First flat in 2005 FEH
 

Recommendation
Learn how to change your tires in your driveway.

Details
We where driving up to Sacramento yesterday and car comes up on drivers side pointing to our vehicle indicatiing that we have problem. Pulled over and found that we have flat left rear tire. Need to point out that is was raining during this time.

Got out the owners manual to find the jack, tire and procedure to change tire. To change the rear tires, you do not jack up the body. You insert the jack in front of the tire and engage the bump on the control arm. This is different that most vehicles that I have had to change. The procedure to raise the jack is not easily performed, you have two metal rods joined together in "T" pattern as you are raising the jack.

After had the tire raised off the ground, found that the tire did not want to come off (all the lug nuts where laying on the ground). Fiqured what the heck (hoping that vehicle would not come off jack), so pulled hard on the upper portion of the tire and it came loose. Installed replacement tire and headed off to find repair shop for tire.

Went to 3 Ford stores in SAC, the first did not seem to care if I was there, the second was having party and could not start service on the vehicle for 2 hours and the third took immediate action to remedy the problem.

They found that the tire had been punctured in center of tread, no object found in thread. Indicated that proper repair procedure is to patch the tire without using plug.

Interesting detail is that service writer noted difference in tire and they did not stock this tire in inventory.

Re: First flat in 2005 FEH
 

The LRR Conti is a hard to find tire. Conti does not list it on thier website and I think only Ford can get it.

They say LLR tires save between 1 and 1.5 MPG, so it is worth (to me) using them. As far as I know nobody else makes an LLR tire for the Escape.

Chris Brown

Re: First flat in 2005 FEH
 

Don't you have roadside assistance? If I were you I would just sit in the car and wait for those people to change for me, keep my hands and cloth clean, and ask them for two free gallons of gas too! :D

Why I changed tire
 

Was running late for meeting and did not have time to wait for AAA.

Issues with flat tires
 

The tire is Contitrack EcoPlus P235/70R16. Looks like the dealerships do not carry in stock the replacement tire for the FEH.

This tire is only available thru Ford stores. Thinking about putting full size spare tire on both of our vehicles.

Has anyone else addressed this issue?

Re: Issues with flat tires
 

I haven't yet (Wishfull thinking?), but there are some people here who have gone so far as to get replacement tires now, and therefore being safe in the event of such a disaster. Some have a full spare already on their vehicle, others have them in their garage.

Re: Issues with flat tires
 

Tires age pretty well. Used to be that aged tires had way better tread wear than new ones. I've been searching for ANY information about replacement low rolling resistance tires of any brand, and come up pretty empty. California has a study in progress, but I haven't found the results of the study yet...

Re: First flat in 2005 FEH
 

Will a full size spare even FIT under the car in the same space as the compact spare? My guess is, it will not! Otherwise your FEH would have came with a full size spare. In fact, it is my understanding, that the standard Escape comes with a full size spare, but due to the HV battery pack, there is no room for such a spare in the Hybrid.

Whatcha going to do? Carry it around behind your backseat? Or strap it on top?
Unless you live WAY out there, or go off-road a lot... seems like a waste of time, $, and space.

What about taking along a can of "fix-a-flat"? I use them on bikes all the time, but have not used on a car in probably 15 years. Not a substitute for a proper repair, but may get you by for the rest of your day, or whatever.
JMHO:angel:

Re: First flat in 2005 FEH
 

I can't confirm it yet, but I've read in a couple forum threads (not necessarily all here) that a full size spare will in fact fit on the FEH. Just because it doesn't ship with a full-size spare doesn't mean one doesn't fit. My 1992 Toyota Corolla didn't ship with a full size spare tire, standard; it was a paid option (and even then, the dealership tried to stiff us -- I had to return a week post-purchase to pick up my rightful full-size spare.)

Also, all Ford pickups and SUVs that I am aware of store the spare under the vehicle so the size and presence of the HV battery in the hybrid Escape has no bearing on the ability to hold a full-size spare. If anything about the hybrid constrains its spare tire stowage area, it's the coolant lines and such in that area of the vehicle -- the same thing that posed challenges for early adopters seeking a suitable tow hitch for their FEH's.

My sense is the "donut"/temporary spare was shipped with the FEH for two reasons -- cost-savings (cheaper tire) and weight savings (less weight). Even my father's 2005 Ford Mustang GT shipped with a "donut"/temporary spare rather than a full-size spare tire, btw.

Re: First flat in 2005 FEH
 

Hey GeekGal...

Yes... The HV battery DOES Indeed take up space in the cavity where the Full Size Spare should be. Now... is it too much space? Not sure. Because of the HV Battery, the spare DOES sit lower to the ground.

Crawl under there and take a look. A picture is worth 1000 words.
If a full size spare goes on there, it will hang down and show below your bumper.
If that's OK with you, then fine, go with it.

I'm also not 100% convinced a full size spare would actually fit properly, with the coolent line and everything. You may be able to gerry-rig it... but it won't be a factory type fit.