1500 miles or .35 a mile to drive my car, why would I spend more to drive my car and have the wear and tear and mileage? Plus if I wreck it or get a flat they will bring me another. No brainer.

The obvious question is "Why buy a car at all?" Why not just get a ZipCar membership?

 

[Elp_jc]

"What if..." I have a plug kit at least, but it would not have fixed that flat, because it split the tire and bent the wheel.

And what if you ruin both tires? And what if a spark plug/fuel pump/water pump/etc. goes bad; do you carry spares? And tools to change them? Didn't think so. Ha ha. A flat is not a very rare event on a newer vehicle... but one that you cannot fix with goop or a flat tire repair kit, is. Just like many folks here said, I've never needed a spare (flat tire kit have always been enough), and I'm no spring chicken at almost 59.

And the fact at least a rear tire (the most likely to get flat) doesn't fit inside the spare cavity, means you'd have to travel with basically an empty trunk on a car with little storage capacity to begin with, just in case you have a flat. Leaving luggage on the side of the road wouldn't be an option for me, so it was a relatively easy decision for me not to buy one.

 

[Zooks527]

A flat is not a very rare event on a newer vehicle... but one that you cannot fix with goop or a flat tire repair kit, is.

Of the 5 flat tires that have occurred in my immediate family over the last 10 years, 4 of them have been sidewall cuts that could not be fixed with goop or a flat kit. YMMV, especially of you drive in an area with limited amounts of freeze/thaw cycles over the winter and the resultant lower number of potholes.

And the fact at least a rear tire (the most likely to get flat) doesn't fit inside the spare cavity, means you'd have to travel with basically an empty trunk on a car with little storage capacity to begin with, just in case you have a flat.

Or you could travel with a T-spare of the same diameter as the rear tires stored beneath the trunk floor. Sure, you won't get home at 75 mph, but you'll get home.

 

[ice445]

I bought a 2020 Explorer spare and jack, and made a little roadside emergency kit with a breaker bar, socket, and some other little things. The nice thing about the Explorer spare is that it's just a little over 27 inches in total diameter, which is a perfect match for most all of the OEM Mustang wheel setups. Downside is that it doesn't fit on the front, but it's only a "I'm in the middle of nowhere and its gonna take hours for the tow truck" kit, so I don't mind having to do an extra step if I have a flat in the front. I could just buy a spacer too, it only barely doesn't clear the non PP brakes. Probably could get by with only a 25mm one. But so far I only have $200 total into the whole kit, which is pretty cheap.

 

[Zooks527]

I am going to guess you have a ton of debt.

Don't quit your day job. Your ability as a fortune teller leaves a lot to be desired.

We have zero debt, including the house and the cars. Paid cash for the last 5 vehicles we have owned (inclusive of the current 3) as well as the one we gave our daughter when she moved to CA for grad school, and have been saving over 35% of my gross pay for the last 8 years or so.

I make the smart monetary decision. Renting a car is a win win all the way around vs driving my car to the salt and sand.

If you think renting a vehicle to avoid using a depreciating asset that will keep depreciating regardless of that week-long trip is "the smart monetary decision" and "a win win", I'm not going to regard your financial prowess very highly, either. At a guess, 2/3 of the $0.35/mile cost you're assuming is fixed costs spread over an assumed life of the car, not over mileage, and has a low variation from the amount the car is driven.

 

[Bryantbjb12]

wow. look what happens when you go to work and can’t check your post. . After reading everything I’m still not sure the spare will fit on the front. I have the 4 piston caliper-stock setup. I get the kit on Friday and will know then. I also liked the idea of carrying a spacer as I replaced my stock tires with after market mixed sets.

does anyone have a CS with the spare kit?

 

[Bikeman315]

wow. look what happens when you go to work and can’t check your post. . After reading everything I’m still not sure the spare will fit on the front. I have the 4 piston caliper-stock setup. I get the kit on Friday and will know then. I also liked the idea of carrying a spacer as I replaced my stock tires with after market mixed sets.

does anyone have a CS with the spare kit?

Yes, our cars have the standard GT brakes. My spare came from my 15’ EB with 18” wheels but my dealer confirmed the spare would fit with no issues.

By the way go over to the Ford build & price site. No problem adding the spare to a CS.

 

[Bryantbjb12]

Good idea. Thanks!

just did it. let me add with the CS package. Feeling better now.

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