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A Spare Tire Question...

Buffalo Bob

Buffalo Bob

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Arizona & Washington
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Pure AWD 19"/ Lexus SC
I recently bought an EV SportLine spare tire and jack/lug tool kit. A year or so ago, an Air owner had a flat during a small group road rally, and another driver and I waited while he put on his spare. I don't recall what brand spare/kit he had, but I watched in disbelief as he was jacking up the car using the kit's yellow scissor jack ratchet. He was doing everything right, and nothing appeared to be under any undue strain, but that yellow jack ratchet just slowly failed under the car's weight. It looked to me as though the failure point was the yellow plastic and internal/surrounding metal, and not the ratchet mechanism itself. Fortunately, another owner had a similar looking jack ratchet, and his got the job done. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and if so, with what brand? If it's an at all common problem, I would rather buy a more robust ratchet now rather then be wondering if that odd failure point might leave me stranded. Thanks!
 
Maybe check the load rating of the jack? Rule of thumb is 75% of the weight of the vehicle. EV’s are heavy!
 
Bonanzajohn said:
I have a spare tire and wheel for a Lucid Air that I no longer need , having moved up to the Gravity. It fits nicely in the bottom of the frunk. If anybody wants it make me an offer.
[email protected]
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Same wheel can be used on the Gravity, with a bigger tire.
 
Saksak said:
Maybe check the load rating of the jack? Rule of thumb is 75% of the weight of the vehicle. EV’s are heavy!
Click to expand...

To clarify, the failure was the scissor jack ratchet and not the scissor jack itself. That said... Since the supplied jack is a Wagenheber (German) brand, my guess is that the 2.0T noted on the jack represents tonnes (metric), and not tons (imperial). That would translate to a rated 4,409.2 pounds vs. my Pure AWD's 4,988 pound curb weight (as stated in the owner's manual), or 88.4%. Looks like it meets the 75% minimum you mentioned, even if it's tons instead of tonnes.
 
Buffalo Bob said:
I recently bought an EV SportLine spare tire and jack/lug tool kit. A year or so ago, an Air owner had a flat during a small group road rally, and another driver and I waited while he put on his spare. I don't recall what brand spare/kit he had, but I watched in disbelief as he was jacking up the car using the kit's yellow scissor jack ratchet. He was doing everything right, and nothing appeared to be under any undue strain, but that yellow jack ratchet just slowly failed under the car's weight. It looked to me as though the failure point was the yellow plastic and internal/surrounding metal, and not the ratchet mechanism itself. Fortunately, another owner had a similar looking jack ratchet, and his got the job done. Has anyone else had a similar experience, and if so, with what brand? If it's an at all common problem, I would rather buy a more robust ratchet now rather then be wondering if that odd failure point might leave me stranded. Thanks!
Click to expand...
The jack that failed came with the SportLine, the jack that worked came with the EZ Spare. Even though the EZ Spare jack worked, it seemed a bit lightweight for the Air. After seeing this, I bought a heavy duty jack from Amazon to replace the jack that came with the EZ Spare.
 
Adnillien said:
The jack that failed came with the SportLine, the jack that worked came with the EZ Spare. Even though the EZ Spare jack worked, it seemed a bit lightweight for the Air. After seeing this, I bought a heavy duty jack from Amazon to replace the jack that came with the EZ Spare.
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Now I'm really confused. As the other person there, did you change out BOTH the scissor jack and the ratchet? I thought you only brought out your ratchet. Are you saying that it was a failure of the jack that led to the failure of the ratchet?
 
Buffalo Bob said:
Now I'm really confused. As the other person there, did you change out BOTH the scissor jack and the ratchet? I thought you only brought out your ratchet. Are you saying that it was a failure of the jack that led to the failure of the ratchet?
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It was the Sportline ratchet that failed, not the Sportline jack. We switched to the EZ Spare jack and ratchet. Even though it worked, I was not happy with the capacity of the EZ Spare jack. It was good to try on someone else's car but I am much more confident in the jack that I have now.
 
Adnillien said:
It was the Sportline ratchet that failed, not the Sportline jack. We switched to the EZ Spare jack and ratchet. Even though it worked, I was not happy with the capacity of the EZ Spare jack. It was good to try on someone else's car but I am much more confident in the jack that I have now.
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Ah. Thanks for clarifying. Do you recall the weight rating of both your old EZ Spare jack and the replacement you bought? At a rating of 88.4% of my car's curb weight, I figured my EV Sportline's two tonne jack was adequate, although one with a three tonne rating would certainly be better.
 
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Adnillien said:
It was the Sportline ratchet that failed, not the Sportline jack. We switched to the EZ Spare jack and ratchet. Even though it worked, I was not happy with the capacity of the EZ Spare jack. It was good to try on someone else's car but I am much more confident in the jack that I have now.
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Which one did you end up buying?
 
As the OP, my net takeaway is... Even if nobody else reports the EV Sportline ratchet failure problem that I observed, I am going to replace the ratchet that came with my EV Sportline kit with a more robust one. I figure the added peace of mind is well worth around $20. Further, if you are thinking of buying an EV Sportline spare tire, you may want to forgo buying the $60.46 (plus tax & shipping) tool kit, and instead buy a larger 2.5 - 3.0 tonne jack, along with a more robust ratchet and tire iron.
 
Buffalo Bob said:
Ah. Thanks for clarifying. Do you recall the weight rating of both your old EZ Spare jack and the replacement you bought? At a rating of 88.4% of my car's curb weight, I figured my EV Sportline's two tonne jack was adequate, although one with a three tonne rating would certainly be better.
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I purchased this 3 ton jack. I have not had a need to use it yet.

Amazon.com: New Version Car Jack Kit Scissor Jack for Car 3 Ton 6614 lbs Spare Tire Changing Kit,Portable Tire Jack Repair Kit with Lug Wrench,Car Lifting Jack for Auto/SUV/MPV : Automotive

Buy New Version Car Jack Kit Scissor Jack for Car 3 Ton 6614 lbs Spare Tire Changing Kit,Portable Tire Jack Repair Kit with Lug Wrench,Car Lifting Jack for Auto/SUV/MPV: Scissor Lift Jacks - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
 
Adnillien said:
I purchased this 3 ton jack. I have not had a need to use it yet.

Amazon.com: New Version Car Jack Kit Scissor Jack for Car 3 Ton 6614 lbs Spare Tire Changing Kit,Portable Tire Jack Repair Kit with Lug Wrench,Car Lifting Jack for Auto/SUV/MPV : Automotive

Buy New Version Car Jack Kit Scissor Jack for Car 3 Ton 6614 lbs Spare Tire Changing Kit,Portable Tire Jack Repair Kit with Lug Wrench,Car Lifting Jack for Auto/SUV/MPV: Scissor Lift Jacks - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
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Currently unavailable :oops:
 
I just checked out my kit and I do have the EV Sportline tire and jack. Since the whole idea of this spare is to prevent me from getting stranded somewhere (full disclosure: I also have a tire repair kit in the frunk as well. Belt and suspenders), I think I am going to spring for a heftier jack.

(several minutes later....)

But now that I think about it, perhaps all I need is a better ratchet--maybe I can get away with a socket wrench that fits the jack. I could even carry that along with the original ratchet as a backup option.
 
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borski said:
I have not tried this specifically, but have had bad luck with VEVOR products in general. It may be totally fine - just make sure to carefully check out reviews. It's Amazon, though, so at least a decent return policy.

Purely anecdotal.
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The rating for the Vevor is 4.2 stars, but who knows if it's real or bot-generated.
I'm now considering the SEESII jack which is appealing because it's cordless. But there's no review yet!
There's also a low-profile (4.7' vs the standard 6.1') corded TaskStar with 2 reviews.
 
Buffalo Bob said:
...but the ratchet sure looks an awful lot like the one that broke.
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Oh, really? I wasn't on that trip.
They're both from the same company.
 
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