Rear Tire Change

[Edward]

Out of those three flat tires that you changed, how many of them could have been fixed with a can of fix-a-flat?

Of the three I've changed this year, 2 could have used fix-a-flat, aside from the other issues I mentioned earlier, and none of them were a repair that a tire place would do

 

[wheaters]

I'm pretty sure I've said this in another thread, but here is why I keep a full size spare around. Between different vehicles I've driven, I have had three flat tires this year. I have a 70 mile commute and I leave at 5:30 to get to work at 7. Sometimes I have to be to work by 3am!
If I go out to the car in the morning and it has a flat, I replace it and I'm a few minutes late to work. I've never read anything that has indicated that fix a flat should be used at high speeds. The local tire shop doesn't open until 8. By the time I would be out of there, it would be 10 or later by the time I got in. $150 for a tire and rim is cheap insurance against the fallout of being up to 7 hours late to work.

Edward,good insurance for an "overnight flat", but if you get a flat away from home you will still have a problem to deal with.
As far as I'm concerned, anything except a proper replacement tire or professional repair is only a temporary fix to get you on your way.

I don't like "run-flat" tires, for reasons of cost and a hard ride, but for the last eighteen months, due to ongoing roadworks on the greater part of my drive to work (on the M1 motorway), even having to stop the car is a serious emergency. There is presently no hard shoulder with three lanes of solid traffic for most of the day, on a 17 mile stretch. There's a concrete wall on one side (central barrier) and a steel and concrete barrier on the nearside, put there to protect the workers. All you can do is quickly get out and climb over the nearside barrier, leaving your car to its fate until the cameras spot you and a traffic patrol vehicle gets to you and shuts the lane so the vehicle can be recovered.

 

[Edward]

Edward,good insurance for an "overnight flat", but if you get a flat away from home you will still have a problem to deal with.
As far as I'm concerned, anything except a proper replacement tire or professional repair is only a temporary fix to get you on your way.

I don't like "run-flat" tires, for reasons of cost and a hard ride, but for the last eighteen months, due to ongoing roadworks on the greater part of my drive to work (on the M1 motorway), even having to stop the car is a serious emergency. There is presently no hard shoulder with three lanes of solid traffic for most of the day, on a 17 mile stretch. There's a concrete wall on one side (central barrier) and a steel and concrete barrier on the nearside, put there to protect the workers. All you can do is quickly get out and climb over the nearside barrier, leaving your car to its fate until the cameras spot you and a traffic patrol vehicle gets to you and shuts the lane so the vehicle can be recovered.

I agree that it isn't a perfect solution, but being able to get to work is my primary concern. Once I'm at work, I can take the work truck home if I am done after hours and discover a flat.

 

[Rickb]

A receiver hitch spare mounting bracket or a roof mount: Functional not pretty............like the elgin dash.

 

[zelio]

A receiver hitch spare mounting bracket or a roof mount: Functional not pretty............like the elgin dash.
View attachment 3430 View attachment 3431

I don't know if you can google this, but there is a picture of a side mount tire bracket that I think would work on the non-door side of the Elio. The picture is of a Lomax 223 and is on page 144 in the book "A-Z of Three-Wheelers" by Elvis Payne. It also looks like it could be designed to be removable when not needed. :-) Z

 

[NSTG8R]

Depending on how easily the rear seat comes out, I'd consider fabbing up a fixture that holds a spare tire, jack, a small set of tools and a highway emergency kit just for travelling back and forth to work...which will be it's 'main function'. Everything would be mounted to the fixture so there's no possibility of projectiles flying around the car in an accident. And it would be easy to remove and put the seat back in if my wife decided she'd like to go for a spin with me. Then fab up a receiver hitch (plugged when not in use) that the spare tire fixture could mount in for the trip (just hanging on the back like the racks you see on SUV's and trucks). Just thinking, since I don't have one to actually work on....yet.

 

[LockMD]

Depending on how easily the rear seat comes out, I'd consider fabbing up a fixture that holds a spare tire, jack, a small set of tools and a highway emergency kit just for travelling back and forth to work...which will be it's 'main function'. Everything would be mounted to the fixture so there's no possibility of projectiles flying around the car in an accident. And it would be easy to remove and put the seat back in if my wife decided she'd like to go for a spin with me. Then fab up a receiver hitch (plugged when not in use) that the spare tire fixture could mount in for the trip (just hanging on the back like the racks you see on SUV's and trucks). Just thinking, since I don't have one to actually work on....yet.

If it fits and is possible, that sounds like the perfect set up to me.

 

[Gas-Powered Awesome]

A receiver hitch spare mounting bracket or a roof mount: Functional not pretty............like the elgin dash.

Yes, I agree. The Elgin dash is pretty, but pretty non-functional. o_O

 

[RUCRAYZE]

after thinking about it ( and thinking about it, and thinking about it, etc ), I still have very mixed emotion on not having a spare tire .... on the one hand, in years past, I never worried about not having a spare for my motorcycle .... no fix-a-flat, no compressor, no plugging kit , thankfully I never had need for one .... our Sportchassis didn't come with a spare tire and that worried me at first .... I do have a plugging kit and air compressor .... the reality is, I don't want to be out there trying to change a 22.5 tire on the side of the road .... we have road service which I've never used for the truck .... my hope is someone will come up with a way to mount a spare on an Elio without causing any major issues .... I suspect such a discovery could be highly profitable

Jim

don't forget when you exit the car to check the tires, open the door nearest the curb- (that'll get them started), for you newbees there are hundreds of posts rationalizing on which side the door should be!!, then followed by an additional thousand about which side the gas cap!!

 

[BrianRosenthal]

A receiver hitch spare mounting bracket or a roof mount:

... fab up a receiver hitch (plugged when not in use) that the spare tire fixture could mount in for the trip (just hanging on the back like the racks you see on SUV's and trucks).

Depending on the spare tire size, this could all be enclosed in a fiberglass shell that would match the appearance (and aerodynamics?) of the Elo!