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Had a blow out.
yoshmyster
Member Posts: 21,996 ✭✭✭✭
Now going shopping for a new to me wheel. I suppose it could've been worse this could have happened on my way to work at 23:30 where I could have been savaged by wild life. But as luck would have it I was about a mile to half a mile to town. On my way to town to make a call for a tow I had a bit of think about getting a burner phone. Yeah just like the terrorists and drug dealers. The tow to my pad was $150 good thing I had the cash on me.
Being a 5 lug GM/Chevy the wheels should be easy to find? I should've bought a rim when the cab companies still had Caprices on the road. Since my ride had been pretty reliable I didn't. Also it's good I picked up a spare ride to run and get when situations like this.
Comments
You don't keep a spare? Don
he has a spare car…….
A Sumo style New York reload?
As described, I thought they were crash cars used from mythbusters
Sorry to hear about your misfortune and agree need to have a spare
When my oldest son started traveling the roads in no man's land out west many years ago
He bought a spare tire and rim at a local wrecking yard to fit the element and tossed out the space saver that came with it
Maybe 20 or 30 bucks if i remember it was cheap price to pay for the chance it was needed
NO SPARE???????????????????
I can't imagine such a ludicrous idea. When I was 'on the road', I carried TWO spares-one in the cradle under the pickup bed and one in the pickup bed. Also carried a floor jack and cordless impact wrench.
Best way I know of to NOT have a flat is to be fully prepared to handle a flat. Grouch Attack operates under a different theory-she doesn't worry about such things as spares and jacks. Her policy is to CALL SOMEONE (usually me) for any such emergencies. 😲
I can and have changed flat tires. I will admit I had to get my son-in-law to help change my truck tire when it was punctured by a hollow pin.
Picked it up on the gravel road just about 100 yards from the house. From time of puncture to the driveway it was flat flat flat flat (all four sides, lol).
I had loosened the lugs, had the spare out, farm jacked it off the ground and couldn't get the wheel to break loose from the hub.
Went next door and got SIL. He and I prayed, pounded and pulled on that thing with no luck. He finally checked YouTube for pointers. Had to get a 2x4 and sledge hammer to break it loose.
If I ever have a flat on the truck away from home I will probably have to call someone with a 2x4.
A bit of 'NEVER SIEZE' applied around the center rim pilot surfaces may help that problem. I run into that 'stuck in place' issue fairly often and carry both a 4 foot 2x4 and a 2# dead blow hammer.
I guess I'm adding these to my arsenal. Church folks are already questioning my existence in the sane world since I brought in my bone saw from the truck when were decorating for VBS last year.
They asked me where I got it and I said I keep it in my truck. You should have seen the looks I got.
No spare tire. If I had a bad enough blow out I'll need a tow. Kind a like this time.
So I called around the local junk yards and I learned a few things. One don't carry any tire/rims. Then the rest no gots. I did go to one since they said they might but they were 14" or 17" and not 15". Also I learned where that one was located was surrounded by "legal" pot farms.
So looks like I'll be ordering a rim from online. One place has them for $100 useable but ugly or $120 for cleaned up but I have to ask what's the shipping. The other one has it for $140 shipping included.
What style of rims ya got? Plain old steel? I might have a rim hangin' out around here. What year Caprice?
"No spare tire. If I had a bad enough blow out I'll need a tow. Kind a like this time."
WOW, my 16 year old Daughter had to show me she could handle changing a flat before she was allowed to drive.
I insisted that both my son and daughter had to be able to change tire before they were allowed to get drivers license. Never know what is going to happen . Sure enough, daughter had a flat 50 miles from home. She was able to change it with no problem and was proud of knowing how to take care of herself .
Well done^^^
Horse Plains Drifter - I got the '94 with the ones like this https://www.hubcaphaven.com/p/4371/used-stl8022-chevrolet-caprice-wheel-steel-black-9592361.html
I'll check around Yosh.
Okay, thanks.
I just bought a Kia and was surprised to find that a spare tire is not standard. They include a tire maintenance kit.
I'm going to have to buy an actual spare.
^^^ Not surprising.
Most drivers consider a flat tire a catastrophic event requiring assistance from a 'professional' or a tow service Just how many drivers under 40 would know what a 4-way lug wrench is?
I don't know of any new vehicles come with suitable tools to actually 'safely' change a flat tire. The rinky dink jacks and lug wrenches found in those vehicles that have such things are flat out dangerous.
I'm getting a bit old and gimpy for the 'NASCAR' tire changes of the past but I'm not totally unprepared as most drivers are.
Spare tires (+ jacks, come alongs, and straps) are your friend. I blew a sidewall chukar hunting 10 miles into the breaks along the Columbia. Worried I’d lose another so I left the truck parked and hunted from camp. Three days of foreboding and a stressful drive out later, I vowed never again would I ruin a hunt by being unprepared. So, I picked up a second spare and toss it in the bed whenever I’m heading to the wild back country.
My campsite is in the center of the pic. I’d driven down the draw behind it…on what is clearly a side-by-side track.
Our Lexus came with a can of fix-a-flat.
I have full size spares and matching wheels on my Jeep and F150.
I keep a small air pump and a tire plugging kit in truck along with full size spare .
I've got AAA. Pays for it's self almost every year. Covers the driver not the car so its good on any vehicle in the stable.
AAA will change the tire for me too!
Did learn the hard way about spare on my 2003 E-150, spare had dry rotted on me (had never used it).
I don't just carry a floor jack,but a set of solid built wooden ramps to change my trailer tires. Also spare hubs an tools. Two fulls tires an rims for the trailer besides the truck tires. Even with AAA on a toll road you have to pay big money until they tow your vehicle and trailer off. Then the motor company can get you.
I'm so sorry for your troubles….that is some hard stuff to deal with when you have to deal with tires out of nowhere.
We had a business pick up in South Mississippi. On the way back up we had a flat tire in my Highlander. Its EXHAUSTING how complicated they've made changing a tire!!! Larry was a trooper and got up back up and running in better than expected time….but I think it took a week off his life rolling on the asphalt in 100 degree weather. It was NASTY getting that handled.
Of course, I was doing my best to be "helpful" but not in the way while dealing with a very aggrivated man. I get a silver medal and Larry gets the gold.
Don't forget to check the air pressure in your spare every once in a while. I also carry a 12 volt compressor and one of the tire repair kits with the rope tar plugs. I've had to use 2 strips to fix tires with large holes & slices. Both lasted another 30,000+. @susie, you can even plug one while it's still on the vehicle.
Once upon a time ,I had a a boat and a lake house,( no wife at the time ) My usual load out was two spare tires and a complete hub assembly for the trailer. Learned my lesson sitting at a autozone beating and banging wheel bearings at 8 pm by flashlight .
Couple years back l bought a low mileage 2007 Ford Ranger. 6 months into owning it l noticed it seemed to ride a bit rough. l took it to my mechanic for a look-see. One of the tires had developed a bubble and showed a bit of dry rot too. Time for 'new shoes' on my little Ranger. As an afterthought l asked my guy to look at the spare too. lt held air just. After checking the spare mfg date we found it was almost old enough to VOTE. 😲 Got FIVE new tires🤑instead of 4
If you put in a spare tire how much trunk space will you lose?
My kit was like this without a spare tire (since 2002). Never had an issue until I got these set of tires.
Locust Fork - No real trouble. No spin out or tires didn't leave the road and end up skyward. At least I got a spare ride. Only trouble I have now is that couple of units got filled so the "visitor" parking space gets filled up quickly. I figure between two units they got 4 or 5 rides.
I'm not having much luck either, Yosh. I hit 2 wrecking yards over the weekend. No joy at those even.
Horse Plains Drifter - No biggie. I placed an order for one. I called up Stock Wheels and spoke to a human and dude said there was one that was "straight" and they're in state instead of Minnesota (less rust?)?
Ok, glad you have located one.
I found them early but I was trying to save a few bucks and not wait for it to show up by finding one locally from a junkyard.
Ebarf has lots of steel wheels pretty cheap. Some with free shipping.
So it turned out what I thought was a roached wheel wasn't (I could have saved $150). 1994 GM steelies are one tough wheel. So I now have a spare tire. Yay?!? Not that I have room in the trunk. I may make a tire cozy and keep it in the back seat like a perp.
So I'm riding on Toyo tires (first time) and she's riding kind a stiff. Over inflated?
My brother bought a Tesla 3 years ago for $65,000. He called me one day, he was 15 miles away in the parking lot of a bank, he had a flat tire. He got into the trunk and discovered that he had no tire tool, no jack and no spare.
I drove down there, we jacked up his car and removed the tire with my gear. We drove to the tire store and got his flat fixed. Next day I found him a spare tire kit on Amazon, with tire tool and jack for $503. He bought it immediately.
About 30 percent of all new cars today do not come with a spare.
Poor Larry. He deserves a RAISE. Toyotas aren't supposed to have flats!. l was in TX a couple yrs back shooting prairie dogs. Out in the middle of the Panhandle l had a flat tire with my FJ Cruiser. Sure is nice to have the spare mounted on the rear DOOR.😍 l'm a Triple AAA member, but l doubt he'd have ever found me. lts really amazing the amount of JUNK scattered on the prairies of the American West😮
When I was about 18 yrs old I helped a uncle at a business he had selling cores to enging and transmission shops also back then evey thing starters distributors alternators all had a market for rebuilding (RIP uncle Mac.) But we would also have tons of scrap from stripping down the engines back tgen vors wre in big demand and we could sell all we could get
we would scrounge junk yards and buy engines and parts they would pull and put in huge piles then the yards would crush the car body's
I had a old 74 3/4 ton chevy we put 1 ton running gear in then added more springs to the spring pack even to help with bigger loads
Its was Not uncommon to have the rear bumber dragging the road and barely able to steer as the front wheels had almost no contact many times I would have 3 even 5 + tons of steel or cast iron going to the scrap yard 40miles away to sell it . Yes dumb and young and m0re on each load saved on trips
But I blew out so many rear tires it's was so commom due to all the weight we had overloaded even the floor jack I carred struggled to pick the truck and its load up when it would happen
A trip to any tire shop or wrecking yard back then they would always have racks of trade in or new take off wheels or off wrecked trucks for little to nothing so never gave the cost of tires a thought
I never lost control of the truck, but it happened so often I was always expecting it, but looking back, just pure luck saved mybutt and probably other people who could have been caught up in a wreck
One of the things I would never do again and glad I never hurt any one especialy me