Big Flaw in the Evoque

(23-05-2012 10:49pm)Belvoirbloke Wrote:  Can’t believe anyone would not buy a spare wheel ???

I too would always opt for a spare if I was travelling outside of the LR or AA breakdown assistance zone but choosing to have a biscuit wheel that forces you to get the car to a tyre repair/replacement centre as soon as possible anyway is not worth it in my opinion for the relatively few - if ever - times a puncture occurs.

I have only ever had full-sized spares - those are fine; then I can sort out the damaged tyre at my leisure. I've also had car's with run flats and car's with only the goo option (with no option of even a biscuit wheel) so have tried all the various options and will always choose the additional storage over half-a-wheel.

I have the space-saver spare so covered for an emergency, but I understand tyre cost and availability is an issue if you have the 20" wheels (which I do). I've just clocked up my 10,000th mile and will likely need new tyres at some point in the next 6 months...to avoid supply issues, is it worth me buying 4 new tyres now and storing them? The questions I guess are:

1. Is it much more expensive to get a tyre place to fit the tyres once the tyres have been purchased (probably elsewhere) rather than get the tyres fitted at the time of purchase?
2. Is there any degradation of the tyres if they sit in my garage for 6 months?

Whilst this is not an ideal solution in terms of cash-flow, that isn't so much of an issue and as such it has a couple of potential benefits:

1. I can shop around over the next couple of months to enable me to find a good price
2. It mitigates the risk of supply issues should I get an unexpected puncture etc

Good approach or flawed?

(24-05-2012 09:23am)Token Wrote:  I have the space-saver spare so covered for an emergency, but I understand tyre cost and availability is an issue if you have the 20" wheels (which I do). I've just clocked up my 10,000th mile and will likely need new tyres at some point in the next 6 months...to avoid supply issues, is it worth me buying 4 new tyres now and storing them? The questions I guess are:

1. Is it much more expensive to get a tyre place to fit the tyres once the tyres have been purchased (probably elsewhere) rather than get the tyres fitted at the time of purchase?
2. Is there any degradation of the tyres if they sit in my garage for 6 months?

Whilst this is not an ideal solution in terms of cash-flow, that isn't so much of an issue and as such it has a couple of potential benefits:

1. I can shop around over the next couple of months to enable me to find a good price
2. It mitigates the risk of supply issues should I get an unexpected puncture etc

Good approach or flawed?

I got my winter tyres few months ago, and they were left outside (just a covered parking spot) until I got another set of rims delivered.... they only arrived few weeks ago, so the tyres were left like that for quite a while and seemed fine....

Now that i have the second set of rims, i put the tyres on them and stored them in the same place, now just wrapped in plastic....

From my past experiences, tyres seem to be fine left for sometime, but all of my tyres were fitted to the rims and i know that better because it holds the shape...

But this is as far as i know, hope it helps...

Keep tyres inflated for shape and out of direct sunlight, they do dry out and degrade in UV light over a number of years. If off rim and you cant inflate store upright, dont stack and rotate each month to avoid flattening areas, With the mileage youre doing wont be a problem.

My dealer highly recommended a proper spare, after past experience I wouldnt do anything else. Losing the spare may save weight and therefore increase economy but I think its negligible and not worth the hastle.

(21-05-2012 04:44pm)cjfp Wrote:  I agree that the above is a pain, but I don't think it's a flaw of the Evoque per se - lots of new cars come with gunk instead of a spare, but the option is there if you so wish. Gonna jinx myself now - I've not had a car tyre puncture in nearly 20 years so I'm happy to stick with gunk.

+1 Same thought process and same conclusion, fingers crossed

My colleague has a BMW X1 and didn't have the option of a spare wheel. I'm happy I added it to my spec after all those stories here.

Only thing is I would like to get a complete winter set, which is going to set me back a fortune I guess.

Why do people talk about fittng a set of winter tyres. I have 19" continental UHP M&S tyres fitted as standard, why would I need winter tyres. I would presume that all evoques are fitted with the same spec of tyre regardsless of size.

+1

(01-06-2012 08:04am)speary Wrote:  Why do people talk about fittng a set of winter tyres. I have 19" continental UHP M&S tyres fitted as standard, why would I need winter tyres. I would presume that all evoques are fitted with the same spec of tyre regardsless of size.

They have m&s written on them but do not have the snowflake symbol that makles them a winter tyre. Depends where you live, I supose, but the way I look it is this; would you walk on snow in smooth leather soled shoes or would you wear shoe/boot with a tread grip so that you bite and penetrate the surface to get grip? This is how winter tyres work. 4wd drive will get you further than 2wd, but if you have no mechanical grip you won't be going anywhere.