Spare Tire Tale

[GregP27]

My Mustang is a Kona Blue, whire double stripes, 2019 GT PP1 and so I have the Brembo brakes. When you have that, one of the things you DON’T have is a factory Ford spare tire. We took a drive to have a pleasant afternoon last Sunday and went from Chino, CA to Oak Glenn for some apples. About 50-60 miles or so, one-way. Something like that.

I went with LMR Bronze wheels and 285 tires all around for a square fit. Drives well, doesn't tram, handles great, AND you can rotate the tires to boot.

Anyway, was most of the way home when I felt a bump and got a buzzer. Looked at the dash and one tire was showing 1 psi. I was near middle lane of about 4 – 5 lanes and it took perhaps 300 yards or slightly more to slow, signal, get through traffic, and pull over to the side of the road (I-10). Since I didn’t have a spare, I called a friend and he came over and picked up the wife, brought her home, and they grabbed Mustang tools and went to storage and got my spare OEM wheels and tries for the rear and came out to the rescue. I had asked her to make sure to get my floor jack from the garage.

To make a longish story short, I got the flat about 1:30 pm and didn’t get home until about 7:30 pm. This was near Fontana, CA, which could easily be the car-theft capital of the free world, so I wasn’t about to go away and leave an almost new Mustang GT on the side of the interstate.

To make things shorter, the stock wheels take acorn type lug nuts and the LMR wheels take tuner-style lug nuts. The torque is 150 foot-pounds, as you all know, and my ½-inch ratchet didn’t offer enough leverage to break the lugs loose. Luckily, the floor jack has a big aluminum tube handle and that served as an extension.

Lesson learned. I will order the aftermarket $500 spare before the end of the week. This is, after all, a ROAD car, not a weekend-only track car. A flat wasn’t something I thought much about until it happened, but I wasn’t going to let some wrecker pull the GT up onto a Jerr-Dan roll-back bed and trash the front valence. If I had not had a very low-profile floor jack, I’m not sure anything but a special jack anything would have gotten under the jacking rail when the tire was flat. Not much room when a tire is deflated.

I’m posting this just because you may not have a spare or you may be friends with someone who doesn’t have a spare. If you are one of those, I can tell you from very recent experience that, FYI, it’s a major pain in the tail without one!

It's funny, I have driven longways across the U.S.A. and from Mexico to Canada in both cars and on motorcycles, and never had a tire issue. But, take a short fun drive with almost new tires ... and find a problem. Go figure.

Hope it doesn't happen to you. Go ahead and GET that spare!

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[Linkster1666]

or call AAA.

 

[ice445]

I ordered a spare tire kit for this exact reason. There's an alternative for non performance pack cars though that's a lot cheaper, which is the Explorer spare. I got the kit for $175 shipped.

 

[Clump]

When I had my Challenger I got a puncture about 15 miles from home. I didn't use the goop, but had to stop many times and add air to the tire. I got home eventually, but it was far from ideal.

Not long after getting back into a mustang I bought the AA spare setup. It's pricey, but really a great piece of work. I added a plug kit and small compressor to have a complete solution to a problem I hope to never have.

 

[DILLIGAFTXVET]

https://owner.ford.com/service/roadside-assistance.html?fireglass_rsn=true

 

[kinchy]

My Mustang is a Kona Blue, whire double stripes, 2019 GT PP1 and so I have the Brembo brakes. When you have that, one of the things you DON’T have is a factory Ford spare tire. We took a drive to have a pleasant afternoon last Sunday and went from Chino, CA to Oak Glenn for some apples. About 50-60 miles or so, one-way. Something like that.

I went with LMR Bronze wheels and 285 tires all around for a square fit. Drives well, doesn't tram, handles great, AND you can rotate the tires to boot.

Anyway, was most of the way home when I felt a bump and got a buzzer. Looked at the dash and one tire was showing 1 psi. I was near middle lane of about 4 – 5 lanes and it took perhaps 300 yards or slightly more to slow, signal, get through traffic, and pull over to the side of the road (I-10). Since I didn’t have a spare, I called a friend and he came over and picked up the wife, brought her home, and they grabbed Mustang tools and went to storage and got my spare OEM wheels and tries for the rear and came out to the rescue. I had asked her to make sure to get my floor jack from the garage.

To make a longish story short, I got the flat about 1:30 pm and didn’t get home until about 7:30 pm. This was near Fontana, CA, which could easily be the car-theft capital of the free world, so I wasn’t about to go away and leave an almost new Mustang GT on the side of the interstate.

To make things shorter, the stock wheels take acorn type lug nuts and the LMR wheels take tuner-style lug nuts. The torque is 150 foot-pounds, as you all know, and my ½-inch ratchet didn’t offer enough leverage to break the lugs loose. Luckily, the floor jack has a big aluminum tube handle and that served as an extension.

Lesson learned. I will order the aftermarket $500 spare before the end of the week. This is, after all, a ROAD car, not a weekend-only track car. A flat wasn’t something I thought much about until it happened, but I wasn’t going to let some wrecker pull the GT up onto a Jerr-Dan roll-back bed and trash the front valence. If I had not had a very low-profile floor jack, I’m not sure anything but a special jack anything would have gotten under the jacking rail when the tire was flat. Not much room when a tire is deflated.

I’m posting this just because you may not have a spare or you may be friends with someone who doesn’t have a spare. If you are one of those, I can tell you from very recent experience that, FYI, it’s a major pain in the tail without one!

It's funny, I have driven longways across the U.S.A. and from Mexico to Canada in both cars and on motorcycles, and never had a tire issue. But, take a short fun drive with almost new tires ... and find a problem. Go figure.

Hope it doesn't happen to you. Go ahead and GET that spare!

Once you get the donut spare (was $400) be sure and check the tire pressure on occasion.
In 4 months mine was down 25lbs.

 

[ORRadtech]

FWIW, my convertible came with the spare but when I saw the lug nut torque of 150 lbs I new I'd never be able to break them loose with the lug wrench in the kit. My solution was a trip to Harbor Freight and Home Depot. I picked up a 1/2 inch swivel/ratcheting breaker bar, and a 19mm socket from HF and a piece of iron pipe from HD. The breaker bar is long enough to fit inside the spare beside the jack and the iron pipe slides over the breaker bar and is cut to be the same length. This combo will break any lug loose and the ratcheting bar makes raising and lowering the jack easier. I wrap it all in an old towel and it lives under the spare. I keep the socket. An extra lug or two and the lock key in a small box with it.
I have a compressor and plug kit from my motorcycle but those compressors are a royal pita on the roadside so I don't carry those in the car.

 

[tom_sprecher]

I've got AAA, but still bought the PP spare offered on this forum. When it's a non-repairable flat in the middle of nowhere I don't have an entire day to get hauled back and try to find a matching tire anywhere in the area from some Podunk tire store, AGAIN!

 

[boB]

AAA... last time I called they said they would be there within 3 hours.
A story... I went for a short bicycle ride last week before the storms came. Passed a small SUV with a totally flat tire on the way out of the neighborhood, thought "that sucks". After riding 45 minutes I saw it again on the way home and a lady was standing next to it. She said she called AAA but they might take hours to get there. I said I lived around the corner and had the tools, be back in 10 minutes.

When she handed me the factory useless lug wrench/jack and I got out the battery impact wrench and floor jack she figured I had done this before. We got it changed in less than 5 minutes, long before AAA even showed up.

Yes, I have the AA spare in my Mustang!

 

[Briebee72]

GET A spare is all I can say. Because you never get a flat IN town in middle of day next to a tire shop. NOOOO... its always at night on a sunday 40 miles from anywhere and when you are on your way to something important. and with most of the tire sizes we have needing to be ordered cause no one has them what is AAA or ford road side gonna do? They are gonna tow your car to a closed shop that has to wait till the next day to even order the tire after waiting 3 plus hours for them to even show up. You miss whatever you were on way too have to call someone to come get you and three days later get your car back or..... 5 mins and you have your spare on and back to business. Get a spare!!!

 

[OLdchuck]

I will say I concur with those who carry a flat. I had a flat in 2012 GT in the Middle of Birmingham. Flats never happen on a quiet road and mostly in very inconvenient places. Luckily I had a spare which there were fewer choices in 2012.
I was back on the road in 20 minutes and from that day I will never like to go anywhere without a spare. My flat had a sliced sidewall so a change of tire was the only option. If you have a half day to waste in an unfamiliar place I say take the chance but for me, I would never go outside my home base without a spare.
I currently drive a Porsche and it really bothers me even with Porsche roadside assistance as a new wheel and tire from Porsche would not be kind on the wallet...

 

[Zooks527]

or call AAA.

"We won't be able to send a truck for at least an hour and a half, and the traffic jam you are stuck in will add even more time to that."

Actual conversation with AAA after I got a sidewall cut in the "runflat" (which didn't run at all with the cut) on my BMW, which would have had them arriving about an hour after all the stores would have closed. However, as I had purchased a non-OEM spare, I got myself back rolling in about 20 minutes and was home on-time for dinner.

My spare tire and jack also have an 18" breaker bar with a deep impact socket tucked underneath them in the spare tire well. Sadly, with my current weight, getting torque above 150 lb*ft isn't much of a trick.

 

[EFI]

Lesson learned. I will order the aftermarket $500 spare before the end of the week.

You don't need to order the fancy $500 spare for this.

Get yourself a cheap 19x8.5 replica wheel for under $150 and a basic all season 235/35/19 tire for $100 and you have a solid spare option that fits well in the trunk for half the cost.

 

[Gatsby]

I bought the spare tire and jack kit immediately after I got the car. It's expensive, but worth the peace of mind. I keep a large torque wrench pre-set to 150lbs in the back of the spare tire well, along with an impact socket, a 150lb impact torque tube, several pairs of latex gloves, and some rags. I've used it when removing the tires before, and it makes it easy. I keep the supplied air compressor back there as well. When I'm going on a long trip, I throw my cordless impact in the trunk, just in case.
I realize you can call AAA or Ford service, and many insurance companies offer free towing reimbursement, but I've known people who've waited several hours on roadside assistance. I'd much rather do it myself in 15 minutes, and be get back on the road. I hope I never need to use it, but it's good to know that it's there if I need it.

 

[Zooks527]

You don't need to order the fancy $500 spare for this.

Get yourself a cheap 19x8.5 replica wheel for under $150 and a basic all season 235/35/19 tire for $100 and you have a solid spare option that fits well in the trunk for half the cost.

The $500 setup comes with a jack. The no-jack kit is $410, so you're more than halfway over the cost from the get go. Plus, with the above, you're still standing on the side of the road with a wheel, a loose tire, and a car with all its weight on the flat. So, no matter what, you're still going to have to add $50 for a jack, $25 to mount / balance the tire, $10 for a breaker bar, $7 for a socket, and now you're at $342 before you start wondering if your 19x8.5 wheel is going to clear the Bembros on the front.

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