I drove the back roads to hit the I-80 where the speeding truckers weren't very kind to me! After those miles on the tire, it still looks like new. You don't know what it's like to almost get run over by cars and trucks while driving that slowly in comparison to the usual Western highway speeds. The biggest problem was the speed limit on the tire which is 50mph. I drove out the park, spent a couple of days looking for tires (it was a holiday,) and opted to drive the 500 miles or so to SLC where the original tire was replaced. Nearest available were in Denver and Salt Lake City, the latter with which I'm very familiar. A tow truck was sent out and in we went to the center of the park where the station there drilled out the hole for German valve stem and we installed an American one, inflated the spare and I returned to Cody for a tire. I had to wait for a good Samaritan to stop and offer help and I requested advising the park office Fishing Bridge. He was munching on the grass within 10' of me, but I had little choice. While working on the car I had the company of a buffalo who initially startled me believing it might be a grizzly. In trying to inflate the spare I found the valve stem broken on installation and I was SOL. There IS room whether you want to believe it or not. No problem, I had the Vredestein inflatable in the back, with tons of camping gear. I hit the avalanche on the road in the dark coming around a curve at moderate speed. Going through the park saves near a hundred miles on the trip home, and I needed to get through before the roads were closed for the season. Lordee, you don't know what isolation and no cell service is like until you blow a tire in late season in the middle of Yellowstone National Park!!ĭon't recall the exact dates this occurred to me but I had left Cody, WY early AM, like near 4, after some storms the past few days. For me, the GLK 250 is a twenty year car and I really want to come up with an elegant solution. I go places where cell phone service doesn't exist and tow trucks never go, calling AAA or MB is a non-starter. I think we all understand that having a reliable spare tire and being self sufficient is important. Given that I am in the Greater Washington DC area, I can also expect to deal with significant gridlock. I can expect temperatures in the mid 90s from May through September. The airflow blockage possibility is a definite concern. Having a tire always on the roof means a significant penalty in mileage. As soon as I add a trailer (any trailer) or put the roof racks on, my mileage drops to 27 mpg, again very consistently. In terms of fuel mileage, I find that running clean, I'm getting 39 mpg very consistently. What brand and size? Even though you were "spared" MOE tires, are you running 19 inches or not? Do you expect/trust that spare tire to survive forest service roads and highway speeds to get you back out to where you can find a garage? You mentioned that you have a compressed spare. To say nothing of the pounding of a 65 lb spare tire banging on the teak seats.ĭoesn't answer the "off in the mountains" requirement either. No room in the boat, it is full with wooden masts, duffel bags, plastic buckets and other sailing gear. In the next year or so, I plan to head deep into the boonies and I am going to definitely be carrying at least one spare.Īnyway, let's hear what you think about the idea of hanging a spare in front of the grill. Perhaps a space saver spare with a good cover would be better and less attractive to thieves? Or, someone could weld up a nice little number that would look good. I suspect that it could be modified to handle a tire. I found at least one manufacturer that offers a bush bar and brackets specifically for the GLK. For the record, my worn tire and rim weighed 63 lbs., I expect a new tire and rim to weigh about 65 lbs. So yesterday, I pulled the wheels off and did some full size modeling. Years ago, I built a camper in a van and hung the spare in front of the grill. That path pretty much means getting a spare and figuring out where to put it without losing space or significantly impacting fuel mileage. Okay, we've all been thinking about what to do about replacing the OEM tires with something cheaper and more readily available. Strangely enough, I do a lot of driving in the boonies and, to date, have never had a tire problem. Thanks, northern Virginia for your vibrant construction industry. In the 2 1/2 years that I've had this car, I've had three flat tires and each time was able to patch or plug the hole. My 2014 GLK 250 just got it's 40K mile check up and my OEM tires are getting thin.
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