Flat tire. No spare.

[Electrified Outdoors]

The obvious solution here is to buy both an R1S and an R1T. Then get one full size spare and keep it in the R1T ?

Seriously though a full size spare that can be included in the rotation would be great to have. Otherwise, most cars today don't come with any spare. So it's either those tire repair kits or a tow if it can't hold air.

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[redantpile]

I did not see if you said where the hole is located(not in sidewall) but I have been using plugs for many years. Most of the time I don't even remove the tire from the vehicle. Just start airing it up, pull out out the screw/nail, shove in the reaming tool and then push in the plug. Plugs are supposed to be temporary, but mine have always lasted the life of the tire as long as you cut them flush when done. They can allow compressed air to work its way between the layers of the tire. If I do one in the Rivian, I would/will get a patch later on since it has higher psi. There are plenty of plug kits available. It can be very tough to shove the tools in the tire so consider that based on your strength/age etc... Also the tire shop people have always told me those foam sealant cans ruin the inside of the tire. Meaning they cannot put in a patch so now you have to replace the tire instead of just a patch. Not sure how true that is though.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

After reading this forum for so long before even getting my truck, Jack Pucks were the first thing I ordered. Had 'em even before picking up the vehicle, LOL. ?

 

[LL75]

I had this happened a month ago with a nail. It deflated to 36 psi. I was able to pumped it up with the air compressor and drove to a mom and pop tire shop where they plugged it. I took it to discount tire few days later to have it properly patch.

Decided to buy a tires plug kit from Amazon since it literally took the guy 2 mins to fix. He didn't even unmount it.

 

[madgrey]

I carry one of these in the OTRs (other than Rivian) vehicles:
https://a.co/d/eY4e11V
Edit: It's just a patch kit... nothing special, but I've been able to use it successfully.

 

[texasBuzzard]

Went out to the garage Sun am and found R1S with right front tire flat. Really flat.
Since the compressed spare was removed from my build and is not yet available in the gear shop, I have no spare.
I called roadside assistance and they said to have it Towed to a Discount Tire, and they could fix it or replace it.
They could arrange towing for $50 and $.35 per mile…

Discount Tire closed on Sunday.
Reinflated tire with garage compressor and drove it to Discount Tire on Monday. They do not have jack pucks for it, so they can’t help until they or I get Jack pucks.
So- ordered some.
Will take 2-3 days for them to arrive.

Very annoying- but what if I was out on the road somewhere?

When I learned to drive my father said never leave home without a good spare, a jack and a lug wrench.
Technically, I didn’t leave home, but…
Ugh!

I have had several flats since getting my R1T last year. I had the same experience. Aired up tire, drove to discount tire, no pucks. The employee got frustrated and just threw the jack under one of the aluminum arms and took the tire off without asking. Stupid

I worked with the manager and he ordered several wheels he thought would fit. Went back a few days later WITH A PUCK of my own and they lifted it. Broke off the plastic puck cover, its gone.
Neither of the wheels he ordered fit. Huge waste of time. I eventually read on this website that an older dodge wheel would work. I bought it on ebay and it fits great. I then had discount tire mount a tire on it.

SINGLE 20 INCH RAM 1500 2009-2012 OEM GENUINE 2363. I don't see one on ebay now, probably all bought up by Rivian owners.

I then bought a universal spare holder that spans the center of the wheel on amazon. Took the bolt out of the storage compartment and bought a 6 inch with the same bolt pattern and put my new spare in it.

Finally I bought a jack with enough power to lift it and 4 pucks and lug wrench. Been a huge F-in hassle.

I had another flat the other day and tried the jack and it slowly fell sideways and failed.......

My father in law said the solution is AAA....I think he is correct. Only thing that worked was a huge floor jack with a puck......

Now on the Gear Shop they have a spare available to order soon (Otherwise, love the truck! Don't get me wrong)

 

[Gassious]

This morning, I was turning onto a major street getting ready to exit onto an interstate on-ramp. I suddenly heard a pop and almost instantly a warning came on to inflate my driver's side rear tire. I watch the tire pressure indicator go from 38 to 37 to 36 on down. It seemed to loose 1 psi every 3 seconds. I whipped a U-turn and limped into a Sinclair gas station about 50 feet away. Luckily a Discount tire was just 1/4 mile down the road but I had to somehow fill it up with enough tire pressure to get my R1S there.

I hooked up my R1S compressor to reinflate it. However, the compressor could not keep up with the pressure loss. I then used the TireJet tire sealant that came with the Rivian. After squeezing the pouch contents into the tire, I tried again to inflate the tire with the compressor. However the compressor was still not able to keep up with the pressure loss. Therefore, I gingerly drove over to the Sinclair tire compressor 3 parking spots away which had enough pressure for the sealant to work.

At Discount Tire, I was told that the hole could not be plugged because it was too big. When the service desk gentleman looked up a replacement tire, he said that my 22" OEM Pirellis ($469) have been discontinued. He said that Pirelli seems to be the one manufacturer that does this all the time. Luckily, there were two available at a city not to far away, and it will arrive in a couple days. I was offered a Discount Tire road hazard insurance ($357) for the new tire and the ones currently on the vehicle. The service desk gentleman said that if I have an issue where one tire is damaged, they will replace all of them if they are unable to get the same tire. I usually don't purchase tire insurance but in this instance it seem prudent.

My R1S is now sitting in my garage with my MagJaxx puck and Big Red Torin 10 ton bottle jack under it. Unfortunately, I don't have compatible Jack stands that will accept the pucks. Does anyone have any recommendation for stands?

BTW, the Discount Tire did not have pucks but luckily I did.

 

[TheCaDean]

Went out to the garage Sun am and found R1S with right front tire flat. Really flat.
Since the compressed spare was removed from my build and is not yet available in the gear shop, I have no spare.
I called roadside assistance and they said to have it Towed to a Discount Tire, and they could fix it or replace it.
They could arrange towing for $50 and $.35 per mile…

Discount Tire closed on Sunday.
Reinflated tire with garage compressor and drove it to Discount Tire on Monday. They do not have jack pucks for it, so they can’t help until they or I get Jack pucks.
So- ordered some.
Will take 2-3 days for them to arrive.

Very annoying- but what if I was out on the road somewhere?

When I learned to drive my father said never leave home without a good spare, a jack and a lug wrench.
Technically, I didn’t leave home, but…
Ugh!

The fact that Rivian ships without a spare is very disturbing. I too ordered the spare but they dropped it just days before delivery. very sad.

 

[jeeden]

I understand people are really attached to spares, but I don't actually want one. Unless I'm in the real back country off roading (where I would bring a spare and all kinds of gear) I would rather have the space in the vehicle..I also don't want me or anyone I love jacking up this heavy of a vehicle.on a small jack and trying to wrestle the heavy wheel around to change.

Even more... I don't want anyone I love on the side of the road doing this. "Never leave the house without a jack and spare" should be replaced with "never leave the house without a cell phone"

I'm curious why more people aren't using the sealant? This isn't the fix a flat out grandparents has. These sealants stay liquid and have clotting media in them. They are used on tubeless bicycles, watercraft hulls, vehicles etc. Other than a complete blowout and debeading you can seal any leak long enough to limp to a shop given enough sealant.

Can we coin the term "spare tire anxiety"?

 

[Rainman]

Thank you for posting this, I just ordered my pucks.

 

[Gassious]

I understand people are really attached to spares, but I don't actually want one. Unless I'm in the real back country off roading (where I would bring a spare and all kinds of gear) I would rather have the space in the vehicle..I also don't want me or anyone I love jacking up this heavy of a vehicle.on a small jack and trying to wrestle the heavy wheel around to change.

Even more... I don't want anyone I love on the side of the road doing this. "Never leave the house without a jack and spare" should be replaced with "never leave the house without a cell phone"

I'm curious why more people aren't using the sealant? This isn't the fix a flat out grandparents has. These sealants stay liquid and have clotting media in them. They are used on tubeless bicycles, watercraft hulls, vehicles etc. Other than a complete blowout and debeading you can seal any leak long enough to limp to a shop given enough sealant.

Can we coin the term "spare tire anxiety"?

I think that the sealant worked really well. In fact, while waiting at Discount Tire for the repair that didn't happen, I ordered a replacement on Amazon. When using it, you definitely have to have enough compressor pressure to compensate for the loss from the hole and the puncture has to be at or near the ground/tire contact since the sealant is gravity dependent. However, I'm ordering a spare when it is available. In my opionion, it offers much more peace of mind.

 

[Friscorays]

Please correct me if I am wrong, I was under the impression that the R1S cannot accept a full size spare like the R1T. We are forced to use the $400 donut if we want a spare, correct?

Yes, unless you want to be somewhat unorthodox.

 

[NY_Rob]

The fact that Rivian ships without a spare is very disturbing. I too ordered the spare but they dropped it just days before delivery. very sad.

I had the full size spare in my config from day one (which was Sept 30th 2021) and Rivian removed in Dec 2022, so my truck was delivered in Jan of 2023 without a spare.
Like others, I cobbled together a spare using a Dodge wheel from ebay and Firestone Winterforce tire, bottle jack and lifting puck, etc.... Being that none of the Rivian tires are stocked anywhere I feel it's vital to carry an onboard spare where feasible.

 

[NY_Rob]

I understand people are really attached to spares, but I don't actually want one. Unless I'm in the real back country off roading (where I would bring a spare and all kinds of gear) I would rather have the space in the vehicle..I also don't want me or anyone I love jacking up this heavy of a vehicle.on a small jack and trying to wrestle the heavy wheel around to change.

Even more... I don't want anyone I love on the side of the road doing this. "Never leave the house without a jack and spare" should be replaced with "never leave the house without a cell phone"

I'm curious why more people aren't using the sealant? This isn't the fix a flat out grandparents has. These sealants stay liquid and have clotting media in them. They are used on tubeless bicycles, watercraft hulls, vehicles etc. Other than a complete blowout and debeading you can seal any leak long enough to limp to a shop given enough sealant.

Can we coin the term "spare tire anxiety"?

Regarding the included tire sealant.... see post #23 above where the poster did try the sealant but the whole was too large so the sealant failed.

Without a spare and a failed sealant attempt- people have waited 2-3hrs for a flatbed, then another couple of hours for a shop to attempt a repair... and then be SOL because the tire is irreparable with no local replacement available as the tires Rivian uses are not common or in stock at tire shops. If they had a spare, the flatbed operator could have changed it for them and they would have been on their way vs. having to wait a day or two for a replacement tire to ship to the tire shop in some town away from home.

A phone is great, but it's not a replacement for a spare tire....

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

Like a few posters have said, a good plug kit and our Magnetic Jack Puck kit and a Torin Big Red 10T (as another poster said), will save people from a lot of headaches. Most nails, screws can be repaired with the wheel staying on the vehicle.

1. Put vehicle in Tire Change Mode
2. Use the 10T Big Red hydraulic bottle jack with one of our jack pucks and lift the wheel just enough off the ground to plug the tire.
3. Air with the onboard compressor
4. On your way.

If the flat is in the rear position, keep an RV jack plate or a piece of wood in your vehicle for a few extra inches of lift. I've done this once and my customers have done it a dozen times.

The best floor jack (HF 3T Daytona with 24 1/2" lift)!! Incredible.

Best jack stand for our R1 vehicles is below. 4T rating, flat on top for our MagJaxx Magnetic Jack Pucks. I'm down to my last couple of kits, but hundreds more will start shipping mid next week including Rivian Yellow .

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