O caveat emptor !

[Gary in Aus]

In 2010 I purchased for my 20 year old daughter a new Mitsubishi Colt {similar to Honda Jazz} as she has moved to Canberra to complete her Science/law degree at ANU.

 

One of the front tyres has sustained some damage from her driving ability and the kerb, so I took it into have it replaced. I asked the tyre dealer to replace the damaged tyre on the front ,put the new spare on the front and the other front tyre with about 12,000 kilometres on it would become the spare . and of course another wheel alignment.

 

This little car is front wheel drive so front wheels do most of the work.

 

While waiting and having a coffee ,the tyre dealer told me they couldn't do this as the car was fitted with a spacesaver spare wheel.

 

I hadn't even given this a thought when purchasing the car {our Audi A6 ,Subaru Forester and Holden Rodeo all come standard with a full size spare wheel, same as what is on the car.}

 

We had a look at the spacesaver wheel and written on the side is a maximum speed of 80 kilometres per hour and a maximum distance of 150 kilometres after which the tyre is unseviceable and must be replaced to maintain vehicle insurance.

 

Except for the 6 or 7 major centres in Australia most tyre dealers are often more than 150 kilometresz apart and finding a tyre dealer open after Saturday morning to Monday morning is a matter of faith.

 

I asked the dealer if he had a spare wheel rim to fit the Mitsubishi {car has 4 x alloy wheels } and he had a steel wheel to suit . So my plan is to now fit two new tyres to the front and the replaced good front tyre is to go onto the steel full sized rim to replace the spacesaver spare.

 

Good plan so far but the full size wheel won't fit into the hole for the spacesaver wheel !

 

S I have just said "well it can lay on the boot floor"

 

The boot/hatch area from the back of the rear seat to the hatch is about 50mm shorter than the diameter of the spare wheel ,so the wheel would not lay flat of the floor of the boot.

 

The tyre dealer {not to be beaten} had some high density rubber that he cut into two wedges ,which allowed the wheel to stand vertically in the boot and he used two occy straps that clipped simply to luggage retaining points and the wheel is now held vertically in place behind the seat. He even had a plastic cover to cover the wheel. Good tyre dealer.

 

So she now has a full size spare and a spacesaver spare.

 

Reason for the story.

 

Don't assume you have a full size spare.

 

Work out where you are going to put your flat tyre when you have to use your spacesaver if they don't fit in the hole.

 

Two stories in support ,a good friend with three fellow hockey players travelled from Dubbo to Wollongong on a Sunday evening ,about a 5 1/2 hour drive with the three passengers sharing the flat rear tyre of his Lexus on their laps as they couldn't fit it into the boot.

 

Coming back from a surf carnival at Coffs harbour ,returning to Thirroul with a friend in his AMG M series , flat tyre about an hour after leaving , had room to fit flat tyre in boot but only had space saver for te remaining 7 hour drive home .

 

Rained all the way home and the traction control kept coming on so we turned it off. Try driving a car with that much power/torque in torrential rain with three very wide tyres and one very skinny one, slippery roads and no traction control.

 

We considered it very dangerous.

 

Apparently some brands give you the option of purchasing a full size spare as an extra but the vehicles mentioned don't even provide a space to put a full size spare anyway.

 

The spacesaver may be a good idea in areas such as Europe or the US where services aren't that far apart but they are a pain in the arse for us.

[szurszewski]

I couldn't tell you the last modern car I've had or even seen which had room for a full sized spare (cars mind you - all the SUVs and trucks I've had featured full sized spares), but I'd honestly never thought about where I'd put the full sized flat if my trunk were full.

[Quinn]

I've got a full sized spare in my Jeep Cherokee because it's required for AWD and ABS.

 

Might be a good time to mention that you need to check the air pressure in your spare; nothing worse than putting on a second flat tire by the side of the road.

 

---

 

 

[SuperG]

...The spacesaver may be a good idea in areas such as Europe or the US where services aren't that far apart but they are a pain in the arse for us...

 

Well Gary, this short quote from your post just sums it up.

You are right. It depends where you live.

In the past 5 years. I did not need to pull the mini-spare out of my car , and only one time out of my wife's car. Both cars have 100,000+miles now.

So all this time hauling a full size spare around and taking valuable trunk space not a good trade off.

On the other hand if I would live where you are ( as you mention: "most tyre dealers are often more than 150 kilometresz apart") I would carry one full size spare or may be two if you are driving out to "the sticks".

As they say it in the Navy

"two is one...one is none"

Good day mate

[Nice n Easy Rider]

The tyre dealer {not to be beaten} had some high density rubber that he cut into two wedges ,which allowed the wheel to stand vertically in the boot and he used two occy straps that clipped simply to luggage retaining points and the wheel is now held vertically in place behind the seat. He even had a plastic cover to cover the wheel. Very Good tyre dealer.

I've corrected it for you.

[Lmar]

Some of the new vehicles including my 2011 BMW have Run flat tires. Therefore no spare.

[SuperG]

Some of the new vehicles including my 2011 BMW have Run flat tires. Therefore no spare.

 

Want to run that in Australia, when the paved road ends?