Question about blown tire roadside assistance

[WeekendBob]

As an owner of a newer AI that did not come with a spare tire, I'm curious how Roadside assistance works in a blown tire situation?

I can imagine a few different scenarios after you call your roadside provider of choice (Good Sam, AAA, etc):

1. They ask your tire size, bring you a tire, and perform a mobile mount and balance on the spot like I've seen them do with big rigs
2. They ask your tire/rim size, and bring you a "loaner" spare which you somehow have to get back to them, or
3. They tow you into a service center which could be miles away.

So, how does it actually work?

[Tyler2you]

Or, the 4th option, they plug/patch/inflate the tire and send you to a shop for a permanent repair.

The actual process is going to depend on the type of damage and the company they find that's willing to take the work for the price they're offering.

Be prepared to find your own repair guy as there have been numerous cases where the roadside assistance company can't (or won't) find someone to drive out to East Podunk to make the repair (or it's going to take 4 hours for them to come). All reasons I'd be very uncomfortable without a spare.

[djb75]

I've had them bring a replacement tire (when I was trailering my daughter's car to Arizona). I've also seen them just plug the hole and reinflate (if the responder has a compressor onboard).
Personally, I would get a spare and render this question moot. Of course, this assumes you got a jack with your unit.

[WeekendBob]

Originally Posted by Tyler2you

Or, the 4th option, they plug/patch/inflate the tire and send you to a shop for a permanent repair.

Yep, but this I could likely do myself and I carry plugs and a compressor for this very reason. I'm contemplating worst case scenario, that a tire shreds or ends up irreparable. I agree with both of you that carrying a spare is ideal, just not easy to give up the space in a packed Interstate. Even the rear door external tire carriers add length to the overall rig which for me personally, would be a challenge given the size of my garage where I store my unit.

[Dennis C]

I’ve only had a roadside blowout once before when towing my Airstream trailer. I called the roadside assistance line. They tried for several hours to find replacement tires and somebody to install them, to no avail. It was a Sunday morning and we were in a remote area.

The one helpful thing that they did was to contact the local sheriff’s department and let them know that we were stranded on the side of a busy highway. The sheriff stopped by to check on us. As a small town sheriff, he knew of a relatively local tire shop that could help us. They weren’t able to help on a Sunday, but on Monday morning they sent out a tech with a new tire mounted on a generic trailer wheel that fit. This got us on our way again.

[Tyler2you]

Originally Posted by WeekendBob

I agree with both of you that carrying a spare is ideal, just not easy to give up the space in a packed Interstate. Even the rear door external tire carriers add length to the overall rig which for me personally, would be a challenge given the size of my garage where I store my unit.

Like everything else in RV life, you just have to assess the risk and decide whether or not you're willing to accept the consequences if you have a problem.

If you're a casual traveler that can deal with the delay and frustrations that may come with waiting for a tire to arrive, then the no spare approach may work.

If you're always on a schedule and hate dealing with the frustrations and delays that might occur from a blowout, you may need to compromise on the spare.

[microbeta]

Originally Posted by djb75

Personally, I would get a spare and render this question moot. Of course, this assumes you got a jack with your unit.

I have an AI 19 and I do have a spare tire mounted on a door mounted spare tire carrier (Owl Vans) because am trying to mitigate the roadside service call and not able to find a tire. I was thinking of a getting a 3 ton bottle jack to complete my flat tire mitigation strategy. Any suggestions on a jack that others are carrying?

[Tyler2you]

Originally Posted by microbeta

I have an AI 19 and I do have a spare tire mounted on a door mounted spare tire carrier (Owl Vans) because am trying to mitigate the roadside service call and not able to find a tire. I was thinking of a getting a 3 ton bottle jack to complete my flat tire mitigation strategy. Any suggestions on a jack that others are carrying?

I carry this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

It's nothing special, but it was cheap and it gets the job done. They have many other sizes as well.

[djb75]

Before you buy a jack, make sure you don't already have one. We used to have a Sprinter-based RV and its jack was under a panel beneath the passenger floormat. Of course, it was a much older model and things may have changed, but it only takes a minute to look. You might find a pleasant surprise!

[microbeta]

Thanks. I did look there but I think Airstream uses that space for other stuff. Behind the plastic close out is a metal blanking plate. No jack for sure.

[banderabob]

I know nothing about the vans, but, is there room to mount a spare on the roof? Of course, there has to be a way to get it down as well.

[zapper]

Originally Posted by WeekendBob

As an owner of a newer AI that did not come with a spare tire, I'm curious how Roadside assistance works in a blown tire situation?

I can imagine a few different scenarios after you call your roadside provider of choice (Good Sam, AAA, etc):

1. They ask your tire size, bring you a tire, and perform a mobile mount and balance on the spot like I've seen them do with big rigs
2. They ask your tire/rim size, and bring you a "loaner" spare which you somehow have to get back to them, or
3. They tow you into a service center which could be miles away.

So, how does it actually work?

Really? They have eliminated the spare? Why? To save $250 or save 40lbs? And put the owner’s safety at risk? Why not just shoot yourself in the foot for the experience? I had my experience with GYM on my AS and I would still be stuck out in no where were it not for a spare. Since I changed up to 16” wheel and Michelins I’ve had better luck. But I still have a spare. My point is why take the risk of getting stuck on some God forsaken road and out of cell phone range waiting for some nice driver to stop and give you a ride to the closest XYZ tire shop? Feeling lucky?

[richard5933]

Can you get a spare tire carrier for the rear of the van and start carrying a spare? Seems like a piece of equipment I'd want to have with so this was not a problem.

[Rocinante]

Originally Posted by richard5933

Can you get a spare tire carrier for the rear of the van and start carrying a spare? Seems like a piece of equipment I'd want to have with so this was not a problem.

Pretty sure there are options for that from companies such as Owl Van and Aluminess. One caveat: if you’re also going to carry bikes on the back, make sure the two additions work well together.

[WeekendBob]

Originally Posted by Rocinante

Pretty sure there are options for that from companies such as Owl Van and Aluminess. One caveat: if you’re also going to carry bikes on the back, make sure the two additions work well together.

Yep, I've researched them and Aluminess appears to be the best option. My initial challenge was the added length they add to the rig exceeds the length of my home garage. However, it appears the Aluminess carrier has fold-up support brackets meaning I can remove the spare and fold up the brackets for storage.

Still curious if anyone else with a newer 'non-spare equipped' Interstate has faced a blow-out situation and had to call roadside assistance?

[StogieMan]

Having dually tires in the back is a different animal when dealing with a blowout IMO. We're lucky that ours came with a stock spare tire under the van. I do cary a spare jack just in case but I don't think that I would want to tackle the back tires unless I needed to absolutely to do it. We do keep our Coach-Net membership active, have used it and had a great experience with them.

On a trip down to NC a few last year, our TPM starting beeping and we were loosing tire pressure. I was able to pull off and stop right in front of a tire shop that could not help us because our van did not fit in their bay and they could not work outside on it due to insurance reasons.

We called Coach-Net and they did all the leg work, asked us a bunch of questions including what tires we had so that the tech could come prepared to replace the tire if needed. They got us out a mobile truck unit that lifted the van on the side of the road to replace the back inner dually tire that had a nail on the side. Total cost was about $600 and we were on the hook for the new tire at about $200. The amount of time that it saved us on the phone to try to get someone one out on a Friday evening at 8pm was alone worth the cost.

[StogieMan]

Originally Posted by banderabob

I know nothing about the vans, but, is there room to mount a spare on the roof? Of course, there has to be a way to get it down as well.

Nope, something that I wouldn't want to do and there is no space up there for it especially with all the solar panels, AC and other stock items up there. If there is room up there - no way that I would want to bring a tire down. At 9'7" that would be quite the chore.

[InterBlog]

I’m not intending to hijack this thread, but I advise everyone to be very careful in how they plan for this scenario.

I found out the hard way that “roadside assistance” means “assistance when and how we see fit, and if that means leaving you on the side of the road for several days, then so be it.”

What happened in my case is that I blew out just before the start of rush hour (and sundown) on a Friday evening on the north side of Houston. I had Good Sam at the time, so I called them, but they simply couldn’t find anywhere acceptable (TO THEM) to flatbed my Interstate, because businesses had already closed for the weekend. For that reason, they refused to tow me. I think that they would have left me there until Monday morning - **ON A FREEWAY** in Houston, a city of 7 million people, an incredibly dangerous situation, especially for a woman traveling alone.

Instead, I had to get my own tow. A random tow driver with a standard rig stopped and gave me a phone number of who to call locally for a sufficiently large flatbed. I called that guy directly, paid him cash, and he dropped me in a Flying J parking lot a few exits down from where I blew out. But you see, Good Sam never would have done that same simple common-sense thing, because they don’t have permission from that kind of third party. THAT is the problem - they only have a limited number of sources from which to choose.

My husband was not traveling with me at the time, but he was about 40 miles away on the south side of Houston. He went to the west side of the metro to an Autozone that was open extended hours, bought a new brake line and extra fluid (the blow-out had severed the line), and then headed north to replace both line and tire with our spare. We both boondocked in the Interstate overnight in that Flying J parking lot, and the next morning, we headed to the nearest Discount Tire for a permanent replacement.

“Roadside assistance” was nonexistent - all I did was waste my valuable time calling it in a dangerous situation when I should have just obtained my own resources. I would never travel without a spare tire and I would never rely exclusively on any such “service”. I dropped Good Sam after that debacle.

Friday night at the Flying J - what a treat:

[sfranklin]

Hi. New here. Been lurking for a while and saw this thread and brought back memories of days gone by where most everyone had a spare.

I don't know if it's a money saving thing, a design thing or a combo of both, but I for one do not like this new trend of no spare, a can of tire sealer and air compressor.

Many, many moons ago, when I was much younger lad just starting out, I was a dispatcher for the Allstate Motor Club and what has been discussed here about limitations of services is spot on. In fact if we ran into problems with cars, I can't even imagine how those same limitations would translate to a much larger rig.

Though these subscription services do tend to reimburse you for some of your costs if you go it alone, even after I quit that job, I never have joined a roadside assistance service based on my exp as an actual dispatcher.

Cars I've bought that came with a can of goop and an air compressor, I've went out and purchased a spare tire/rim (actual spare, not a full size) and jack I keep in the car. I've used it 2x in 11 years. How practical that may be for a big(er) rig I can't say, but the trend of no spare is a bit disconcerting.

[Island Girl]

We had a 2018 Interstate. It did come with a spare tire, but it was a donut type. The Jack was under the passenger side under your feet. If you pull up the carpet, there is a compartment,it was in there. We had a blowout and the ONLY one who could help us was AAA. Good Sam’s people were useless.
While they were changing the tire, one of the dual tires, I got on the phone and ordered a new one in the next town.
We have since bought an Atlas, which does not come with a spare. We bought a used “like” tire and carry it in the back of our Jeep that we tow.
I have read that you can drive on 1 of the dually (sp) tires until you get to a repair shop?
Also let the Good Sam road assistance drop and upped my AAA to the Premiere RV Membership.