Spare wheel and its retainer

gingherheed · Post by **gingherheed** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:45 am

I never understand people who want to put a normal sized wheel in the well.

The small wheel is for emergencies, it's lighter than a normal wheel and in the UK if you have a normal sized wheel it must be road legal on MOT day. If you do have a flat then it's also alot easier to change by the roadside as it's so light. All you have to do is drive a bit slower when it's fitted and go directly to a tyre fitter and get your road wheel repaired.

Easy peasy. Why change a masterpiece?

glasgowjim · Post by **glasgowjim** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:51 am

Yes the spare wheel cowling will only cover the emergency spare wheel.
I personally hate the damn things. So what I have done in my daughters car is buy a soft black vinyl spare wheel cover small size that they sell for 4x4s (spits on floor) then I take a normal wheel and cover it wih a large polythene bag as the rubber can smell a bit then put on vinyl cover and drop into place no problem at all the wheel does not look out of place or spoil he look of the car.

And think of it you could be 4/500 miles from home and get a flat would you want to crawl home on an emergency spare

I sure as hell wouldnt .

The only time my daughter had to use the emergency spare it failed as well on the journey home so I now use a proper tyre.

Son doesnt carry a spare but he only potters around at max 30 miles from home so a mobile phone call and its dad to rescue

And I use an emergency tyre just now but I only travel short distances from home if I where going any distance I would chage over the emergency for a proper spare wheel . Since I have o sort myself but for the rest of the family theres the dad's rescue service.

chriskay · Post by **chriskay** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:12 am

gingherheed wrote: in the UK if you have a normal sized wheel it must be road legal on MOT day.

The spare wheel is NOT part of the MOT test.

esta · Post by **esta** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:15 am

chriskay wrote:
gingherheed wrote: in the UK if you have a normal sized wheel it must be road legal on MOT day.
The spare wheel is NOT part of the MOT test.

yes, if there is no spare wheel, it cannot fail, HOWEVER if there is a spare wheel with poor tread, it WILL fail! (My MOT man told me that!

)

gltease · Post by **gltease** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 11:43 am

"And think of it you could be 4/500 miles from home and get a flat would you want to crawl home on an emergency spare

I sure as hell wouldnt ."

Crikey, not many tyre shops in Scotland then?

glasgowjim · Post by **glasgowjim** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:34 pm

last time a tyre went flat was middle of winter torrential rain high winds and 9 at night no tyre shops open then

funnily enough you never see anyone get a flat tyre next to a tyre shop .

then again you never see anyone dying of thirst near a pub / taverna

Iroll480 · Post by **Iroll480** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:00 pm

Remember that the standard spare wheel is an integrated part of Volvo's crash savity package. It is deliberatly placed diagonally there to help absorb crash energy when a car hits you from the back.

esta · Post by **esta** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:03 pm

Iroll480 wrote:Remember that the standard spare wheel is an integrated part of Volvo's crash savity package. It is deliberatly placed diagonally there to help absorb crash energy when a car hits you from the back.

VERY interesting!!

Iroll480 · Post by **Iroll480** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:11 pm

VERY interesting!!

That was a quick response Esta!
I would opt for an aerosol on board to inflate a flat tyre. That way you won't need to change the tyre along the roadside at all. And leave the spare tyre as is for savity kind.

gltease · Post by **gltease** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:30 pm

glasgowjim wrote:last time a tyre went flat was middle of winter torrential rain high winds and 9 at night no tyre shops open then

funnily enough you never see anyone get a flat tyre next to a tyre shop .

then again you never see anyone dying of thirst near a pub / taverna

And I would only ever see a scots man 500 miles from home at 9pm in the rain changing a tyre LOL

chriskay · Post by **chriskay** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:21 pm

esta wrote:
chriskay wrote:
gingherheed wrote: in the UK if you have a normal sized wheel it must be road legal on MOT day.
The spare wheel is NOT part of the MOT test.
yes, if there is no spare wheel, it cannot fail, HOWEVER if there is a spare wheel with poor tread, it WILL fail! (My MOT man told me that! )

Think your man's wrong, Esta. This from the AA website.
Spare tyre

There is no legal obligation to carry a spare tyre and it does not have to comply with the legal requirements while it is stowed away. However, when fitted to the vehicle (for example, following a puncture) it must then comply with the law. A spare tyre is not a testable item in the MOT test, though the examiner may draw your attention to an unserviceable item as a matter of courtesy.

esta · Post by **esta** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:25 pm

chriskay wrote:
esta wrote:
chriskay wrote: The spare wheel is NOT part of the MOT test.
yes, if there is no spare wheel, it cannot fail, HOWEVER if there is a spare wheel with poor tread, it WILL fail! (My MOT man told me that! )
Think your man's wrong, Esta. This from the AA website.
Spare tyre

There is no legal obligation to carry a spare tyre and it does not have to comply with the legal requirements while it is stowed away. However, when fitted to the vehicle (for example, following a puncture) it must then comply with the law. A spare tyre is not a testable item in the MOT test, though the examiner may draw your attention to an unserviceable item as a matter of courtesy.

well here is something the AA omitted:

If you do not cary a spare tyre you may not be eligeable for towing/may have to pay extra upon your breakdown policy

my friends Merc does not come with a spare, only some glue stuff (run flat stuff i think...) sadly his wheel got broke so obviously no glue would work! when the AA came they refused to tow him because he wsnt carrying a spare, and then they proceeded to agree if he paid them Ã‚Â£300. Thats on top of the full breakdown/recovery costs he was already paying!

pol · Post by **pol** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:27 pm

And I would only ever see a scots man 500 miles from home at 9pm in the rain changing a tyre LOL

No problem. You could always just walk 500 miles.

Ahem.

glasgowjim · Post by **glasgowjim** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:10 pm

funny guys

sulking scotsman kicks a passing haggis just for spite .

chriskay · Post by **chriskay** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 11:51 am

esta wrote:
well here is something the AA omitted:

If you do not cary a spare tyre you may not be eligeable for towing/may have to pay extra upon your breakdown policy

my friends Merc does not come with a spare, only some glue stuff (run flat stuff i think...) sadly his wheel got broke so obviously no glue would work! when the AA came they refused to tow him because he wsnt carrying a spare, and then they proceeded to agree if he paid them Ã‚Â£300. Thats on top of the full breakdown/recovery costs he was already paying!

Wow, that's a bit steep. I don't belong to the AA, but I suspect the wording is "spare wheel" rather than "tyre". Anyway, I'd have thought he'd have been covered under the 'recovery to home' section, assuming he had it. They would have just have put it on a flatbed.

Cheers, Chris.

chris1roll · Post by **chris1roll** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 2:02 pm

esta wrote:
chriskay wrote:
gingherheed wrote: in the UK if you have a normal sized wheel it must be road legal on MOT day.
The spare wheel is NOT part of the MOT test.
yes, if there is no spare wheel, it cannot fail, HOWEVER if there is a spare wheel with poor tread, it WILL fail! (My MOT man told me that! )

Well he is wrong.

Otherwise if i had 4 wheels in the boot from a trackday say, they would all have to be road legal. Absurd.

Bloody special spares are fooking shite, when I lived in town I damaged a wheel and put the special spare on, couldn't get out of my drive as the car was now riding too low.....and you can't do any more than 50 on them, when you are 300 miles from home that makes for an arduous journey.

Personally I think the thing about crash resistance due to the diagonal angle is a myth, or at least it is merely coincidental - the real reason the spare is there, and that its a special spare, is that there is nowhere else it will fit - look at the 440/460, full size spare, laid flat, as the space is now available.

petrol boy · Post by **petrol boy** » Sun May 03, 2009 8:58 pm

I have heard that the wheel was placed diagonal so in a crash it will not fly to the front of the car (easily). In the 440 and 460 the wheel almost can't leave the boot space (if the boot is closed and the back seats up). But the position in the 480 is just very handy because you can leave everything in your boot when you need the spare.

Maybe I'm wrong but isn't the speed limit on the spare to prevent damage to the dif. because of the different size. So if you have a flat on the rear there no problem but if its a front tyre just put the spare on the back and the back wheel on the front. That is if the spare tyre is in good nick. My tyre specialist told me this once and I guess it sounded pretty logical.

But the full size spare is still the better solution i guess. Specially when the route contains tons of speed bumps.

glasgowjim · Post by **glasgowjim** » Sun May 03, 2009 9:43 pm

The spare is held on by a big bolt and if all that stands between you and perdition is the safety tyre in the boot you are well fooked!

bkf_uk · Post by **bkf_uk** » Sun May 03, 2009 10:51 pm

Spares yuk hate them!! silly thing is yes my 440 has a full size spare but it's a bloody 14" not a 15" like all the alloys, and even if it where A 15" standard it still would be the wrong size (too narrow) as i have tarus alloys and there about 1" wider than the normal 440 alloys! would rather use an aresol. also the standard jack (although im not sure if it is the right one) wont fit under my 440, nor would a mini bottle jack (and i will not carry a trolley jack as thats just stupid!)

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Spare wheel and its retainer

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