Did you get the Emergency Alert test?

Our car is a Ford Fiesta bought as a 2 year old in 2016. It has 4 wheels, steering column, lights, indicatores, wing mirrors, clutch, accelerator and brakes. Don't see what else it would require to convey you from one place to another. Oh, a competant driver too of course

 

A spare wheel in case of a puncture ?
And my car hasn't got one, and I had a flat wheel one morning a few weeks ago. I can't change wheels these days so I called the AA, and told the chap the spare is probably in the boot. He replied "Your car hasn't got a spare mate, they don't make them like that any more"
How stupid !

 

I bought my car, new, from the dealer in December 2021 and that came with a spare wheel....all be it, a space saver one.

 

I've always found you cant get the nuts off with the silly thing they supply for the job anyway, I used to carry a section of scaffolding tube just in case.

Now days if you get caught with something like that in your car your likely to get 6 months at least.

 

Sorry @Sheal - I meant that when I open the laptop, I have a news page at the start, but I also look at the BBC Scotland news page. I can't remember which bit it was on, but I don't see the point of these alerts anyway. As you say - if it's for a nuclear attack, we're all b*ggered anyway! I've managed to get this far without storm warnings etc, so if I get caught out, it's my own fault.
With you on all the car nonsense too. I think the bloke that took me for a test drive in this current car was a bit hacked off with me. I told him I just wanted a car with a CD player and the heated seats as they're very useful after a long day on hills. He got the message that all the other stuff was of zero interest to me. It's just more things that can go wrong - as you found out, in a very worrying way. I don't use the stop/start thing at all [keep my foot on the clutch and in gear when I stop] because I can't see how it's good for the battery, and I later read an article saying the same thing, so I felt vindicated about it!
The spare wheel thing - I agree with you about getting the wheel nuts off @pete. I'd have no chance.
I currently have an ongoing problem with tyre pressures. All my tyres have been replaced over the last 18 months [just normal wear and tear] but I kept thinking I had a puncture with the front one. The chap at the garage told me it can often be a problem with the valve, or a leak round the edge, rather than a more typical puncture, and sent me to a bloke nearby, as it looked like the leak thing. It was very interesting, and he sorted it for me. It's to do with the way all these outlets put the tyres on. Long story short, he has the right equipment to clean everything properly and ensure the seals are all sound, which these places don't have. I've had no bother with the one he fixed ages ago -pressure stays the same all the time, but one of the back ones is doing the same and I intend going to see him about it, because it'll be the same thing. Only cost me £20, and he spent ages and explaining it all. I might get him to do the other back one as well, because I'll no doubt just have the same problem in future, as they were both replaced
at the same outlet. Never used to have that problem with new tyres either.
I had those run flat tyres on this car, which apparently it shouldn't have had, so I'll ask him more about that too.

 

@Michael Hewett Yes forgot the spare tyre - it does have one.

 

I had the same problem with both front tyre's, i took the wheels off a put into a wheel borrow full of water to find the leak which was the rims leaking, so i bought some tyre bead sealer and done it my self

As for tight wheel nuts i got one like this, 24 inch brecker bar with a 19mm socket and it stay in the boot of the car

 

@fairygirl , I've had a problem with a tyre not sealing recently, it was corrosion on the wheel.

Finally got it done a couple of months ago, someone I know ground down the corroded part and refitted the tyre, the big outlets wont do anything like that and as far as I can work out they wont use tyre seal either.

They told me to go and see a wheel refurb place, but none were interested unless I wanted all four done and I had to leave them the car for a couple of days.
One Refurber said, oh no we dont take the tyres off.
All they wanted to do was paint them.

 

Yes @Jiffy - the guy I went to took the tyre off and immersed it, showed me where the problem was and did the job - spent ages checking it all. I could never have done it myself, even if I'd known what to do.
@Sheal - reading your comment about the stop/start dumb option, I had to laugh when I read this article later on. Someone must have been reading your post!

Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.

We seem to have diverted a bit from the original topic....

 

Thanks for the link @fairygirl. I've always thought that the stop/start process can't be good regarding wear and tear on the engine and the link has confirmed that. Although it can be turned off (as many do) we have left ours on because of the unsolved issues we've had with it from new. The idea being to keep an eye on the problem and any changes on how its functioning.

 

I hadn't realised it could be turned off @Sheal until I read that article yesterday, although it makes sense, but I just use that 'foot on clutch' method, and that prevents it happening. I've not looked to see where the button is for switching it off, and I never remember to do these things when I get in the car, but I might look later - if I remember!
I'm going to see Graeme the tyre man on Monday, so that's another thing ticked off my endless list of 'things that need done'....

 

I didn't get the original Alert as we were on holiday in Germany. We were walking in Bonn, and started to hear this odd siren noise. Took us a while to realise it was coming from our own phones. We were getting the German Alert ( 2days after the UK one) and had great difficulty in getting it to stop. Very disconcerting!!