SEC1939

I am putting new tires on my E250. Going away from run-flats to regular tires to improve the ride. Any opinions on what to carry? Mini spare, Mobility kit or a tire plug & mini compressor ? The Add Blue tank takes up my spare spot. Also any tips what & where to buy any of the mentioned would be appreciated.

kajtek1

I carry spare from W211 and it fits. Also have 12V compressor, but only becouse I had it.
I dealt with flats quite a bit on trailers and other vehicles, and if you have big leak, by the time TPMS activate the alarm - you don't have much to inflate.
Amazingly - having extra set of wheels for W211 I put full size wheel into the compact spare compartment.
It fits and lifts the cover maybe 1/2" above the floor, so only have to be careful not to break cover while loading concrete blocks

SEC1939

You have an E250? How do you deal with the add blue tank. It fits over it?

VegasE

It depends on your lifestyle and tolerance. I've seen this topic discussed regularly on the many Audi, BMW, and MB forums I follow. Most people say they will just wait for roadside assistance. This is fine if your driving is primarily in heavily populated areas as long as you don't mind waiting an hour or 2 for the tow and a few more hours to get it fixed. For most folks flats are rare - something that happens every few years. For folks who live in the left half of the USA (or drive in those rural areas frequently for weekend vacations as I do), that is not a good solution. You can often be 50 miles or more from a tow and then it is unlikely that Nowhere Utah has a tire store so you will have to wait a few days for a tire to arrive. (BTW, run flats are just as worthless as regular tires because of the distances to garages.) Also, in many rural west areas there is no cell coverage. Fix a Flat in a can might work but most tire stores will not work on a tire if that has been used. A pump will work if you have a very slow leak. A patch kit will work if the rim is not bent, the tire is not sliced, you can see the penetration, and the hole is in the tread area, and you are mechanically inclined. So for me, I always have some type of spare in my car. Compact spares are fine but buying one can cost $400+ and they have speed restrictions of usually 50 mph. Unless trunk space is tight, my preferred solution for all my cars that came with no spare (even if they came with runflats) is an "almost full size tire". Go to you local tire store, try on the smallest rim that fits over the front brakes, then add the cheapest high profile tire that gets you to the tire diameter of your regular tires. This cost you about $150 and has no speed restrictions but takes up a little more room than the compact spare. For example, my Audi TT came with no spare, the regular tires are 245/40/18 and my almost full size spare is 205/60/16 which is over 1.5" more narrow that the full size tire.

I've had 4 flats in the past 15 years. One was a crushed rim from a pot hole in Death Valley (imagine waiting for a tow there?), one was a sliced tire in town, one was a nail during vacation 50+ miles from the nearest garage, and yesterday I had a TPMS warning in my E350 in the middle of the desert 50+ miles from the nearest garage on Interstate 15 on the way home to Vegas from a weekend at SoCal beaches. My flat yesterday was a rapid leak of a pound every few minutes but after removing the tire I could not find a nail etc that caused it. I'm going to the tire store later today. In none of those cases would run flats have got me to the nearest garage. In only one of those would Fix-A-Flat, a pump, and/or plug kit have possibly worked. That is why I carry a spare. I am very particular about my tires and manually check the air pressure at least once a month and before any long trip.

SEC1939

good comments Vegas, I tend to agree with the logic. My travels are not quite as remote as your's. I think I will get the Dynaplug kit with a compressor. With a nail or screw I have a good chance. Cut or rim dent I'm stuck. Perhaps I'll find a salvage E and pick up a spare for the more remote trips.

VegasE

Like most tires, the rubber on compact spares is only rated for 6-8 years due to deuteriation. P.S. the cause of my flat yesterday was damage to the inner sidewall so a kit/pump would not be useful. A runflat would have taken me to the nearest exit to wait more comfortably for a tow because the sidewall was a puncture and a runflat would still have been driveable but I was way more than 50 miles from a tire store, assuming I could find one on Sunday. Fortunately, my leak was slow enough to let me get to an exit to change the tire.

mellonc

I have a DEF tank too and I hate the run flats. I use the Tire Kit and use regular tires now.

kajtek1

My note about fitting full size spare into compact spare compartment was for W211 chassis.
The compact spare I carry in W212 sits in the trunk. Last time when we packed the car with stuff (we still have some stuff left in California) - I put spare into garbage bag and it fit nicely behind driver seat- not taking much space.
I ditto Vegas comments that waiting for road assistance is not for everybody.
Driving between San Francisco and Las Vegas - you will find areas where closes tire shop can be 100 miles and good luck with them carrying the tire model you need. Are you prepared to wait 3 hr for tow truck in 114F heat?
Still remember back in year 2000 I was visiting Las Vegas with our ML320. Got flat coming back from Great Canyon and having compact spare, made it back to the City 3 hr later than planned (55mph limit on spare and in those years in AZ I kept 100 mph).
So back in Las Vegas, I start searching for new tires for ML. Even the size was popular and available, MB recommends H-rated speed (ML had 115mph governor) and nobody in whole Las Vegas had such tire on stock.
Good thing I was on week-long vacations and could wait 3 days for new tires. Can you?
BTW, compact spares have much thicker rubber on them and spending their life in shade are rated for 9 years. They will probably last longer, but if you find 15 yo spare for your car, better get new tire.

SEC1939

Compact seems like the way to go. New non-run flats were put on yesterday. Big difference in the ride. Having come out of a W211 non sport my new W212 sport with RF was a big change in ride. New rubber brings it a bit closer to what I like. Thanks to all for the helpful thoughts and comments.