Hi all,

Got my RS it's 40k service at Renshaw and Newsome in Nottingham yesterday and it's been returned to me with a little note.

On the bottom of the service record the mechanic has written "Spare tyre is of different size than other tyres. It would be illegal to fit this tyre."

The car has 4 225/45 ZR17 tyres on it and the spare has a 205/50 R17.

Is this true or are they talking through a non-standard orifice?

First question that pops to my mind is, where you aware that you had a different spare?

But I don't see how it is any more illegal than having a space saver tyre. When you get a flat and you use the spare, just treat it as one. Only drive homebound with it and keep it well below speed limits.

The 225/45s are not the original size and the car had 205/50s on it before.

Like you, I assumed that it would be treated like a spacesaver wheel.

My spare is 205/50 x 17 . Some vRS's have 16" steelies as the spare and 17" alloys as supplied by skoda. what about these?

Exactly. The only thing I suspected is the width of the tyre. A 16" steel spare would have a 205/55 on it and therefore the same width as the 17s.

The dealer didn't tell me about this was I was in so I didn't quiz them about it.

They were too busy asking me why my car was not on a long-life service schedule.

Perhaps you should show them a copy of the autocar roadtest.

Space savers are neither the same profile or width, and they arent illegal. My only suggestion is that your spare should have some sort of warning sticker advising to drive slower and to get the original back and on as soon as poss like s/savers do.

I though as long as the tyre was road legal and of the same type ie radial then that was it.

Andy

There are regulations about mixing different types of tyre on the same axle, but nothing that I could see about using different size tyres. However, approved space-saver wheels would result in an MOT fail if fitted to a car being tested, and they are subject to a 50mph max speed limit. I guess the same could apply if different size tyres were fitted to the same axles.

This appears to be common on skodas!

I have a superb with optional 17" alloys. The spare is a standard 16" steel with a sticker stating it is a space saver.

I was not happy about this but Skoda have fulfilled any legal obligation, if not moral one.

By the way there was no advice about a 16" spare when I ordered the 17" alloys!!

All 5 of my wheels are 205/50/17s, brand new 2003.9 car. Loving every minute of it. I was VERY suprised to see a full size alloy spare !

Well I have no intention of using the wheel and tyre as anything but a spare so I'll probably be alright. Definatly no worse than the 205/55 R16 steel I had in there before.