Spare Wheel vs Puncture Repair Kit
Puncture repair kits have become a standard replacement from the traditional spare car tyres, particularly with vehicle manufacturers fighting to reduce the CO2 emissions. The additional weight of a spare wheel creates higher emissions and higher fuel costs. So is the traditional spare wheel option worth the additional money?
Tyre puncture repair kits work by inflating the tyre and sealing the tyre with a gel substance. The gel substance is forced into the car tyres along with the air to re-inflate the tyre. This is designed to be a temporary measure, so as soon as possible you would need to arrange a tyre fitting. However, the advantage of the puncture repair kit is the ease of use, especially when you consider the weight of some tyres, 4×4 tyres can weigh as much as a small child! Changing a wheel can be quite a difficult process when you take just lifting the wheel off and on to the car into consideration, then once the spare is in place you then have the small bar to tighten the wheel nuts. Garages use torque wrenches and air guns to tighten the wheel nuts. It is crucial that the wheel nuts are secure on the vehicle as a lose wheel nut could result in an accident!
The obvious advantage of carrying a spare wheel is to cover yourself against blow outs or potential malicious damage. The tyre repair kit is limited to fixing minor damage to a tyre such as a nail or screw through it. If the worst were to happen you would need to call out recovery services. As tyre technology has improved blow outs have become a lot rarer thankfully.