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One of my (work) partners turned up today to borrow SWMBO's Disco to go and collect her punctured MX5 wheel. Turned out she had had a puncture on the way home from a night out with a friend (who was in the car). She took off the shiny alloy and put on the spacesaver only to find that the alloy would not fit in the boot. Neither would it fit in the car with the passanger - anyway despite being only a few weeks old it was filthy (brake dust, grime and general cr*p) and certainly would have sullied the lovely interior of her car. Fortunately a knight in shining plastic found her outside his house and let her keep the wheel there (this was at 0100 in the drizzle and dark). So she was off to get it and repair it. Makes you think though.....! Never thought I would hear the F word and MX5 in the same breath, let alone from her, whom I have never heard utter an oath in 10 yrs. By the way she blames me, yes me. I had an idea last year that everyone in the Office who drives in work time should go to the local tech for a basic mechanics course...had she not been she would have called the RAC. See you just can't win.
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What's good about them?
The save a bit of space, and have to be replaced asap.
I'm sure it has been voiced before that the s/s tyre is a great saftey feature for the compulsory replacement reason: too many spares languish in the boot for 4-5 years, deteriorating, and are frankly bl**dy unsafe when/if eventually used!
And what's bad about them?
Well won't take a full-size (as above)
Most forecourt pumps won't generate enough pressure for them.
50 mph top speed. (Try that here, when you are stuck miles from anywhere!)
So why do the manufacturers bother? Space saver or money saver?
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Definite penny pinching, Subaru sell the Legacy outback here with a space saver....but in Australia while it originally started life with a space saver it quickly got a full size spare....funnily enough it fitted in the spare wheel well. The Australian reviews and public panned it due to the space saver....not a lot of use 400km of dirt road from anywhere
Ian L.
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Ian
Not dirt roads, but the limited speed and distance capability of the space savers has always been my concern, especially when we had a Saab with a space saver. I visualised the puncture at the start of the holiday. Perhaps heading for an early ferry and being faced with a loaded car and a long trip at 5am or similar. I'm afraid I'd want, under any circumstances, to bolt on a spare that had the same capabilities as the original wheel and tyre.
If they really must save money do what many makers do - supply a steel spare wheel instead of an expensive alloy.
Regards
john
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John,
That is exactly what Subaru (Australia) were forced to do, my Outback had 4 nice alloys on show and a nice sturdy fully sized steel spare in the boot.
Mind you on some trips I would have preferred 4 steel wheels on show as well but somehow I managed to avoid damage and punctures....I still dont really know how I managed this!
Ian L.
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Penny pinching. I had a look in the back of a new Ford the other day, can't remember if was a Galaxy or Focus but it had a skinny space saver in a full sized spare wheel well.
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Stats say that, on average, a puncture happens every 70,000 miles or so. So why not dump the spare and treat a flat as your run of the mill breakdown?
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Was the boot full of other stuff then ? When I punctured a couple of years ago the offending wheel/tyre fitted into the MX5 boot no problem. OK, mine is a Mk1 MX5 but I didn't think the Mk2 models had a smaller boot.
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I think its down to the wider wheels on the Sports - the mood she was in I handed her the Disco keys and didn't ask too many questions - if you knew her you wouldn't either. (I know she visits this site now and again !)
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Should have bought an MG TF!!!
Full size spare fits, no problem....
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Now that is one seriously bad car,should have been drowned at birth.
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Space savers are also weight savers. You can easily pick up a space saver with one hand not so a real tyre. This could easily be 5-10 kg which over the lifetime of a car equates to quite a lot of fuel. It's an easy way to save fuel for something you are likely to use once or twice in a cars lifetime.
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I'm surprised the Government hasn't decreed that all cars have to be fitted with skinny tyres to prevent speeding...although that would eliminate all the money thay get from speed cameras and so on...
Andy
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Andy
Skinny tyres = less drag = more speed = more camera revenue
Alternatively
Skinny tyres = less drag = greater economy = less fuel duty
Wait for the Government compromise:
Skinny tyres at one end, fatties on the other?
Regards
John
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"Skinny tyres at one end, fatties on the other?"
Like Mercedes-Benz Type W.163? WHOOOOPEEE!!!
Actually Toad-san (Supra TT) has different tyre sizes, so if they had not provided a space saver spare how could they have known which size spare to provide?
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That's interesting - many cars have different tyre sizes front and rear with or without differing wheel widths but usually the same wheel diameter.
example - BMW M5 ( Oh no, here he goes again, I hear you say....)
front wheels 8X18 - tyre 235/40*
rear wheels 9X18 - tyre 245/35*
(* or similar)
However, I remember the TVR Griffith having not only different size tyres but also wheels - the front were 15inch alloys and the rears were 16inch.
Not much point carrying a spare then I suppose, ......where's that can of punture repair foam?
Chad.R
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