Chug41

@Carlston Excellent, thank you! Ali is a weird site. I tried that but was only shown bolts that were more expensive. With your link, when I logged in £1.17 and free P&P suddenly became >£4 plus £1.99 postage in the basket! Logged out, cleared cookies, and logged in to my wife's AE account. £1.17 had tax (UK VAT?) added so became £1.41 and free postage, i.e. as per DerekU's post. Bargain! They are aluminium alloy but are only for locating the bolt holes, so should be good for the job. Thanks to you both. Another addition to my spare wheel collection of parts!

@DerekU Good find, Derek. Are they still available? If so, a link would be much appreciated.

@DerekU Once again my posting skills are found wanting. I replied immediately after posting the above, as we had obviously crossed. It appears that the Briskoda dog has eaten my homework. I'll repeat again my thanks for your detailed information which, together with that of other members, has gotten me the right spare wheel and on the way to the required tools for it as well. I'm very grateful to one and all. Thank you!

@nta16 (see what I just did there?) Thanks for coming back Nigel. I'm still trying to learn briskoda's particular ways of doing things, so apologies for the double post. I was forgetting the editing limitations and instead I somehow repeated it instead. Yesterday I received a brand new spare wheel, complete with speed sticker, which is now sitting snugly in its stowage. Unlike you, I've always carried a spare wheel and feel a lot more secure with it. Even as I gather the required tools I know that calling out the breakdown services (AA in our case) can now ensure a wheel change, especially if my wife is alone with the car. I've yet to see how the wheel gets on unrestrained (turns out the Mk4 peg bolts are on back order) but I'm sure I can come up with a temporary tie down arrangement in the meantime. Thanks for your help, and indeed to everyone who have offered so much help and advice. All greatly appreciated and a great assistance to a newbie!

OK, I'll have another go. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386172681935 Better? I thought I did that on my previous post (delete everything including and after the ? ) but obviously not. BTW how do you get that '@Chug41' in a green lozenge? Neat trick, and avoid forever quoting a previous post. Take your point about the jack rating, I'll have a looksee. My main concern is that I get the right jack pad. Now that DerekU has explained about the groove into which the jacking point seam sits I think I know what I'm looking for, but as ever I welcome any input that may be offered. Thanks as ever, Nigel Chug PS. How about this one? 2 ton, a shallow groove (too shallow?), with a higher rise,450mm. Looks good? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285900872918

OK, I'll have another go. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386172681935 Better? I thought I did that on my previous post (delete everything including and after the ? ) but obviously not. BTW how do you get that '@Chug41' in a green lozenge? Neat trick, and avoid forever quoting a previous post. Take your point about the jack rating, I'll have a looksee. My main concern is that I get the right jack pad. Now that DerekU has explained about the groove into which the jacking point seam sits I think I know what I'm looking for, but as ever I welcome any input that may be offered. Thanks as ever, Nigel Chug

Ah, always ask a man who knows! Thanks for your patient advice, Derek. So, presumably a 1 ton rated jack, suitably 'grooved' should suffice. Say something like this? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386172681935 mercifully short link this time!

Sorry, getting my slots and grooves a bit confused here. Looking at my car's jacking point it is quite inboard and is a pronounced seam. Is the jack supposed to bear on that seam (via a 'groove'), or does the jack simply locate on the seam (via a 'slot') and bear either side of it? I thought it to be the latter case. Have I got it wrong?

Excellent advice, Nigel. I'll do just that. Thankyou!

Thanks yet again, Derek! That's exactly what I need. All I have to do now is find it (no doubt Skoda spare parts can provide at an impressive mark up!). As to the Mk4 Jack, am I right in thinking that it is now a 'generic' scissor jack, with a centre groove and two pivots (instead of previous marks with only one?). If so, it will be much easier to source and save somewhat on the OEM model!

Carlstrom, thanks again for the additional info added to your last post. Seems that you get all the tools in a bundle or nowt. All I need are the retaining bolt and the jack. The latter looks to me as being a generic jack, so just the bolt then. Is there any chance of it having its unique stores ref? Others advertised are3G0803899D and 5Q0803889, so I would expect a similar combination for the Fabia Mk4 spare wheel bolt. Perhaps someone knows?

Thanks Nigel, looks very similar to me, classic scissor jack with transverse groove in lifting pad at the top. Yes, got the message now re the links, just won't allow further edits on my massive links post though. Oh, as to the spare wheel retaining peg bolt, it would seem that the code isn't generic, the first two alpha numeric characters indicate the applicable types across the VAG range, so I need to find those for the Fabia 4. Getting there though, thanks to you guys!

Everyday is a learning day. I'll edit accordingly. Thank you Carlston! Oh, seems I can't. I edited when I posted it, so have I had my allowance? I guess it will have to stand as a pointer to my rookie status. At least the links seem to work regardless so I hope I can still get a response re the bolt and the jack.

Have ordered a Fabia MkIV spare wheel on ebay (thanks for the link DerekU) at https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354562159376 . Now I need a jack and a retaining stowage nut. This has the same ref number for Skoda ones and is presumably common across the VAG range, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166908147442? Lastly will a generic scissor jack fit the bill? Something like this? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404611200470? Hopefully I can then discard the gunge provided by Skoda for my 23 Reg Colour Edition Fabia with 17" wheels. Many thanks in advance, as ever! Oh, edited to apologise for the lengths of the links. Thought they'd shrink down!

Just when I thought I'd got it hacked and then you post that link! So, Fabia Mk4; PCD, 5x100, check! 185/65R15 (in my case), check! Offset 40, ...sorry? That is the same as a contemporary Polo (2017 -) but earlier Polos were 38, as were earlier Fabias. So what is offset, please? I feel like like they must have done at Bletchley Park when they realised that the Kriegsmarine had just added a fourth wheel to their Enigmas!

Thanks DerekU, a very interesting thread you linked to. The Skoda policy on spare wheels for the Fabia Mk3 clearly explained which ensured that the same spare wheels were fitted to all versions of the model, with the proviso that if it was not the base model they are speed restricted and labelled as such. A lot of i's and t's dotted and crossed here, and I for one now have a clearer idea of the limitations of the spare wheels supplied in order that; they not only fit in the stowage, but still stay below the boot floor, and still tick the regulations for an emergency spare wheel size. Time to give a half hour lecture down at the pub? Or perhaps not...

oops! Apologies Ootohere. As nta16 said, every one chipped in and made a totally bewildering subject understandable even to me. A belated thanks indeed!

Bingo! Thanks a lot, that answers that! As to a full sized 17" spare, the problem is not that it won't fit in the stowage but that it would protrude into the boot floor as stated by nta16. The Fabia tyre sizes listed by DerekU show that our 215/45R17s are the only 17" ones supplied, and hence the 185/65R15 'space saver' is what I need. My thanks to all. A perfect example of a forum working at its best!

Ah, the plot thickens, and is certainly not as simple as I had hoped! Given that the wheel/tyre diameter of the 'space saver' spare should be as close as possible to that of the fitted road wheels it would make sense that those for a 17" fitted vehicle should have a slightly higher aspect ratio (65) than a 16" wheel (60). The aspect ratio being the tyre height/widthx100%. My road wheels are 215/45R17, if they are the same as yours then it would seem I'm after the same spare as you were supplied with by Skoda, ie a 185/65R15. Are we the same? Thanks. How do I work out the space saver size I need? | Ask the Car Expert

Well indeed, Tintowellfan. I presume your spare has a speed restriction marking on its reverse? So it looks as though all Fabias can be supplied with one sized spare; a 185/60R15. On 15" fitted cars it's a fully conventional spare wheel. On 16" and 17" fitted cars its a speed restricted spare (though to call it a space saver (ie'skinny') is arguable). It seems that the two offers illustrated by DerekU are for the very same item, except one will have speed restricted stickers and of course should only be used for taking your punctured tyre to be repaired. That ties in with a comment made by the Skoda salesman who arranged our purchase, "They tend to supply a 15" spare no matter what size your wheels have". Have I got all that right do you think? Thanks for the pic of your very neat boot BTW. Is that some packing under the wheel? Stops movement or deadens sound?

Thank you so much for this detailed reply to my query DerekU, and so quickly too! Your suggestion that I try fitting one of my wheels into the spare stowage in my boot is a good one which I'll check out, but I rather suspect that it won't. Hence the space savers/speed restricted for larger than 15" fitted wheels. Your link to the ebay offer perfectly illustrates the wheel tyre combination needed, plus of course any associated tools. A great response to this newbie's first post. I only hope that I can be half as helpful to others in future. Again, much thanks!

Re the space-saving spare wheel, could you please state what size it is? I have a 2023 Colour Edition Fabia 4 with 17" wheels and don't like the idea of having no spare. If possible I'd like a proper spare wheel but suspect the stowage doesn't allow for that, but would appreciate confirmation of that. The emergency puncture kit will destroy the tyre it's pumped into as I understand it. We've just received the car (ex Demonstrator) and love it, but I'd feel happier with a spare in the boot!