Hi folks,

having recently jumped ship into a Mazda 6 estate I've been looking to fit a spare wheel as these cars only come with repair gunk. I've been following advice on Mazda6OC.co.uk but it's a very sparsely populated forum, and painfully slow, so I'd thought I'd throw the question out here.

 

Last week I managed to find the correct alloy and tyre with 6mm tread left, for a decent price, and also purchased a retaining plate and bolt.

This weekend I went to see how it all fits together and the wheel fits fine, the bolt screws in, but not all the way so some 3-4cm left sticking out. Is this safe or should I get a new bolt that sits flush to the plate?

Next question: Some people have cut plywood sheets and timber joists to support the boot floor but is there any reason why a piece of high density foam, cut to the correct thickness, wouldn't do the job? From my calculations it would need to be about 7.5cm thick to sit on the tyre, with the boot floor then resting on this? I think the foam will be strong enough to support boot baggage and bikes or whatever, and will be lighter than wood. Is there a reason no one has done this? Am I missing something?

Borrowed pic to show what I'm thinking:

So from the top of the poly tool tray, which sits flush with the plastic side trim floor supports, to the top of the wheel (in my case a 215/50/17) is about 7.5cm. I'm not worried about it all being shaped to fit the sides, just concerned it gives enough support for the floor. You're only ever going to see the boot floor so exact shape isn't a concern. What do we think?
 

And this is what some others have done:

 

 

 

 Thanks

Just cut a few threads off the bolt you have. Foam will be fine.

Just what I thought :sun: