Wife's nipper hit a rock in the road some days ago in his nearly new Citigo, (Steel wheels) and put a massive dent in the rim. I changed the wheel for him - he had ordered a spare when he ordered the car. The tyre looked to be undamaged strangely enough and he ordered a new steel wheel from the local Skoda dealer.

£32 quid plus VAT for the wheel plus fitting and the dealer confirmed that the tyre was in fact undamaged and refitted the tyre for him. £50 quid odd all in. I thought £32 for a new wheel pretty reasonable. Good job it wasn't an alloy.

I don't think they will wear out quicker ?

The depth of tread is the same, just the sidewalls that are thinner.

Must be a weight saving thing I guess?

Not only do their sidewalls seem to be thinner, but the level of grip is pathetic; particularly on a damp greasy roundabout. I managed to get 'straight-on' power understeer on a 60PS without too much trouble. Makes me nervous if I was to brake in an emergency.

Not only do their sidewalls seem to be thinner, but the level of grip is pathetic; particularly on a damp greasy roundabout. I managed to get 'straight-on' power understeer on a 60PS without too much trouble. Makes me nervous if I was to brake in an emergency.

Thank heavens for ABS eh!

I thought that the thin sidewalls was to reduce rolling resistance

I thought that the thin sidewalls was to reduce rolling resistance

Partly, in that they reduce weight and the unsprung weight of wheels/tyres carries a greater penalty due to the effort of maintaining a rotational motion, than the general weight of the car.

Rolling resistance though is more down to the width, pattern and compound of the tread, plus the inflation pressure, of the tyre.

yep, the greenline page on brouchure say its tyres are inflated to a higher pressure to reduce rolling resistance

Regarding the pressures for Get-You-Home space-saver spare wheels.   In addition to asking on this Forum, I had also played a Wild Card, and had asked Skoda themselves - regarding the Greentech that we had bought for ourselves in June, & also about a SE that we had bought for a member of our family, just earlier this month.

 

The DEFINITIVE answer from the Skoda technicians, was that the SS spare should be inflated to the highest pressure of any of the road wheels on the car.    My assessment is that the "50 mph" rating quoted for the Greentech models, is no more than an ultra- safety issue, because if the SS was actually used, then the vehicle would be running on 3 x Alloys & 1 x steel wheel - something NOT to be recommended.           The spare for the SE is actually identical IN ALL RESPECTS to the other wheels on the car, & there are no cautionary stipulations added - it's just a spare, as in the old fashioned meaning of the word.

 

So, there we go then...............and en passant, so to speak, & in view of some of the less-than-complimentary remarks about Skoda's interest & help, I have had occasion to direct a few questions/problems in respect of both cars, and EACH TIME, Skoda's response had been extremely fast (almost immediate, in fact) extremely helpful, courteous & eager-to-help.                As regards Customer Service, can't fault Skoda whatsoever, so there you go then!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

 

.

The other option is to look for scrapped VW group cars for the jack etc, and get a steelie from the dealerships. You could possibly get a wheel from a scrapped Up/Mii/Citigo, but of course that may be damaged and so do so at your own risk, and if the dealer sells steelies for £32 a go, then that's probably a safer option! Or look on eBay and see if someone's selling the steelies off their car having upgraded to alloys?

I think it was more to do with the poor state of his tool rather than the nuts being too tight.

 

Sounds like a conversation I've had with Mrs Goldfinger