Bottle jack will certainly be the most compact and you don't need a monster jack for one tire swap/fix. Maybe wood and a wedge of some sort for uneven ground.

When the time comes you can just wait on AAA or pay the freight and get it home and fix it there. Just part of the gamble I suppose.

Peace of mind always costs something.

Best answer, and that's how I roll too. I don't even bother carrying a spare in anything for any distance. Dead weight.

Only been bit once in probably 2 million miles, and it sure wasn't the end of the world: On another vehicle driven by a Family member it had a low tire, I had AAA show up, air up the tire, and I went and fixed it myself.

I plug all my tires at home, easy work.

I shake my head when I see Ebay E-body space-savers bid to $2500.00. What are you going to do with that $2500 spare, drive on it? I don't want to see that ugly thing everytime I open the trunk, taking up valuable beer space. I have like 3 of them useless things sitting in the same pile as my equally useless E-body frame tie-downs.

I've had good luck with the scissor jacks. A flat front tire can be too low to get the bottle jack under. Plus they're compact and lightweight.

Found this along with others. Many good reviews, however advise reading the extensive 2 star review posted by one skeptic.

http://smile.amazon.com/Pilot-Automotive-Q-HY-1500L-Electric-Jack/dp/B004G5A7NU/ref=cm_rdp_product

There are others both manual and electric. Option for some manuals to be run by your battery powered impact gun.

Of special note on electric jacks, what happens if you get it up and systems fail and you can't get it down. Push or drive it off the jack?

Why would you bother with a motorized one? Regular scissor jacks are cheap and easy to lift a car with. Get a used/junkyard one for next to nothing.

If you slime or fixaflat be prepared to pay extra when you take that tire in to get it repaired. That crap is a real mess and the tire shops do not appreciate trying to clean it out.

Worry worry worry. Maybe you should just pay a towtruck to follow you wherever you go.

The AAA card is good until you are either in a hurry or else driving where cell phone reception is spotty. That happens to me every time I go through Kayenta, AZ. Funny, Verizon has good coverage nearly everywhere else.........

So you plan to fix your tire by the side of the road...Good luck trying to fix some of my tires! I've been in situations where I could not stop for 1/4 mile or so, like on a 2-lane mountain road with a guardrail. By the time I pulled off, the tire had a few extra holes plus was smoking from all the friction. I was sure glad I had a spare.

There are some pretty tall temporary spares out there, and they can be had pretty cheap in most wrecking yards.

Sure Grips don't work well with odd size tires, good thing I don't have one. If I did, I'd have an identical diameter spare.

Oh, well, have a happy weekend! And don't forget to tip your towtruck driver!

R.

I carry a small aluminum floor jack, one of the cheap ones from Harbor Freight.
I also carry a quality plug kit(the rope type plugs, not the rubber ones), some quality glue and a bicycle air pump or small air tank.
And I never go anywhere without a good selection of tools.

If the above fails, I have AAA Plus, 100 miles free towing.

Fix a Flat works well on small pneumatic tires that leak down in days. I got tired of airing up the lawnmower, wheelbarrow, yard cart and hand truck tires every time I used them. Fix a Flat keeps them up for weeks instead of days, the quicker the tire leaked down, the bigger the shot I gave it.

get a spare and small scissors jack to limp it home.