Most cars I am looking at now have this in lieu of space saver or spare wheel. One of the factors apparently is to cut weight for emissions tests. Why Hyundai decided it would be good to carry a full size spare alloy around God only knows....
Anyway this gunk stuff, does it work? Is it still the case that when you have used it once you need to replace the tyre or was that a con tried by the unscrupulous tyre places at the time?
Wife's Fiesta came with gunk but I bought a spare wheel for it anyway but this has never been needed to be used!
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>> Anyway this gunk stuff, does it work?
Not if you've torn a hole in the side wall of the tyre. It's only good for small punctures, i.e. nails, screws, etc.
And it's only a temporary repair to get you to a nearby garage/tyre place, and still has the same "drive at no more than 50 mph" warning that a space saver has.
>> Is it still the case that when you have used it once you need to replace the tyre
Tyre fitters hate it, and the advice is that you need to have the tyre replaced once you've used the gunk. So, not only do you have the expense of a new tyre, but you also have the added expense of then replacing the gunk too - £50 or more, unless you're willing to take a chance on the stuff being sold on Amazon, EBay and the like.
>> Wife's Fiesta came with gunk but I bought a spare wheel
I did the same with the Astra. I recycled the spare tyre from the written off Vectra, got it fitted to a brand new wheel (as it was a different size to the Astra one), and bought a jack kit from EBay. Total cost was around £100. If I'd bought the complete kit from Vauxhall it would have set me back over £220.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 19 Jan 16 at 01:27
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I'd prefer a spare even if a space saver (as on the A3).
A colleague with a BMW once had to be recovered home because the run-flat tyre on the car got damaged. It was not flat but had a serious bulge in the side wall. Nowhere near had a replacement so he was taken home with the car on an AA truck. Tyre did not fail but no way would you drive it at motorway speeds.
In defence of that run-flat.... a normal tyre would have had serious damage from whatever he'd run over on the M6.
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I had a front wheel puncture on the BMW R80 on a Belgian motorway heading for Zeebrugge and home. I pumped my can of Holts Tyreweld in and the tyre stayed up until I had time to change it at home, some weeks later. The tyre was completely clean inside.......like new.
The same stuff has worked on the caravan, which has a porous alloy rim. For this season I'm going to use that wheel for a spare and just run on the steel spare with a plastic trim on. Caravan shops sell them in twos now, you used to have to buy a set of 4.
The only times I needed to use slime was on the company's rental Fiestas but I was lucky in that I was able to get enough air in to hightail it to National or turn their mobile guys out 'cos the tyre was too bad. I wouldn't go out on the bike without a can of Holts and my breakdown card and phone.
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>> >>
>> And it's only a temporary repair to get you to a nearby garage/tyre place, and
>> still has the same "drive at no more than 50 mph" warning that a space
>> saver has.
If ever there was a case of RTFM, this stuff is it!*
A few years back, a local Porsche owners' club had a Sunday Morning hoon on a very quiet section of motorway, with a 'tame' copper setting up his trap lines at the end of the straight.
All well or good until somebody's tyre disintegrated spectacularly, causing porker to go out of control, smash into a minibus in the centre median, and wipe out a women and some kids. (wife of a fellow club member).
Turns out the guy had had a puncture, and used the aerosol tyreweld stuff a few days before.
* - another bugbear, seeing cars driving round with a biscuit spare wheel on the front axle.
Don't they read the handbook?
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The only puncture I'd had in recent memory was catastrophic - a major slice into the tread area and a piece hanging off. No way would I have used gunk.
Our fun car is an mx-5 which comes with gunk as standard. I've bought a cheap used matching wheel and when the tyres are ready to replace I'll keep one of the old ones as a spare. Not that there is space to carry it - but hopefully I'll be local enough that my wife could run it out to me.
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I always have a spare wheel in my cars, it is no hardship compared to standing on the hard shoulder with a can of glue at 11pm on a Saturday night having torn a sidewall on some debris.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 19 Jan 16 at 08:34
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That's probably why a number of manufacturers now include a years breakdown cover including tyres when you keep the car dealer serviced.
I have a spacesaver under the boot floor, if I'm traveling with four or five people and a boot full of luggage and get a puncture I've nowhere to put the wheel with the puncture. The spacesaver tyre is 125mm wide on a narrow maybe 5" wheel the standard tyre 235mm on 8".
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Have just changed my car for another one of the same, old had space saver spare, the new a can of gunk. When I queried this with the salesperson, rather than sell me a new spare, they said take the one from the old car. As I transferred it over I realised that in 264,000 miles it had not been used once, still had sticky labels on tread. Have I just been very lucky?
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>> Have just changed my car for another one of the same, old had space saver
>> spare, the new a can of gunk. When I queried this with the salesperson, rather
>> than sell me a new spare, they said take the one from the old car.
>> As I transferred it over I realised that in 264,000 miles it had not been
>> used once, still had sticky labels on tread. Have I just been very lucky?
>>
I have had 3 punctures in 51 years of motoring..
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>> I have had 3 punctures in 51 years of motoring..
I had none for 6 or 7 years, then 3 in a year!
Fortunately they were slow punctures (nail or screw), which meant I could top up the pressure to get me to a garage to get it repaired/replaced.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 19 Jan 16 at 10:26
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>> As I transferred it over I realised that in 264,000 miles it had not been
>> used once, still had sticky labels on tread. Have I just been very lucky?
The recently departed Berlingo's spare was used once in 150k miles; o/s rear pancaked. Damaged tyre was nearly new but nail was too close to sidewall for a repair. New tyre from stock to match original. Spare back in it's frame where it stayed or five more yrs having run maybe 15 miles
Possibly one other puncture in that car but repaired with plug. Xantia's spare never used in 150k.
Current Berlingo has had two slow punctures in 40k miles. Both in same tyre and both plugged without recourse to spare.
Got Roomie's gunk can replaced by full size spare as 'sweetener' for sale. Very glad I did as I'd had the thing a week when I hit a pothole....
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>> That's probably why a number of manufacturers now include a years breakdown cover including tyres
I read in one of the tabloids last week that manufacturers have finally listened to Joe Public and are starting to ditch the silly bottles of gunk in favour of providing spare wheels again.
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The 2016 model Yaris has returned to an included space saver spare. I was chatted up by the sales mob while mine was being serviced yesterday. Toyota are about to bin all paper records for their cars, everything will be accessed online via "My Toyota". This will include user manuals, your car specification, and service record with all parts used, repairs etc.
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>> The 2016 model Yaris has returned to an included space saver spare. I was chatted
>> up by the sales mob while mine was being serviced yesterday...
I'm surprised more salespeople don't do this. You have people who are already invested in the brand and given many will be on PCP deals, there's plenty of opportunity to build relationships - even if no sale is immediately forthcoming.
My local (before I moved) toyota dealer used to offer a free mini-valet for customers in december - the only catch being that you'd spend some time updating your details with one of the sales team. Worked well in what is otherwise a quiet month
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>> I'm surprised more salespeople don't do this.
My response was "Let me know when Toyota put the 1.2 turbo petrol engine in the Yaris".
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 19 Jan 16 at 12:21
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I have not suffered any punctures for over 5 years.
My previous car which i had for 11 years was the first to have a space saver but it never rolled on the road in its 17 years ( assuming it was the original from new) but still looks in goo nick.
My current car, thank goodness, has a full sized matching alloy wheel but has a repaired original tyre on it. My front tyres are a different brand from my rear tyres.
So if I need to fit the spare with its asymmetric tread should I worry where it is fitted ? :-(
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>> That's probably why a number of manufacturers now include a years breakdown cover including tyres
>> when you keep the car dealer serviced.
>>
Which is only any good if the can guarantee to provide a tyre to fit your car at short notice 24/7, or do they turn up with a generic space saver?
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>> Which is only any good if the can guarantee to provide a tyre to fit
>> your car at short notice 24/7, or do they turn up with a generic space
>> saver?
Given some new cars require tyres to be specially imported (Autocar or AutoExpress reported), replacements could take months..
Caveat emptor on tyres.
Last edited by: VxFan on Tue 19 Jan 16 at 12:52
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>> Caveat emptor on tyres.
>>
Agreed, no round black bit, no move.
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The Note has a spacesaver...the Suzuki has a big f.off steel spare hung on the back door. It always loses pressure but I carry a (nicked) Fiesta pump under the passenger seat.
I have a Jowett wheel in the garage on which the cross ply must precede the MOT test...it's far too worn to pass..even 55 yrs ago. It still hold full pressure with it's tube...possibly even the air that was put in around 1950ish at the factory ! It's only a slave wheel now in it's retirement !
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The upside of a can of gunk is I would expect my wife and daughter would be able to use it at the roadside to get them mobile again with minimum of fuss whereas there's no chance they would change a wheel at the roadside.
Although I bought a spare for my wife's Fiesta, I never got round to getting a jack. If it happens out in the road they can phone breakdown. If home I can use my jack.
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>> The upside of a can of gunk is I would expect my wife and daughter
>> would be able to use it at the roadside to get them mobile again with
>> minimum of fuss
You think? Have you looked at the instructions? If, and I mean IF they manage to use it correctly I can assure you there will still be a shed load of fuss
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Last slime equipped car I had that had a puncture on ( a VW ) i looked at the pack, the instructions, and the tyre, and I called a mobile fitter
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The Lexus has a can of gunk.
Had a flat a couple of weeks ago (at home) and being a Sunday none of the nearby tyre places were open, so I called Lexus assist ( the AA)
The guy performed a temporary repair, and while chatting he was telling me the gunk is a waste of time - doesn't do the job in 9 out of 10 uses, and often stuffs the compressor up so ends up costing you £50 to replace. His advice was don't bother.
He also told me the AA are about to introduce a temporary wheel which they will fit roadside for you. The plan is that they will have a deal with someone like kwik fit so you can just leave the temporary wheel there when you buy a new tyre
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>> He also told me the AA are about to introduce a temporary wheel which they
>> will fit roadside for you.
Can't see how that's going to work. There are millions of different wheel sizes out there, not to mention the PCD, the offset, and whether it's got 4 or 5 bolts/nuts holding it to the hub.
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>> There are millions of different wheel sizes out there,
Millions? Really? The permutations are large but millions?
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Moving posts about when we're happy where they were is a bit OCD at times and yet you insist on doing it. So this falls into the same 'pedant' category to me :-)
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and whether it's got 4 or 5 bolts/nuts holding it to the hub.
2CV has three wheel-nuts per wheel... But of course, they do have a spare in theory.
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>> >> He also told me the AA are about to introduce a temporary wheel which
>> they
>> >> will fit roadside for you.
>>
>> Can't see how that's going to work. There are millions of different wheel sizes out
>> there, not to mention the PCD, the offset, and whether it's got 4 or 5
>> bolts/nuts holding it to the hub.
>>
I thought that but he explained the hub will be interchangeable so they will be able to cover most permutations
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"That's probably why a number of manufacturers now include a year's breakdown cover including tyres when you keep the car dealer serviced."
I read the other day that there are 33,000 miles of road in the UK where there is no mobile coverage. I would have a strong feeling of Schadenfreude if I heard that one of the men in suits who designed a car with nowhere to put a spare wheel (even an optional spacesaver) had hit a pothole on one of these roads and got a gash which no can of gunk could repair.
What use is breakdown cover with no mobile signal?
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>> What use is breakdown cover with no mobile signal?
Thumb, Pub, landline.
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I carry a can of tyre gunk in the vintage car. But in its defence, the wheels are different front a back. Would only be used though to get the car to a place of safety, and either I or the RAC would then recover it. RAC will recover cars with gunk, but don't like it.
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>>
>> >> What use is breakdown cover with no mobile signal?
>>
Some of us survived many years of motoring in cars unreliable by modern standards before mobile phones were invented.
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>> Some of us survived many years of motoring in cars unreliable by modern standards before
>> mobile phones were invented.
>>
Hands up those who still have the old AA/RAC callbox key?
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>> Hands up those who still have the old AA/RAC callbox key?
>>
Me
I would have to travel over a hundred miles to find an old AA/RAC box to use it tho.
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Me too, but not on my main bunch of keys.
I've been meaning to sort it out for ages, as I carry it everywhere. I've just counted - there are fourteen keys on it, some hefty, and I only know for certain what five of them are. I do know that if I junk the others I will find myself in front of a locked door I can't remember about at this moment sometime in the next three days - without the key.
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>> Hands up those who still have the old AA/RAC callbox key?
>>
Hands up who could fix minor breakdowns at the roadside? The last one I can remember was one of the LT wirers breaking off of the coil connector. Fixed by stripping the cable insulation with teeth and jambing it under the connector.
It must have been a long time ago, it was an Austin Allegro estate that died at traffic lights, now that was a pile of junk!
Last edited by: Old Navy on Wed 20 Jan 16 at 08:25
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>> Hands up who could fix minor breakdowns at the roadside?
Used to be able to. The spring on the contact points inside the distributor on my old Mk1 Astra failed in the middle of nowhere one late evening. No mobile phones back then either, and not a call box in sight. Didn't matter anyway as I didn't belong to any breakdown company.
Fortunately I had a new set of points in the glovebox that I'd been meaning to fit for a while. I unbolted the distributor from the engine (with only the reflection of the headlights against my trousers to see by). Sat back in the car and changed the points over, setting the gap to what I thought was 16 thou. Then refitted the distributor under the same poor light conditions and finally setting up the timing by ear. It was enough to get me home anyway.
Next morning I checked the points gap, 15 thou, and the timing was also near spot on too.
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>> Hands up who could fix minor breakdowns at the roadside?
The last one I had was when the Rover 800 Diesel lost the outlet pipe from the turbo to the intake as the jubilee clip had not been correctly tightened. The car still ran but very slowly.
I used a screwdriver to refix it.
That was in 1993.
I now drive the most reliable make and model in the UK: a Honda Jazz,
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Hands up who could fix minor breakdowns at the roadside?
At guess, most drivers of a vintage car could. I've fixed carburettor faults, detached HT cables and quite a few miscellaneous ones involving a bit of spanner wielding. Some club members though have been known to replace major engine parts by the roadside
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Driving my MGB alongside the Severn around Shrewsbury, a complete dump of the coolant.
Tap washer on the feed to the heater had detonated.
Rough ground at the side of the road, and I selected a piece of twig, whittled it down to fit the heater hose. Replaced the gasket with several layers of foil from a chocolate bar, filled up at the next pub, and continued our two week holiday in Cornwall.
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>> Driving my MGB alongside the Severn around Shrewsbury, a complete dump of the coolant.
>>
One of my last roadside repairs was a hose.
On my commute home a familiar stale smell of coolant.
I pulled up smartish and found a small fountain spraying from a hose for the heater.
After leaving it to cool down I then detached both small hoses from the heater stubs that poked out of the firewall. Used the one "good" hose to bypass the heater completely and then drove the last two miles to home.
Pretty easy to do n those days with easy access to all parts of the engine bay.
A hired Avenger on holiday suddenly, with the engine running, gave no response to the gas pedal. The rod linkage had separated. Lashed the two parts together with loads of string and that allowed us to proceed.
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"Some club members though have been known to replace major engine parts by the roadside "
I've reattached an errant carburettor on our 750 Morgo Triumph sidecar outfit whilst racing round Darley Moor. Just one of the duties that the passenger has to perform.
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Once fixed daughter's car from my armchair - carburettor icing. Told her to wait five minutes and then try re-starting it. Later found warm air pipe had come disconnected.
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Some club
>> members though have been known to replace major engine parts by the roadside
>>
>>
My father had a colleague with an old Alvis who cheerfully replaced a cylinder head gasket by the roadside while his passengers took a break.
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Wed 20 Jan 16 at 15:29
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It's been ages since my last BL car that I have probably list the knack. Owning a Maestro meant you had to carry a full snap on tool kit and all the stock from Unipart in your boot, and that was just for a trip to the shops
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Yes, some BL cars elevated unreliability to an art form...
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I couldn't do these things now unless desperate, but I did some roadside surgery to my lhd Citroen Light 15 back in the day. I had to change a clutch cable for the second time, as a garage had damaged the one it installed causing a breakdown three days later. It wasn't easy but not being a brainless ape I managed to thread the cable through without damaging it.
Had some adventures with my Plymouth in the US too, changed the head gasket in the street in Berkeley CA hampered by the local Plymouth garage and its mean-spirited chief mechanic who deliberately misled me. After that had to cruise at 50, no bad thing probably I now realize.
Years ago but still like yesterday.
(I'm not down on garages in general, just those two. Others in the US were charming and helpful in the American manner, and my local blokes here are terrific).
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Having tools makes it too easy.
I was driving through Camelford in a fully freighted lorry when the brakes came on and I lost all my air going downhill in the narrow part.
Straight away the impatient vehicles behind started to toot their horns, though what they thought it helped, I really don't know.
I managed to rev the nuts off it and build up enough air to get it moving to a wider part at the bottom of the hill then built the air up again to get into a layby, just outside of the town at the top of the hill.
On inspection I found it was a cab air bag that had blown.
The Scania dealer nearest to me was at Fraddon and hadn't got one in stock, but there was one at the dealer at Bristol.
There was no way I was going to sit in that layby for 24 hours while it was sent to Fraddon and then he came out and fitted it.
I had some gaffer tape but nothing to cut the pipe to the air bag with as an ordinary table knife wouldn't touch it, so like a good female lorry driver I got my nail file out and sawed away until I cut the pipe and folded it back then sealed it with gaffer tape.
The air built up and it lasted all the way to Bristol:)
Pat
Last edited by: Pat on Wed 20 Jan 16 at 17:18
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Puncture gunk sealer stuff - VxFan
