Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[clan chieftain]

My grand daughter recently bought a 63 plate Hyundai ix35 but these cars come with no spare wheel. It has the foam stuff that you put into the tyre as a get you home. If the tyre is cut or blows out how do you get home. You are up s... creek without a paddle. Seems a bit daft to me. Probably another reason to join the AA or RAC.
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The Clan Chieftain

[Bitumen Boy]

If on a 63 plate there's a chance of finding a proper spare wheel off a scrap car, I wouldn't trust any of the supposed "alternatives" as far as I can spit.

[Keith D]

In Western Australia it is illegal to mix tyres. The front pair must match and the same at the rear. Yet manufacturers can supply new cars with a completely unsafe (max speed 50 mph, 80km/h) thin wheel as a spare. I don't quite understand how they can do this.

When we bought a new small car for my wife several years ago, we refused a Ford Fiesta because there was only an aerosol can instead of a spare. We bought a Holden Barina which had a full width spare wheel. However the car was supplied with 4 mag wheels and the spare was a pressed steel one. I didn't realise until later that wheel nuts for the spare wheel were not included.....

Keith

[colwyn500]

The "spacesaver" tyre on my car is stowed in a space that would be unusable for any other purpose in any case; so why not supply a normal sized one?
In any case, when you have to remove the full size wheel, you need to stow it somewhere and it ends up polluting the boot area until it can be repaired.
The spare, being small and narrow does save a little weight and this does make it easier to change, but as a modern there is so much surplus frippery elsewhere that the benefit gained from the weight saving is marginal.
The manufacturers will save a little on cost as modern wheels do look fairly expensive.
In the UK, if you keep to the tarmac, punctures seem to be a rare occurrence and it seems fairly common for people to call out a breakdown service for wheel changing when travelling.
Despite all this mitigation it still feels pretty second grade when you have to fit one of those toy wheels on your chunky, modern vehicle.

[clan chieftain]

My grand daughter knows nothing about her car, only how to jump in and drive it. I have shown her many times how to check all the levels but it goes in one ear and out the other. As long as granddad checks it that is fine with her. She is too busy working and in her spare time she coaches young kids football teams and she plays for a team in Glasgow. She is 22 and stays with us. I am better checking her car anyway as I know it will be done right. No win situation springs to mind.
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The Clan Chieftain

[ukdave2002]

I had a puncture a few months ago, and changed the wheel for the spacesaver in our office car park, no drama except when I went back in and everyone was amazed that i'd changed it my self, the norm these days would be to call out the AA.

I suspect the main reason for moderns having spacesaver tyres is that the normal tyres are so wide these days, mine are 295's so the well would have to be a foot deep to accommodate a full size tyre, + the front and rears are different sizes.....

Dave

[Penman]

Hi