Space saver spare wheel

[Albourneboy]

I've read through various threads on this topic but found them a bit confusing so I'm hoping that I get a definitive answer from someone who has a car with a similar configuration to mine.

 

My Superb came with 19 in. Pheonix anthracite alloys and a puncture repair kit (gunge + pump). I tow a caravan and I'd rather have a real spare on board, even if it's a space saver, when we set off for France in a couple of weeks time.

 

Does anybody else have 19 in. wheels + space saver? If so, what size is it and is it the same rolling diameter as the wheels on the car? What tyre is fitted to the space saver? I've seen various sizes of space saver for sale on sites like ebay but I'm not sure what size I will need. 

[dubzter]

I've got 19s 235/40/19 on my Sport line Wagon and a 16 inch spare with a 205/55/16 tyre

[facet edge]

When the wheel gets smaller the tyre wall usually gets higher to compensate.

If you look Here you can check that the overall diameter is ok.

[Albourneboy]

Hmmm.... interesting. Using facet edge's etyres link, the diameter of dubzter's 16 inch spare is 5.81% less than his 19 inch wheels and etyres recommend that the diameter difference should be within 2.5% either way. Did your spare come from Skoda with the car dubzter? If so, it would be 'better' with a 215/60/16 tyre fitted as the difference is a mere -1.04%.

[Gizmo]

Anything wider than a 205 will make the boot floor stick up slightly (in the case of a 215/60/16” it will stick up 10mm)

[Ootohere]

Numbers on tyre walls are part of the story, they can be the same numbers from different manufacturers and measure the tyres on wheels side by side and they are different.

So measure a spare around with a tape measure if bothered, or put it against the tyres on the car.

205/55 R 16 is a catch me all.

Spares are temps. slow downs, get tyre fixed or replaced, unless you are carrying exact matching spares.

http://kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual-tyre-size-calculator 

 

Not many carry a spare for a caravan these days, we used to always because a gubbed tyre wrecked holidays etc.

[dubzter]

1 hour ago, Albourneboy said:

Hmmm.... interesting. Using facet edge's etyres link, the diameter of dubzter's 16 inch spare is 5.81% less than his 19 inch wheels and etyres recommend that the diameter difference should be within 2.5% either way. Did your spare come from Skoda with the car dubzter? If so, it would be 'better' with a 215/60/16 tyre fitted as the difference is a mere -1.04%.

@Albourneboy this was the spare as provided with the car, I just bought it, it's a 3 month old ex sales managers car.

[Ootohere]

Car Dealership Sales Manager?,  So a Demonstrator driven for 3 months, 3,000 miles.

[dubzter]

6 minutes ago, Awayoffski said:

Car Dealership Sales Manager?,  So a Demonstrator driven for 3 months, 3,000 miles.

aye

Edited 7 June, 2017 by dubzter

[Albourneboy]

Mine is also an ex-demonstrator. 5400 miles in 5 months.

[Albourneboy]

3 hours ago, Gizmo said:

Anything wider than a 205 will make the boot floor stick up slightly (in the case of a 215/60/16” it will stick up 10mm)

Might just stick with the gunge and pump then. I have the Caravan Club's excellent Red Pennant insurance and they did us proud back in 2014 when we had a major breakdown on the way to France so a blowout shouldn't prove much of a problem for them to deal with

[facet edge]

The other problem with mismatched sizes is it will be detected as a puncture as the wheel will rotate faster.

Also if the car is a 4x4 it could mess up the diff.

[Albourneboy]

Mine is a 4x4 and I sure do not want a messed-up diff! It was a fault with the 4x4 system that caused 2 major (and very expensive!) breakdowns in 2014 in our previous car, a Hyundai Santa Fe.

 

The more I think about it, the more I think I'll stick with the gunge and pump. I owned that Santa Fe for 4 years and the spare (full size!) never once saw the light of day. Prior to that, I had a LandRover Discovery for 7 years and that car's spare got used once in all that time. Perhaps I've been lucky but does one puncture in 11, going on 12 years justify spending £100+ on a space-saver spare that (touch wood) will never be used?

[Albourneboy]

Hmmm... tempted fate too much with that last post! Picked up a slow puncture in France a couple of days before setting off on the 3 day trip to get home. Tyre sealant did the trick at first but 150 miles short of Calais last Saturday afternoon, tyre pressure loss warning came on and was forced to pump the tyre up again at every rest area that was still open between there and the campsite we were booked on 20 miles South of Calais. Used another can of sealant in the tyre and this got us some 40 miles up the M20 on Sunday morning before I had to re-inflate the tyre. Managed to get to Birchanger services before next warning came on and at that point decided to book onto campsite just outside Cambridge and look for new tyres that afternoon. KwikFit on Newmarket road in Cambridge had 2 in stock so had to pay their rip-off prices but at least we managed to get home to Darlington with no more issues.

 

Don't want to go through all that again so am now looking to see if I can get a full size spare to match the wheels already on the car (19 inch Phoenix Anthracite alloys) but it seems they are rarer than hens teeth.

[alf.onso]

3 hours ago, Albourneboy said:

Don't want to go through all that again so am now looking to see if I can get a full size spare to match the wheels already on the car (19 inch Phoenix Anthracite alloys) but it seems they are rarer than hens teeth.

 

Do you mean exactly the same size as your 19" or same diameter?

[JR RS]

A 205/65/16 tyre, as opposed to the spare 205/55/16, is 0.2% of a difference less than the 235/40/19.

Hence almost identical rolling diameter.

[hop]

I have the 19" Phoenix Anthracite and a space saver wheel. Had a puncture not long after buying the car and wanted to match the remaining three tyres (Bridgestone Potenza S001
235/40R19 96 W XL) as they were still fairly new.

 

Unfortunately they were near-impossible to source - ended up getting them through Oponeo, sent over from the Netherlands.

 

This meant being on the spare for just over a week - luckily my car is 2WD, plus this was a rear but I sure didn't enjoy sticking to 50mph!

[Albourneboy]

1 hour ago, alf.onso said:

 

Do you mean exactly the same size as your 19" or same diameter?

I mean an exact match to the other 4 wheels on the car - 19 inch Phoenix Anthracites. Just like in the 'old' days when cars had 5 matching wheels, one on each corner and one in the boot with a jack and wheel nut wrench. I'm sure there's quite a few of us on here who remember those days. My caravan has a spare wheel - it matches the 2 already fitted - no can of tyre sealant or skinny space-saver wheel, Why can't cars have the same? What's wrong with being able to swap a wheel with a flat tyre for another identical wheel and to continue  your journey with no restrictions at all - flat tyre in the boot until you can get it repaired / changed.

[alf.onso]

14 minutes ago, Albourneboy said:

I mean an exact match to the other 4 wheels on the car - 19 inch Phoenix Anthracites. Just like in the 'old' days when cars had 5 matching wheels, one on each corner and one in the boot with a jack and wheel nut wrench. I'm sure there's quite a few of us on here who remember those days. My caravan has a spare wheel - it matches the 2 already fitted - no can of tyre sealant or skinny space-saver wheel, Why can't cars have the same? What's wrong with being able to swap a wheel with a flat tyre for another identical wheel and to continue  your journey with no restrictions at all - flat tyre in the boot until you can get it repaired / changed.

 

It would not work as nothing wider than 205 simply does not fit under the boot floor. 

 

Original spare wheel is not only narrower but also has smaller diameter. If you want same diameter tyre, then 205/65/16 is closest you can get as @JR RS wrote.

Edited 16 July, 2018 by alf.onso

[Albourneboy]

I'm not too concerned about that as I would continue to carry the tyre sealant kit for day-to-day journeys. The full-size spare would be used only for journeys with the caravan in tow and if I couldn't live with the bulge in the floor, I could always put the spare in the caravan. 

[alf.onso]

6 minutes ago, Albourneboy said:

I'm not too concerned about that as I would continue to carry the tyre sealant kit for day-to-day journeys. The full-size spare would be used only for journeys with the caravan in tow and if I couldn't live with the bulge in the floor, I could always put the spare in the caravan. 

 

Well, thats another story. 

For a long trips with caravan, a full size spare wheel is most definately a good thing to have (in caravan that is). Hope you never need it though

[Brackenwood]

I met a lorry on a narrow road in the Lake District, and in the dark, reversing, caught the side wall on a sharp slate kerb which tore the wall of the tyre. This was 125 miles from home, but as I had made the decision to buy a space saver wheel, I was able to limp home at 50 mph, and 65 mpg, and have it replaced at a good price. I have had cars for some 50 years and always had a full size spare wheel in the boot in the past, and blessed them occasionally, they should make cars with the capacity to put a full size spare if that is the clients/users choice. Its only the pressing of the panel that determines the size of the indent under the boot floor.

Edited 16 July, 2018 by Brackenwood
clarity

[IJWS15]

Had a slow puncture fixed and also tore a sidewall while in France.  At least the slow puncture only needed pumping up once a day.

 

Europe is very different to the UK, it closes on Sundays and public holidays so I don't take the chance.  We have the space saver that will at least keep us moving (at reduced speed) and as we don't plan to travel huge distances on the speed limit in any day a puncture would be an inconvenience and not a disaster.  Is it worth it - you only need to damage one tyre to find out.

 

When we damaged the sidewall the garage would only fit a matching tyre to what was on(brand and range, not just size) so if the spare hadn't been an older continental I would have had to buy two.  Thanks to the lease company for fitting Dunlops which are rare in France, the spare was an original continental.

 

My father spends about 10-12 weeks a year in Europe with a caravan.  They have a spare wheel for the caravan and  (when their car has had a space saver) a spare tyre for the car hung under the caravan floor.

[JKD]

For anybody else wondering about this subject, please read about my experience....

We visited the south of Belgium this weekend for the F1 at Spa. Shortly into our return journey on bank holiday monday, we abruptly got a flat on the motorway. With ~200 miles left, I felt we were too far from Calais to use the gunge. 

This is what breakdown cover is for, right? They sent a recovery and we were taken to the local tyre shop. It all started to go wrong here, I noticed the look on the guys face in tyre shop when he was given the tyre size (225 35r 19).

To cut a long story short.... After a good hour or so of phone calls by the recovery guys and the tyre shop, we we're quoted TWO DAYS to get a new tyre. We had to leave my octy at the recovery place, take a taxi to the nearest city and we've been in a hotel for two nights. 

Called the insurance company this morning, we could be looking at a third night here.... 

Most costs are covered by our insurance, but we're now missing days of work back home, which is costing us.  We have no clean clothes left, stuck in a city we don't want to visit and my fiancee is 34 weeks pregnant.

AMAZING

Should have packed a space saver, reckon I could have limped home on one. 

[Brackenwood]

What a tale of woe JKD that sounded awful, but reinforces my view that one MUST NOT be without a spare wheel. Shame on Skoda for not providing them as standard.