[heliecopter]

Hi all,

I didn't give it much thought when ordering my A1 last November, but now l have been driving around for the best part of a month, l have been thinking should l have ordered a spare wheel instead of foam. I know l can get slim version for about £180 ish. Can't quite remember how much l was quoted now.
So, l would be interested to hear your thoughts on spare wheel Vs foam. I have changed a wheel before but never used foam, is it easier ? What are the pros and cons if any or am l just shy trying something new!!!

Cheers
H

 

[taconite2]

I've been driving now for 8 years and never had a punture that was bad enough I couldn't drive it to the garage...so I decided to save my money and go with the foam....Audi offer me breakdown cover anyway

The big con with the foam is once its been used in the tyre it can't be repaired i.e. brand new tyre even if the punchure was small.

 

[heliecopter]

Right, thanks... I did wonder if the wheel would be useable after it had foam in it! l guess not sounds wastefull. Speaking of waste....
There seems to be a lot of wasted space under the boot floor. Am l right in thinking you need it to give the battery this space. Off down to Devon soon and was hoping to use some of it up with packing the kitchen sink etc!!

 

[taconite2]

Theres two heights you can set the floor to. One is the usual position the other requires sliding the floor until it falls below the bracket holding it in place. Gives u an extra 3-5 inchs more room

Should be ok to use that extra space though I would use the boot floor or a cloth as the kitchen sink is metal Just incase it could short circuit (unlikely but let's be safe)

 

[tim]

You could get a secondhand spacesaver off e bay there should be one that will fit from anotherVAG model.I also have got a can of Holts tyre weld in the boot ,£6 from Asda.

 

[heliecopter]

Theres two heights you can set the floor to. One is the usual position the other requires sliding the floor until it falls below the bracket holding it in place. Gives u an extra 3-5 inchs more room

Should be ok to use that extra space though I would use the boot floor or a cloth as the kitchen sink is metal Just incase it could short circuit (unlikely but let's be safe)

Hi Taconite2,

I popped out to have a look at the boot space. I removed boot floor from bracket holding it in place and put it to rest on top of the battery housing. Is that what you mean? It does give a good extra 3-5 inches space (thinks of all the things l can pack now) Although it does wobble from side to side resting on top of the Battery housing.... I guess l would leave it in that position, just use it for extra room.... Thanks for the tip and humour

 

[heliecopter]

You could get a secondhand spacesaver off e bay there should be one that will fit from anotherVAG model.I also have got a can of Holts tyre weld in the boot ,£6 from Asda.

Interesting thought about Ebay, Thanks Tim I will give that some thought..

 

[taconite2]

Hi Taconite2,

I popped out to have a look at the boot space. I removed boot floor from bracket holding it in place and put it to rest on top of the battery housing. Is that what you mean? It does give a good extra 3-5 inches space (thinks of all the things l can pack now) Although it does wobble from side to side resting on top of the Battery housing.... I guess l would leave it in that position, just use it for extra room.... Thanks for the tip and humour

Yeap that's it

 

[Sir_B]

I went through this head-scratching question recently, as my wife's 3 month old car got a puncture right outside the house, and the car came with the foam crap only, half of which squeezed out - luckily I had a spare can, and being outside the house, I used a jump-start/compressor pack to inflate the wheel and quickly drive around to the tyre place a couple of miles away.

Immediately, they wanted to change the tyre and put a new one (only £160! ) but I requested they try and just wash off the gunk and fix the puncture. After grumbling and faffing, the guy eventually managed to fix it, much to my relief, for £20 instead of £160.

But that made me wonder about this when buying my A1. Apparently, once the gunk stuff is used, 95% of the time tyre places will not repair it as the gunk stuff interferes with the puncture repair chemical.

What I have been offered (and subsequently paid for) is a Tyre-Insurance, which covers one for 5 tyres to be repaired/replaced by pretty much any tyre repair place, replacement, like to like, over a period of 3 years - costs £300 and there is a £25 surcharge per claim - but if you get 2 punctures in that period and use the gunk stuff, they will replace the tyre. So that is what I went for.

What are the chances of getting a flat ? Well, in over 12 years of driving, I had not one puncture. And then in the last 5 years, I have had 6 flats, and had to replace 2 expensive tyres :ugeek:

 

[tim]

So if one place can repair a tyre after using foam why cant they all? Could be a con to sell new tyres

 

[taconite2]

well there's a mention above about "washing it off"

I'm pretty confident the gunk goes completely hard when its fully cured, so that would be why they can't "clean" a tyre and it needs replacing.

Best advice I can offer - try pumping up the tyre (with air) and get it to a garage for a repair job asap. 99% of the puntures i've had are only small and the tyre would deflate over the course of 24h, more than enough time to get it fixed.

The gunk is for really bad puntures where its not convenient to repair on the spot. Of course a massive gash means instant replacement and you shouldn't be driving it anywhere