YETI NO LONGER AVAILABLE WITH A PROPER SPARE TYRE!1

[Barsteward]

A full size ie 5th wheel would be best, however I would have chosen a Slim space saver spare over the steel inbetweeny thing which was the only available choice other than a tube of gunk when I bought my snowmonster :yes:

[Shadowphax]

I think and hope this is mis-information my understanding is that the spare is a 16" wheel not a skinny space saver. Im surprised how little some of the sales people actual know about the Yeti. I spoke to someone at my local dealer recently and he informed me that I seemed to know more about the car than he did. All due of course to reading this forum. Ordered mine with a spare so if not as advertised when delivered someone will be getting their ear chewed.

The spare used to be a 16" normal tyre that was smaller than the tyres fitted onto some of the higher spec Yetis. THIS IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE EVEN AS AN OPTION.

The only options are :-

1. The can of repair gunk and the elctric pump. I think this is the standard 'no extra' spec.

2. A skinny space-saver tyre, jack, toolkit and partially raised floor. By space-saver I mean the werid motorbike like tyre that is inflated to over 100psi.

Double checked this with the delaer and Skoda UK custaomer services. Both have confirmed clearly this is the case.

Also, all Yetis order from mid-May could only be ordered with the space saver and I bet some customers weren't told this.

[sassinak_uk]

I think it depends on which model you have. For a 4x4 I think it should definitely be a full spare since there's a good chance that you won't be near a dealer of any sort. However, for a 2WD I would think a space saver is enough - DO NOT like the idea of repair kits AT ALL!

[Robjon]

I pot-holed a front tyre in my 4 month old Roomy (side wall damage) which the goo-can would not have repaired.

I was pleased I had specified a spare wheel instead of the "repair" kit.

Incidentally, it has been said in other threads that a goo-canned tyre cannot be repaired and has to be replaced.

Edited 14 August, 2010 by Robjon

[gadgetman]

Baffling in so many ways.

ANY car that does not have proper run flats must have an appropriate (i.e. proper spec) spare wheel in my opinion.

The emissions, CO2, weight arguments are just cop outs. In the absence of run flats no spare wheel = bad design and / or penny pinching.

Why?

How many flats have you had in the last few years? In over 15 of driving, ONE.

For many years just about every manufacturers spare was a low grade emergency only tyre rather than the exact same as the other 4. Vag have been one of the last to follow this trend.

[rockhopper]

In the last 150,000 miles & 6 years of driving on UK roads and france, I have have several punctures and also ruined a few tyres hitting the kerb, mainly when parking in wet weather. Suspect driving maybe(!) but a full sized spare always got me home. Feel naked without one.

The obvious solution for 4x4 users: Buy a full sized spare wheel, and fit all wheels with M&S tyres from St. Michaels

I want to buy some steel wheels and M&S tyres for winter use, so make that 5 please Mr Skoda Parts.

Mike

Edited 14 August, 2010 by rockhopper

[DavidY]

In the last 150,000 miles & 6 years of driving on UK roads and france, I have have several punctures and also ruined a few tyres hitting the kerb, mainly when parking in wet weather. Suspect driving maybe(!) but a full sized spare always got me home. Feel naked without one.

+1

I had my last Fabia less than 6 years, but this included two punctures that left the tyre in shreds, and at least one more where I spotted a puncture in time and used the spare to drive to a Tyre place to get a repair.

[YetiSP2]

Personally, I'd rather have a can of gunk than run flat tyres! They ruin the ride comfort, which is something I'd have to live with everyday.

I guess the question could also be is the Yeti a 'real' 4x4? I suspect most people who buy them won't venture far off road (as most UK 4x4 users don't, and even when they do it's rarely to travel any significant distance). And this is reflected by the summer road tyres fitted as standard.

I've driven extensively in Africa and Australia, where a flat tyre can be very serious - in Europe it's really more of an inconvenience.

If you really don't feel comfortable without a full size spare wheel, you could always fit run flat tyres to your Yeti.

Urban myth, was once true but third generation run flats have as good, if not better, ride than normal tyres. If you've never tried a car on the latest run flats you wouldn't know the difference.

[mellyboy]

Ive just collected my spare the stealer said it would be a normal tyre and from the information on the tyre it seems it is not, as there is a speed restriction on the tyre, why are we allowed to fit a tyre to a car with a different speed rating,? If one has a accident with one fitted could this effect a insurance claim , confusing, never should have been allowed to sell cars with out a equal speed rating full size spare!!!

[redandwhitepauly]

Just as a matter of interest, if you have the tyre pressure monitor and you fit the spare wheel, does the system know ? I mean will the tyre pressure monitor say oi mate your tyre is going down ??? or do you have to reset the tyre pressure monitor every time you have an event ?

:|

[HKPhooey]

Urban myth, was once true but third generation run flats have as good, if not better, ride than normal tyres. If you've never tried a car on the latest run flats you wouldn't know the difference.

There's an answer to get around not having a full size spare and you won't lose any boot space. Happy days.

Edited 15 August, 2010 by HKPhooey

[gadgetman]

Ive just collected my spare the stealer said it would be a normal tyre and from the information on the tyre it seems it is not, as there is a speed restriction on the tyre, why are we allowed to fit a tyre to a car with a different speed rating,? If one has a accident with one fitted could this effect a insurance claim , confusing, never should have been allowed to sell cars with out a equal speed rating full size spare!!!

Others have done it for years. So long as you stock to the speed rating, then no issues with insurance.

Just as a matter of interest, if you have the tyre pressure monitor and you fit the spare wheel, does the system know ? I mean will the tyre pressure monitor say oi mate your tyre is going down ??? or do you have to reset the tyre pressure monitor every time you have an event ?

:|

Nope, it'll go mental and need resetting.

[redandwhitepauly]

So once you reset it with the spare attached it will still think thats normal running for that particular wheel and then you reset it again when you have the new normal wheel put on ??

Edited 15 August, 2010 by redandwhitepauly

[GentleGiant]

The boss wont let me have a Yeti, so it is a moot point but....

You can buy wheels a LOT cheaper than any Car maker will supply for, so buy the car and then buy a single spare wheel and a mounting kit of your choice. Toyota wanted £300 + the cost of the tyre for a spare for my old Previa, I got a spare for £50 including tyre from a specialist.

[mellyboy]

Others have done it for years. So long as you stock to the speed rating,

The fact that others have done it for years does not make it satisfactory, My Fabia 3 had a full size spare as standard, Is it now illegal for a manufacturer to supply a full size tyre of the correct size and specification as a spare wheel ? Tyre fitting companies would not fit tyres of the incorrect specification why should we be expected to ?

Edited 15 August, 2010 by mellyboy

[redandwhitepauly]

Just out of interest why is it illegal for manufacturers to supply full size spares ???

[kenfowler3966]

Just out of interest why is it illegal for manufacturers to supply full size spares ???

It isn't, in the good old days everyone got 5 identical wheels to swap around.

Then cars were fitted with alloys and a matching steel wheel was put into the boot to save money.

Then they realised they could use the base model wheel which was different to the alloys and save more as the tyre was cheaper, hence 16" spare on car with wider 17" low profile alloys., with low speed warning sticker

Then they found boot space could be increased witha true spacesaver, as the wheel could only be used in an emergency anyway.

Then they threw it out completely to save weight and money and maximise the boot.

All in the name of economics

[gadgetman]

It's not illegal. It's simply based on the stats for people actually getting punctures and cost savings.

The spare has always really been a temp until you get the main faulty one repaired or replaced. It's not a good thing to rotate the spare to become a main wheel and the repaired one to then be a spare. Some firms don't even bother balancing the spare correctly.

I do 30-40k a year for the last 8 years, and last had a puncture 7 years ago.

Not sure why some are getting so hung up on something many will never even use during ownership, ons a few will only ever use more than once.

Works Mondeo does have a full size spare, but the tyre is only some cheap short life thing with a sticker to say its life is only 2k miles, and max speed of 60 mph

[redandwhitepauly]

I thought it would be odd for it to be illegal for a manufacturer to supply a full size spare, and understand the reasons for supplying safety wheels. Suppose truth is a puncture is a pain in the bumend whatever you have really !!

:yes:

[Onesque]

Following points raised in this thread I checked my invoice which states 16" steel wheel so will see what is delivered. Regarding the tyre gunk etc had an experience of using this on my A2, what an absolute nightmare. Firstly only partly repaired the puncture in travelling to the garage threw it all down the side of the car, told tyre not repairable due to gunk. As well as buying new tyre had to buy new can of gunk (£20) then auto glym tar remover to clean the paint work, so not a great experience. The time after that when I hit a pothole late at night bending an alloy I was glad to have a spare wheel. So I'm a spare wheel dinosaur for what it's worth.

[gadgetman]

Quite agree, I'd have a spare over gunk every time. BUT I'm not fussed what kind of spare it is, as long as it is able to get me home/off motorway/to a tyre place.

[mbrock]

Can't see what all the fuss is about - however big or wide it is, the space-saver is still restricted to 50mph which, given the frequency of punctures over the last few years, would be a minor irritation. I made the decision to specify a space saver rather than no spare wheel because most of the punctures I've had have wrecked the tyre anyway so I would otherwise have been stranded.

Neither the Freelander nor the Kuga or Tiguan have a full size spare wheel either. If it's a real problem, the iX35 and Sportage come with a full size alloy spare.

[GentleGiant]

I guess it comes down to a combination of luck and local driving conditions, with perhaps a dash of common sense.

I didn't have a single puncture in my last car despite covering about 85,000 miles over 5 years; and I only had one puncture in the car before that; a car I racked up over 170,000 miles in.

So that is one puncture in roughly 250,000 miles; I wonder how much I spent in fuel carrying that full size spare around??

Re' common sense. You SLOW DOWN when you see debris on the road!! The number of times I have slowly driven through debris covering the M4 after a crash, only to see people bomb through it and pick up a puncture. After one incident I counted over 120 cars and vans on the hard shoulder between the M25 and Swindon!!

[900000]

In nine years of A2 ownership I have had quite a few punctures and a few of them would not have been repairable with gunk and the original 2001 gunk is still in the car unused.

I don't mind the skinny spare to be honest as long as there is something I can replace the flat tyre with so I can get the original to a shop without harming it further and having to buy a whole new tyre.

I'm also happy with having more boot space BUT I'm not happy with now going to have a boot floor that is lower than that of the seats when the backrests are tipped forward. The whole advantage of a second boot floor is that you can have a flat floor with the seats folded! Will Skoda now provide us with a true variable height floor where the floor can live just above the spare OR at a higher level to have a flat floor with tipped seats? I suspect they won't have thought of this...

[shrub]

I have just come back from holiday with Yeti and was not able to fit two suitcases in the boot (under the parcel shelf) with the raised boot floor. I would not be without a spare wheel but would rather have a skinnier wheel and more boot depth.