Mel Cooke, STAR Writer

It is a dark night on a lovely road. You are driving merrily along, then you hit a particularly nasty pothole and, although you feel your bones shake with the impact you tell the car hush and keep driving.

Not for long, though - the vehicle begins to handle ominously differently than in those carefree pre-pothole moments and you get that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach.

It matches the sinking sensation of the vehicle you are piloting because it does have a flat.

Not to worry, you have the tyre-changing thing down pat. You have the jack, the lug tool and the technique. All you need to do is get the damaged tyre off and the spare on. Which would work quite fine if the spare was up to scratch, but it is not. A single touch and it sinks.

You have a problem.

The time of day might change or the cause of the damaged tyre, but it does not matter much when you find yourself short of a spare tyre because you did not check on it as part of your regular vehicle maintenance. Because it is just that - a spare - many motorists do not pay it much attention until they need it. Then, if it is not in good condition, you are really in trouble.

There are a few things about the spare tyre to keep in mind, which will ensure that you do not end up in a lonely place wondering what you are going to do with two damaged tyres.

1. Always check your spare tyre as you do the ones on the vehicle. You would not drive with a soft tyre on the vehicle for very long and neither should you carry around a spare that is leaking. Although a 'slow leak' cause tyres to lose air a little at a time, it eventually adds up to a lot. Check the pressure in your spare tyre as you would the one on the vehicle, and keep it firm.

2. Have a good spare tyre. For some people, the spare is the worst of the bunch they have. But if the spare tyre is well worn, then it increases the possibility that it will get damaged when it is on the vehicle. If this happens, you are back to square one. Additionally, the police and traffic inspectors do not give two hoots about you using a spare if they stop you and your vehicle has on a bad tyre. So, to be on the safe side in more ways than one, have a good spare.

3. Change the 'donut' if you can. Many cars come with a little tyre called a 'donut', for which there is always a warning about not driving above a particular speed. These little tyres affect the vehicle's handling significantly, especially if it is on the front. It is wise to get a full-sized spare. It does not have to be fancy - a 'coal-pot' rim will do quite fine. It is not supposed to be on for long, anyway.

4. Apart from monitoring the spare's pressure, take it out at regular intervals and have the rim greased. This greatly decreases the chance of a leak, plus the close inspection will reveal flaws that may be otherwise overlooked.

5. Keep the area where the tyre is clean. Especially for tyres in the trunk of the vehicle, there can be a tendency to throw various items close to them, which may be sharp enough to damage the tyre. For older vehicles especially, a missing drain plug in the trunk could let in water which rusts the rim and causes a slow leak. And for those cars with the tyre stored underneath the vehicle, dirt and water can cause similar damage or an object on the road can damage the rim.

By taking these precautions and sparing a thought for the spare, the driver will significantly decrease their chances of sitting by the roadside looking at a car with two damaged tyres and asking themself, 'what now?'