Another point I previously didn't bring up. So, my car didn't come with a spare tire. They include a somewhat fancy thing of fix-a-flat and a roadside assistance number. Saves money and weight for them, ups the MPG by some fractional percent. But with US regulation, they have to save ounces to meet the required numbers.
I'm planning on buying a full sized tire. It'd ride about 0.5 in or 0.75 in ish too high, but I was planning on tossing a thing of car insulation under the trunk mat. I hate donuts and always have. Only issue is that OEM wheel hubs are ridiciously priced ($600 per), so I'm taking my time watching eBay. No one buys them as replacements, even dealers recommend buying an entire new set for cheaper than a single replacement oEM unit. Ideal circumstance is someone messes up two and decides to recoup a couple bucks by selling the other two.
Jumper cables. The boxes are useless...always dead when you need them due to shitty batteries.
On the serpentine belt... Are you able to change your belt on the side of the road practically, especially if you drive a FWD car? Does it take special tooling like a serpentine belt wrench kit? If so forget the spare you're gonna be on the hook to get home anyway. Before you stock a spare of anything consider the practicality of it.
Also on the belts with the modern materials they are made of you can no longer rely on cracking as the wear/age indicator. It's now thickness. Gates will send you a gauge for free IIRC
Just keep in mind what you can and cannot do with a modern car on the side of the road when building your tools and spare kits. I wouldn't get too crazy beyond jumper cables, fuses, maybe bulbs, and so own and some very basic tools.
I have been tempted to swap out the normal battery for a known good battery.
I assumed the idea of including the belt was to hand to the mechanic after your car was towed. Or doing it at home. I'm not adverse to buying replacement parts I know I will need in advance of needing them. Big ticket items, not so much. But leisurely doing research, finding the best deal, etc is preferable to being at the mercy of whatever the shop has on hand, at whatever cost they'll be charging me and however it takes for them to get said part. If stored properly, belts don't degrade badly for quite some time. I've done the same for brake pads and whatnot.
Concur essentially on your last part. Couple screw drivers, allen wrenches, tape measure, maybe a socket set. Stuff I'm guaranteed to need at some point. Ditto your list of parts. Only deviation is I'm willing to purchase known consumables in advanced of needing them.
Agreed. Unless you've got an older car, even a modern pickup is a pain in the ass on the side of the road to fix. And honestly unless you're rolling high mileage you shouldn't need to be fixing serpentine belts etc on the side of the road.
A good and often overlooked tool is a battery brush. Contacts get nasty and you need to clean them on a camping trip in the middle of BFE...and can't find anything to use. A small box of baking soda too.
For the things you decide on for sure, a vacuum sealer is a great way to organize and protect the things you pack.
Battery brush should be enough. I'm leery of keeping a powder in the vehicle.
I mostly use ziplock bags. Not sure if vacuum sealed bags are reuseable out and about, but I'm happy with cheap, reliable, resealable plastic bags even at a bit of expense of space. Plus, I already had them.
I had the old style ginormous jump starters. Those batteries didn't last at all and I had to make sure to charge them before I went on any long trips. Not so with the new ones. Any time I take a road trip I top off the charger battery. It usually is done in 5-10 minutes because they drain so slowly. When the batteries died on my old 6.4L diesel truck, I tried the jump starter on it (I'd purchased one of the larger ones for that truck*) in the garage before I hooked a battery charger up. Started her right up, and I didn't top off the jumper battery first.
The problem with jumper cables is that you need another vehicle handy. If I leave my lights on at some of the places I offroad, I've got a long wait for another vehicle to come along. My new truck (and many new vehicles) has a "battery saver" function for bonehead moves like that, but I've never had to test it yet to see if it works.
On the tow straps, use the Harbor Freight rule: If it's something that can hurt you if it fails, buy it somewhere else. Get a way higher rating than you think you need.
* Rev- it's the NOCO 150, the big brother of the one in your link. I got it at nearly half price on a Lightning Deal.
Damn, will have to keep an eye out for a deal. I'd withdraw all my concerns with that amount of overkill. Also, why not get a cigarette lighter charger for the jump pack? I have two power ports in my vehicle and use it as a daily commuter. Can easily plug it in once a week to top off. I do that with my normal jump pack on Fridays after work. In-car charging is not something I'm comfortable with doing with my acid battery jump pack.
I concur with you for jump pack over jumper cables. It's a toss up. Both would be nice, but they both take up room.
I'll give it a shot, just take my time looking for a sale.
I used to do the "everything I can think of for any contingency" thing with a pile of stuff in the back. What I do now is kind of a modular approach. I leave the basic smaller car kit in the vehicles all the time, but then also have a couple of storage bins that go in depending on what I'm doing. One contains tools, tow strap and shackles, and other stuff that I might need offroad. The other is a "basic camping supplies" bin. Everything I need for a minimalist night or two out of doors, because sometimes on a road trip while I might plan on moteling it, I might hit a really cool campsite and decide to camp a night or two. The bins make for organized and clean storage of stuff I might or might not use.
I've already started doing this at home and at work. Walmart sells Sterilite clear plastic bins that I absolutely love. 7 quart containers are $2, 15 quart containers for $4. They have two latches. Not watertight, but 'secure enough' for moving around. I think I have bought nearly a hundred of them between home/work. It's friggin life changing.
Makes it incredibly easy to find stuff. Putting together the supplies for the trunk case took maybe five minutes. Just picked what I wanted from the bins, tossed in a ziplock bag, tossed into Pelican case.
For more sturdy water resistant containers, I usually use either of the following
http://www.mcmelectronics.com/browse/Weatherproof/0000001435http://www.mtmcase-gard.com/ammo-cans.phphttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TNV46O/I happened to have a Pelican case that I procured... somewhere and it was the right size. It was beat up and the client wanted rid of it because it didn't look professional. Works fine. Normally if I'm spending my own money, I don't buy Pelican. If it's not out of my wallet, I go with Pelican.
For lots of small things or specific projects, I go with Stanley bin cases. I mentioned them before and have a cart I use for their storage:
http://casper.im/project-PartsCart.phpDon't assume tow straps are safer than chains. I've seen them break, and they can be just as dangerous.
Ayep. I go overkill, inspect before usage and stay well under the limits. I don't mix my straps. The tow strap I use for pulling out shrubs and small trees is used exclusively for that. Car ones stay in the car.
I don't think the tow straps are needed for my commuter and I'm leaning against it. Definitely always have one in the truck.