I have 4 alloy wheels and a steel spare.
Suppose I have to use the spare. Is travelling any distance with one steel and one alloy on the same axle something that isn't worth thinking about, or is it the height of stupidity ?
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It won't matter.
Prepare for a deluge of "FT, you are giving dangerous advice", etc., replies.
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Assuming the wheels and tyres are the same size, then there's no issue. One possible problem is if the wheel bolts are different - some alloys are considerably thicker. The longer bolts could foul on parts behind the hub.
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...although hopefully a set of original alloys and the original spare should be OK...
:)
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You might very well think that....
I know there has been more than one MB owner who has ripped the handbrake shoes out of the small drum inside the rear disk after swapping from standard alloy to standard steel wheels without also changing the bolts over!
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Yikes! Hopefully the bolts are supplied with the spare steel wheel, with instructions (unless you mean owners who modify their cars by changing all the wheels to steel ones).
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>>Yikes! Hopefully the bolts are supplied with the spare steel wheel
Yes, there were, originally, special plastic trays with 5 bolts which fitted in the spare wheel holder.
This was fine when the cars were new, ...
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This was fine when the cars were new ...
Yes, those bolts get used up for purposes like stuffing them in the ends of breather hoses that have come off the engine when there isn't a spare spark plug to do the job...
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Yes, while the cars were new, and the manuals were still in the glovebox, and the bolts in their bright orange tray, all was well.
With no manual, and the bolts who knows where, it's easy to see how a mistake could happen.
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You got me thinking there, so I've just been down to the car to check
The car was supplied with the alloys, and these are held in place with silver coloured bolts, each of which has a rotating tapered collar. As it also has locking wheel nuts, there were 4 of these spare in the locking wheelnut box [until it was having two tyres replaced at a reputable independant tyre dealers, and two of the bolts on one wheel sheared when they were being removed] There is also a plastic bag with four brassy coloured bolts, about the same size but without the rotating collar - I assume these are for the steel wheel.
The manual says ' IF bolts are supplied with the emergency spare wheel, only use these bolts for the emergency spare wheel', which is something I'd never considered before - I wonder how many other people haven't either.
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Useful info there, NC, thanks for that.
I could ask why a car would be designed/built with such a possible problem, but it is a Renault and i did spent over 45 minutes this morning before resigning myself to the fact that if I do want that dud sideleght replaced, it is going to have to go to the dealers
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My much-lamented Renault 18 GTX estate, a really excellent machine and good-looking too, had a steel spare the same width as the alloys on the car. A lot of cars these days supply a narrow space-saver spare that shouldn't be expected to perform normally though.
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IIRC some steels use bolts that have a different profile on the head of the bolt and they should not be used on alloys - (but it maybe ok one way round and not the other if you get what I mean!).
Can anybody put a definitive statement on this?
pmh2
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My '53 Almera's got four alloys and a steel spare. There's nothing in the handbook about using different nuts (I know because I read it from cover to cover when SWMBO was in a shoe shop).
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They can easily supply a steel spare to take the same nut profile. But the problem mentioned wasn't with nut and stud arrangements, it was with bolts for alloys which may be too long to use safely with a steel wheel.
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The 306 Meridian comes with alloys and a steel spare, perhaps to remove the point of nicking an alloy spare. Sensibly there are no special bolts, but the steel wheel incorporates metal 'pads' round the bolt-holes so the thickness matches the alloys. But it isn't intended that the steel spare should stay on any longer than it takes to have the faulty wheel repaired.
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