Spare tire or MINI Mobility System?

[SS-MINI]

Just put new 17" OZ's on my MINI with non-run flat tires. What do others recommend in the case of a flat tire? Should I buy a space saver spare tire or a MINI Mobility kit?

[JBKone]

I don't think a spare will fit anywhere inconspicuous on the S. On the Cooper, it's beneather the boot space, but the S has the exhaust there. You could keep one in the boot. A mobility kit would be much easier to store.

[minimetoo]

I carry both. A kit containing slime, patch material and an electric air pump. Also a doughnut spare in a neat black canvas zipper bag from Mini Mania. With arthritis I feel I need both.

[BillTheCat]

What JBKone said... really no good place for a spare in an S.

4 MINIs, and every one of 'em has swapped runflats for normal Summer performance tires. Heck, current one never had runflats- I swapped the aftermarket wheels & tires on from the one I traded in!

I carry a bottle of Slime, a 12v compressor, and a tire plug kit (Reamer, insertion tool, plugs, quality tire gauge, and a pair of dkyes for grabbing foreign objects and wrestling them from the tread.)

Anyone who tells you plugs are unsafe or have a high failure rate never learned how to plug a tire right and/or is parroting bad advice they heard somewhere else. Worked at a service station in college, probably plugged 300+ and patched 100+ tires. Had more patches fail than plugs. Although it was usually in a situation where I recommended NOT using a patch due to the location of the puncture, but the customer insisted.

I drove over 20k miles, including several Dragon trips on a plugged tire on my '05 MCS. No worries.

And since you're local, if you want a tutorial, I'll be happy to come learn ya. :-)

[SS-MINI]

Thanks to all who answered my inquiry. I have just received the neat little kit with Green Slime. Very compact. I had not given plugs very much thought because of the negatives associated with using them. I too worked in a gas station in college and I plugged a lot of tires, but those tires were bias belted, not steel belted. I believe the problem is possible ply separation. That said, I would agree that being able to get home safely on a plugged tire is vastly more important than worrying whether on not that tire will have to be replaced. I think I will get a good quality tire plug kit for emergencies.

[BillTheCat]

Bias ply tires? Were you also shoeing horses at that service station?

[AAONMS]

Bias ply tires? Were you also shoeing horses at that service station?

ROTFLMAO


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[SS-MINI]

Almost! It was the late 60's. That's the 1900's, not the 1800's! Ha-ha.

[MUNGO]

I carry a plug kit and air comp. with our non runflats.