Not even a space saver any more?

[redlig]

Been like this for 15-20 years.

Many cars come without a spare, not even a wheel saver.

My Yeti from new came only with a canister of gunk, a mini tow bar, locking wheel nut, jack and a tyre inflator, that's it.

No room for any spare, to do that and keep it undercover I would have to gut the boot, it's doable and I really ought to.

Hate driving without a spare but would go for full size not a wheel saver.

Tyre gunk ruins what might be a perfectly good tyre.

Both my Yeti's have been fitted out with a false floor and a space saver plus jack , spanner and extension tube with no noticeable loss of boot space .
Also have a full sized spare to throw in the back for longer journeys.

 

[Bobupndown]

Are the space savers sitting in the boot luggage space then or do those cars have a well to stow them away?

That's the downside of adding a space saver after the fact. It's still a large ugly thing to have taking up cargo space.

I am leaning towards a full spare wheel for my car & not a space saver. If I have to carry it in sight then it may as well be a proper wheel.

No they have proper wheel wells, boots are small enough on those to start with.

 

[JOEPRO]

No they have proper wheel wells, boots are small enough on those to start with.

Interesting, so it must have been an option that wasn't picked or a PO took them out

 

[Ubique]

The irony is many cars are fitted with a 'space saver' plus a bit of foam to take up the gap that a full size wheel & tyre would need, therefore making it a 'cost saver' - some do supply the compressor & slime in lieu of any kind of spare as a weight saver to scrape through emissions & mpg ratings - same reason for using aluminium subframes, bolts and other low weight parts - if they can shave a few grammes here and there, the mpg and emissions figures will meet the EU spec.

 

[Bobupndown]

Interesting, so it must have been an option that wasn't picked or a PO took them out

No both came with a custom foam insert with a pump and tin of goo, no jack or wheelbrace.

 

[Mark 5]

Both my Yeti's have been fitted out with a false floor and a space saver plus jack , spanner and extension tube with no noticeable loss of boot space .
Also have a full sized spare to throw in the back for longer journeys.

Yes, mine has a boot floor that can be lifted to reveal tools but no wheel well, without alterations.

I want a full size 17" wheel, if I want to carry it under boot floor I need to raise it.

Actually getting hold of a single used 17" alloy for the Yeti is proving difficult, for sensible money that is, loads of space savers but don't want one of them.

And the used alloys I've seen on the likes of eBay, expensive and pretty beaten up.

I'll keep looking and throw it in the back until I sort the well.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

I am leaning towards a full spare wheel for my car & not a space saver. If I have to carry it in sight then it may as well be a proper wheel.

I'm also thinking of going this route too....but I'd quite like the wheel to be tied down so will need to do a little research I think.

 

[Red'n'Black]

I was checking for emergency equipment in my new to me 2017 W205 Merc daily driver and noted this:

View attachment 472918

Cars used to come with a full sized spare wheel or alloy in boot. Then they moved to space saver wheels which still work of course but limit your speed, can live with that. But now manufacturers are providing only a jar of liquid and inflater(?) Seems like the industry is going backwards.

Most likely in the name of cost savings for manufacturers, curb weight reduction = better emissions on paper and clueless consumers.

Speaking of which, the previous owner of my car must have used the one time liquid puncture repair and been driving around with nothing for who knows how long. (There should be an MB tyre inflater and puncture bottle in there but it's missing)

I will sort this today with provisions to not get caught out! I will also go to a local MB parts yard soon and see if I can get a spare full size alloy wheel or at least a space saver that I can throw in the boot for long journeys such as Cork which is a 550 mile round trip we do a couple times a year. A damaged sidewall or cracked alloy would leave you stranded even with a bottle of smoo it won't fix that!

Mrs RnB's last car, an 08 plate Citroen, was like that.

I've never known a car like it for slow punctures, I think the alloys had gone porous or something, none of the various tyre places we tried ever managed to fix it.
The compressor supplied with it was the chapest nastiest thing they could find, it would nearly melt pumping up a wheel from flat. It died after a year or so, carried a footpump around instead after that.

Then one Sunday afternoon, come back to the car and one of the rears is flat as a pancake, piece of shrapnel lodged in the sidewall. Called out the AA (back in the days when they'd attend in less than 6 hours). He rummaged in his van, found a wheel with the right stud pattern, and came with me to the only tyre place still open while they fitted a new one.

Absolute farce just to save a few quid in manufacture. Another reason most of the fleet is now 20+ years old. Her current daily driver is a 2013 Kia, that has a full size spare in a cradle, which has saved our bacon a couple of times.

 

[awemawson]

So that's yet another vote for keeping my 24 year old Discovery 2. The (full size proper wheel) is bolted to the rear door - ok it makes the door heavy to open & close but at least it's there.

I've very rarely had to use the spare in all these years but at least I had one on the last occassion going the the funeral of a friend when time was extremely short . (fun changing a heavy tyre on the side of the road in your best black suit and white shirt with cuffs )

 

[Bobupndown]

Yes, mine has a boot floor that can be lifted to reveal tools but no wheel well, without alterations.

I want a full size 17" wheel, if I want to carry it under boot floor I need to raise it.

Actually getting hold of a single used 17" alloy for the Yeti is proving difficult, for sensible money that is, loads of space savers but don't want one of them.

And the used alloys I've seen on the likes of eBay, expensive and pretty beaten up.

I'll keep looking and throw it in the back until I sort the well.

Full size steel wheels would be available for these.

 

[Ubique]

So that's yet another vote for keeping my 24 year old Discovery 2. The (full size proper wheel) is bolted to the rear door - ok it makes the door heavy to open & close but at least it's there.

I've very rarely had to use the spare in all these years but at least I had one on the last occassion going the the funeral of a friend when time was extremely short . (fun changing a heavy tyre on the side of the road in your best black suit and white shirt with cuffs )

L319, L320, L322 & L405 along with later models all have the ability to carry a full-sized spare, if that's your only justification for continuing to suffer a L318, then maybe look at some of them as a better alternative?

 

[redlig]

Yes, mine has a boot floor that can be lifted to reveal tools but no wheel well, without alterations.

I want a full size 17" wheel, if I want to carry it under boot floor I need to raise it.

Actually getting hold of a single used 17" alloy for the Yeti is proving difficult, for sensible money that is, loads of space savers but don't want one of them.

And the used alloys I've seen on the likes of eBay, expensive and pretty beaten up.

I'll keep looking and throw it in the back until I sort the well.

As a" get you out of trouble" does it actually matter if you have an alloy wheel or would a steel one of the same size be sufficient as I have ?

 

[redlig]

Full size steel wheels would be available for these.

They are !

 

[Mark 5]

As a" get you out of trouble" does it actually matter if you have an alloy wheel or would a steel one of the same size be sufficient as I have ?

No it doesn't as long as the steel fits a a 225/50/R15 tyre.

At one point I was thinking of changing all the alloys for steel, never happened.

 

[Mark 5]

Full size steel wheels would be available for these.

Thanks.

 

[Bornfree]

Did a mot prep on a navara at work and one tyre was damaged so I put the full size steel spare wheel on. Got a call from the mot station saying we have had to fail the navara because of a different sized wheel. I cannot remember the exact sizes but it was something like 275-60 r18 on the alloys and 275-75 r16 on the steel. Why ?

 

[JOEPRO]

Did a mot prep on a navara at work and one tyre was damaged so I put the full size steel spare wheel on. Got a call from the mot station saying we have had to fail the navara because of a different sized wheel. I cannot remember the exact sizes but it was something like 275-60 r18 on the alloys and 275-75 r16 on the steel. Why ?

I believe for MOT the tyres should be the same size on an axle. So yes a car would fail with a spare tyre fitted if that spare tyre is a different size to the other tyre on the same axle.

Cars of course can have staggered tyres front and rear and those are OK since they match on the same axle. @doubleboost may be able to offer more input here

 

[Bornfree]

I believe for MOT the tyres should be the same size on an axle. So yes a car would fail with a spare tyre fitted if that spare tyre is a different size to the other tyre on the same axle.

Cars of course can have staggered tyres front and rear and those are OK since they match on the same axle. @doubleboost may be able to offer more input here

Yes I understand the fail but why would manufacturers put a different size wheel/ tyre on the spare when it's full sized.

 

[doubleboost]

I believe for MOT the tyres should be the same size on an axle. So yes a car would fail with a spare tyre fitted if that spare tyre is a different size to the other tyre on the same axle.

Cars of course can have staggered tyres front and rear and those are OK since they match on the same axle. @doubleboost may be able to offer more input here

Space saver fitted is a fail that is a specific fail .
Different size tyres on the same axles is also a fail .
But for a different reason .

 

[jsf55]

Not forgetting that the space saver needs to be fitted too the non driven wheels, i.e. rear on a front wheel drive car, how this is interpreted on a 4 wheel drive i don't know