Stopping production of the 5.7m Nuevo !!!

Andrew i made an effort and slid under the van this morning. lo and behold, right in my eye line was the jacking point! steadies are fitted but i have yet to use them. we are really lightweights!

Well you had better take a day off from your exertions today doog. You probably know the steadies aren't good enough to lift the wheels off the ground, although they will actually achieve that if you put thick blocks under them. As with a caravan, if you try to lift the wheels with them, the body twists and joints will start to leak, or crack. Joints other than your back, that is. Although that only applies to coachbuilts, not panel vans.
I read a few years ago that the AA has determined that a vehicle travels an average of 99,000 miles between punctures. So I, like others, have this dilemma of whether to carry a spare wheel or use the load capacity for something more useful like water. What does a spare wheel weigh? 26.2kg which would equate to 26 litres more water. I would use the water a lot more often than the spare wheel.
https://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/weight-of-spare-wheel-and-tyre.79860/
All the above of course only applies if you are near to the weight limit of the wagon, I am assuming 3500kg.
One of these days I must go and have my newold jalopy weighed, with the spare wheel and 100 litres of water. I know a friendly weighbridge where the operator is a motorhomer and knows why we want it below 3500kg.

Having a motorhome is one great virtue when it comes to breakdowns - so if you have a spare wheel and a puncure you can at least make a cup of tea and use the toilet while you are waiting for the rescue personage to come and change it. You can't very well do either of those in a car.

I've had my wheels, including the spare, on and off on my drive at home and with the help of levelling jacks so I know how difficult it is.  If I have a flat when I'm away from home, I will almost certainly call out recovery, not least because these days they can plug a hole that's not too large so the vehicle can be driven to a repairer.  However, if the hole is too large or the tyre has been shredded and there is no spare, it's a low loader to a tyre fitter unless a mobile fitter comes to the van.  In both cases there will be delays booking the van in and sourcing an identical CP tyre.  Carrying a spare is far more important to me than carrying extra water.

Maybe I have been unlucky but the frequency of puncture on all my cars has been much more than once every 99k miles.  So far  I haven't had a puncture on the motorhome but I did once on our caravan which had a spare that I fitted myself on the side of the road.

You've been unlucky caraman. I recall the last time I had a puncture, it was in 1986. I had bought a new Citroen BX and was driving along the motorway at 70, and after some miles I thought the steering characteristics had changed. I pulled over to find one of the rear tyres punctured and 'flat'. The pressurised suspension had negated the effect of the puncture, I was very surprised. Of course with that system you just loosen the nuts, then pump the car up with the suspension system, remove the wheel, fit the spare, put the punctured one in the boot, lower the suspension and off you go into the sunset. I don't think Citroen do that system any longer, it would be the single USP to me if they did and if I was in the market for a new car.

Andrew. my fault for bad grammar. the steadies are fitted but i never meant to infer that i would use them as jacks. my thoughts are that i wouldn't use them at all. sorry about that.

gassygassy wrote:You've been unlucky caraman. I recall the last time I had a puncture, it was in 1986. ....

It must run in the family.  My son has had 3 punctures over 28k miles on his new iD3.  His attempt to seal one puncture with his gunk repair kit failed so he called the AA who plugged the hole so he could drive to a repairer.  He doesn't have a spare.  On the other two occasions the tyre couldn't be repaired which was a palaver that put his car out of action for at least a couple days.  My experience hasn't been as bad as that but our 2021 Honda has only done 21k miles and has already had one puncture that couldn't be repaired.  I used to have a Freelander and a month after I bought it it had an unrepairable puncture - I doubt it had even done 1,000 miles.

I have a theory that the issue is with the modern trend for low or low-ish profile tyres. The side walls lack flexibility, making penetrative punctures more likely, particularly at the outer edges of tyres.

Since 1990 I have been driving almost exclusively on BFGoodrich or General Grabber All Terrain tyres, with well over a million miles driven over that time. I only recall one puncture!

I think that can be the problem.  The iD3 has low profile tyres and my son thinks his last flat was caused by a pothole.  But his repairable puncture was a screw in the tread.  Our Honda was the same except the hole was too close to the sidewall to be repaired.  It doesn't have low profile tyres which I wont have.  I have also suffered from flints pressed into the tread.  The motorhome is the only vehicle I have had that hasn't had a puncture.  I take great care at the end of every trip to make sure there are no stones in its treads and so far that's worked.  I've even had punctures in vehicles I didn't own which included a Land Rover.  My misfortune with punctures extends to my pedal bikes.  I treated myself to a mountain bike with tubeless tyres in the hope it wouldn't have punctures but it does as I found out in the middle of a longish trip in the New Forest when I had to push the bike back to the motorhome in the dark.

I reckon if I follow you Caraman I'll be safe. You will collect all the screws, flints, nails and other debris on the road, leaving the route free for me . .. . 

I think another factor is how much tread a tyre has. Logically a new tyre will have a lot more tread for the screw / flint / nail to get through than a worn one. Somewhere I have a photo of a screw in a motorbike tyre I owned. I can't find it now. Washing / polishing it one day I noticed a screw which was in the tread at an angle. With trembling hands I got a pair of pliers and removed it. The tyre stayed inflated.

Thought for the day:
And why IS a PAIR of pliers called a pair? There is only one plier. Same with pants, there is only one pant.