Full Size Spare - Speed Warning?

[Steve Chilcott]

Kerbed a tyre last night and split the sidewall. Grrr. Managed to get the spare on in the dark and noticed it has a speed warning on it despite it being a full size tyre. What's that about?

Edited 18 August, 2013 by Steve Chilcott

[Huskoda]

If the tyre is exactly the same as the normal wheels, then its probably just the generic spare they chuck in all the Roomsters.

[devonutopia]

Go on the speed rating on the tyre, not the label.

[Auric Goldfinger]

Go on the speed rating on the tyre, not the label.

 

 

Insurance Company  "  How fast were you going when you crashed "

 

Motorist                     "  Errrrr  about 70 "

 

Insurance Company  " The label on the fitted Spare says 50 ".....................

 

 

It must be Labeled for a reason, if not, why label it.

[Jonny5ive]

I used the spare from my Roomster for the fabia on more than one occasion. The steel had a sticker on it with a speed rating of 50mph.

The sticker came off in the jet wash.....

[AVTUR]

My Monte has a full sized spare wheel, but without a label. Having thought about the situation, travelling through bends at speed with a 17" low profile tyre one side of the car and a 15" high profile the other will cause some dodgy handling characteristics, not to mention what could happen with an emergency brake situation at Autobahn speeds!!

I think 50 MPH seems a decent limitation.

[devonutopia]

I used the spare from my Roomster for the fabia on more than one occasion. The steel had a sticker on it with a speed rating of 50mph.

The sticker came off in the jet wash.....

 

What sticker?  They come off nice and easily!

 

If its a W rated tyre which I suspect it might be, then there is no issue with going the same speed as a W rated tyre on normal wheels.

[James I]

I had a Mitsubishi Grandis, this had a skinny spare wheel, I can confirm that it does wheel spin a bit more than a standard tyre but was ok for 240 miles at motorway speeds with very little difference in handling characteristics, that was on the motorway though.

 

 As for full sized spares, with the company cars when tyres are ready to change, the first thing Leaseplan tell kwikfit to do is take the spare tyre and replace it with the best of what is coming off so as they only have to replace one tyre new and use the spare. Cheap skates!

[Steve Chilcott]

Its the same size and rating as the others but only on for a few days so will not be pushing it. Just a bit gutted as I appear to have ruined a virtually new Dunlop Sport Max. 100 quid down the drain. Chuffed I was able to replace it in the dark tho. Getting a bit old and creaky now and the last car I tried it on the jack wouldn't even get wheel off the ground.

[TeflonTom]

I think they used the rationale that the average little old lady with that little aluminium wrench thing they supply won't be able to apply enough torque to the wheel bolt so they put a generic warning label on there to cover all potential situations even If a full size spare is fitted.

there is nothing inherently dangerous about using a space saver wheel either, in fact I've seen folks running round in snowy weather with all 4 wheels swapped out to skinny little space savers, far more grip than using full width wheels.

[grafitti]

My full size spare is identical to the original tyres - 85H.

No warnings of any sort. And I've run on the spare for nearly 1000 miles on motorways and twisty roads while holding out for my size in Contis. Only difference was under hard braking it tended to pull a bit to the side.

But then my rims are 15" and so are the same as the spare - can imagine there would be more of a difference with a mismatched rim size.

[Etos]

Spare's are steel

Three alloys and one steel

The label on the fitted Spare says 50

[CitigoAllen]

I discovered the full sized spare in my Citigo also had these stickers, but in my case the wheel is a 14 inch compared with the 15 inch alloys, so I suppose it can not have identical characteristics.  However if your roomster has 14 inch steels and the spare is the same with the same tyre, justtake the stickers off and use as normal as it is probably an over site by Skoda.

[rotodiesel]

Quite possibly a directional spare. As even Teutonic thoroughness can't dictate the side of the car on which you are going to have a puncture, they cover themselves with a sticker. Numpties.

 

rotodiesel.

Edited 21 August, 2013 by rotodiesel

[grr666]

Spare's are steel

Three alloys and one steel

The label on the fitted Spare says 50

If the label on the steel said 'this wheel is made of cheese' would you believe that?

What happens if you have four of those wheels fitted? Can you only do 12.5mph?

[Huskoda]

Ah indeed, it could be that. Directional spares are idiotic. Surely they (manufacturer) can find a non-directional tyre to put on it.

[eccleshill]

Don't you just love internet forums!

Somebody makes a wild speculation that the presence of a sticker is POSSIBLY a directional spare and suddenly the maunufacturers are numpties for fitting directional spares.

 

If the wheel is the same size and type as those fitted to the car and the tyre has the same profile as those fitted then you can use it as a normal wheel.  My first Octavia had a full size alloy spare identical in all respects to the wheel at each corner.  It had no sticker and it meant that when I needed new front tyres the best of the worn ones went in the boot as spare and I only had to buy 1 tyre.

If the spare wheel is different to those fitted at each corner (different diameter, width, different tyre profile)  then the sticker goes on for 50mph.  It is an ar$e covering advisory to protect the manufacturer from idiotic numpties putting in compensation claims.  Clearly 51mph ain't going to harm or even 60mph - just don't go tear-ar$ing around country B Roads in the wet and expect the same level of grip when you hit that pile of wet cow$h1t on a 120 degree bend!

 

Note also how anally picky insurance companies are about having the correct size wheels and tyres with some even kicking off about winter tyres.  Having that sticker on the spare covers the insurance issue too - unless you have a close encounter with a ditch and are shown to have been exceeding 50mph...

[rwbaldwin]

They have to protect themselves from the idiots that walk amongst us, such as the woman who rang the Police to complain that McDonalds didn't have any chicken McNuggets left.

Even if the spare is identical and non-directional, you may end up with very different tread depths (2mm vs 10mm). Some owners never check the condition and pressure in the spare. Do you trust 'MacDonalds woman' to take any of this into account?

[CitigoAllen]

They have to protect themselves from the idiots that walk amongst us, such as the woman who rang the Police to complain that McDonalds didn't have any chicken McNuggets left.

Even if the spare is identical and non-directional, you may end up with very different tread depths (2mm vs 10mm). Some owners never check the condition and pressure in the spare. Do you trust 'MacDonalds woman' to take any of this into account?

She was just right, for a MacDonalds not to have chicken nuggest is....is just shocking and criminal