Spare wheel

civvie · Post by **civvie** » 15 Mar 2011, 14:10

I've now got a 3008 with alloy wheels with the poxy temporary spare wheel that looks like it belongs on a wheelbarrow, is there any reason why I can't buy a steel rim and fit the same size tyre as the alloys to replace the spare. Can I use the normal wheel bolts that are used for the alloys, or do I need bolts for steel wheels.
Is there a safety issue? bear in mind it will only be used if I have a puncture.

Cheers all

Steve

JohnD · Post by **JohnD** » 15 Mar 2011, 15:57

Will the carrier allow for a full size wheel and tyre?

civvie · Post by **civvie** » 15 Mar 2011, 18:55

John,
Did have a quick look when I thought of this, the spare is in the boot, not under the car in a carrier. It looks as if there is room for the normal size spare, but i'll take off one of the alloys and fit it in place before ordering a rim.
Thanks for the input.

Steve

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 19 Mar 2011, 00:02

Glad to say my Scenic doesn't have a space saver spare.

It doesn't have a spare at all.

Just a kit which pumps gunk into the tyre to (hopefully) seal any leaks. Car is 3 years old and it's never been used.

Last car (a 53 plate Pug 807) went in part ex a couple of weeks ago with it's original spare never having been removed. That's a lot of expensive rubber sat doing nothing, and a lot of weight being lugged around for no reason.

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 19 Mar 2011, 00:31

I prefer a full sized spare wheel and have bought full size steels to replace space savers.

Having a can of tyre weld in the boot is great, if you don't need to use it. But if the tyre is gashed, has a defect or any large enough hole that the tyre foam wont block then your a bit stuck really. Not to mention you have to replaced the tyre once the tyre weld has been used in it. I bet there are a number of cars on the road running with tyre weld in all of the time.

Id rather have a space saver than that, though having driven on those in the past they are a bit iffy. No grip for one thing and a minimum amount of tread, they are so small and narrow too. Must be a safety concern and I wonder how nice insurance would be if you had an accident with one fitted.

Not to mention they are limited to 50mph. If im hundreds of miles from home and get a puncture one night on the return trip, i dont want to have to limp the rest of the way at 50.

Definitely worth getting a full sized wheel in my opinion.

My C5s have alloys but full sized spare steel wheels, the wheel bolts will hold the steel wheels fine. They are not the ones designed for steel wheels and if converting from alloys to steels then the bolts should be changed too. However for occasional use they are fine and safe.

spider · Post by **spider** » 19 Mar 2011, 11:01

206CC does not have a spare either. There is no space for one underneath as the bracing lives there. They have a couple of cans of a tyreweld type substance in the boot.

Citroenmad · Post by **Citroenmad** » 19 Mar 2011, 11:14

Many modern cars do have tyre weld cans instead of a spare wheel, usually in cars which dont have space for a wheel. If there is space to put a full sized spare then I would get one.

civvie · Post by **civvie** » 19 Mar 2011, 11:29

Yes I agree with all posters that have a full size spare, my old C5 had a full alloy spare, a few years ago we were in France on a extended holiday, we went out one Sunday afternoon and were just entering a small village, there was a right handed bend into the village where the pavement started half way round the bend, all of a sudden a car appeared coming towards us at a rate of knots cutting his side of the bend, I yanked the car over the to right mounted the kerb with the right front tyre, blew the curtrain airbag on passenger side and made a rather large split in the wall of the tyre.
Replaced the tyre with the spare ( lucky had a full size spare), and continued on our way.
Went to a local tyre dealer next day to replace the holed tyre, as the spare we put on was a new Michelin Energy, all we wanted was a tyre of same dimensions as others to replace the holed tyre, but for some reason the dealer wouldn't just sell us one tyre it had to be two as they didn't have any Michelin's of our size and it would have to be another make, we declined their offer and got one somewhere else. Now if I had the bottle of gunk instead of the spare I would have been shafted on the Sunday evening.

Steve

Homer · Post by **Homer** » 20 Mar 2011, 04:51

Citroenmad wrote: Having a can of tyre weld in the boot is great, if you don't need to use it. But if the tyre is gashed, has a defect or any large enough hole that the tyre foam wont block then your a bit stuck really.

I would have been stuck with the 807 anyway since the security ("locking") wheel bolts would self destruct every time anyone attempted to remove them.

The fronts had been drilled out twice, after the second time I replaced them with standard bolts. The back ones were ruined but waiting until the wheels had to come off, which luckily never happened.

The security bolts were a very secure design, unfortunately the soft head which prevented any would be thief using the old tap them round with a centre punch method was just a bit too soft. Even liberal dosed of copper-eze couldn't keep them lubed up enough.

Like I said, it's over 6 years since I had a puncture, if the tyre is that badly shredded then I have breakdown cover and mobile phones, may as well get my money's worth.

civvie · Post by **civvie** » 20 Mar 2011, 09:15

Homer wrote: if the tyre is that badly shredded then I have breakdown cover and mobile phones, may as well get my money's worth.

Maybe if you were near civilisation, but in the middle of the French countryside at about 5.30pm on a Sunday evening, wouldn't have got the Green Flag promise to be there within an hour.