Dear Briskodians

 

I've just bought a 2015 Octavia Scout. It has a spare wheel, which I consider an essential item - and this was advertised as 'space-saving'. However, I find that it is in fact a 6.5Jx16 ET46 steel rim with a 205/55r16 tyre on it - labelled 'Do not exceed 80kmh'.

 

As far as I can tell, that wheel is exactly the same spec as the Ilias alloys I bought from a scrap yard to fit winter tyres - but I understand also that the correct Scout tyre-size for 16" wheels is 205/60, rather than 205/55. That is perhaps what's meant by 'space-saving'?

 

So - if I'm right, I wonder whether any Scout-owners can confirm whether my spare would still fit in the space provided if it had a 205/60, rather than 205/55, tyre on it? If  - if so, I think I'd fit the larger 205/60 tyre so as better to match the diameter of the other wheels on the vehicle, whether they were the summer 255/50r17 or the winter 205/60r16.

 

Any thoughts welcome, thanks!

 

Sangrail

The wheel you have is a full sized one. It’s limited to 80 kmh because it’s not the same size as the alloys on the car. 205/55/16 is the standard 16 inch wheel size for the rest of the Octy range. I have no idea how fitting a 205/60/16 tyre will affect things.

Edited 23 July, 20187 yr by SashaGrace

Thanks Sasha

 

205/60r16 is the right tyre size for 16" wheels on a Scout. Mainly, I'm hoping to hear from folk with experience of whether that size tyre fits in the spare-wheel well without fouling anything else in that area.

205/60 should be about 2 cm bigger diameter than 205/55. The 205/55R16 in my spare wheel well appears to have at least a centimetre spare all the way round, so it looks as if it ought to fit.

I have a 2015 Scout, and have sourced a 16” rim with a 205/55 tyre, this is given as the correct size for a spare for the scout. This will give, or at least should give the same rolling radius on an axle if I have to do an ‘in the field’ emergency change, with the other tyre on the axle being a 225/50 on a 17” rim, which are the standard tyre sizes for the Scout.

 

im not sure how a 205/60 will affect the car if you are using the standard 17” rims, as the rolling radius may not match, causing wind up on the axle.

Interestingly, the Scout on 17" rims has 225/50 tyres - compared to 225/45 on the rest of the Octavia 3 range.

My understanding is that 205/55r16 has about the same circumference as 225/45r17 - so on the Scout, 205/55r16 is undersized (although it is as you say the official spare) - and therefore I guess more likely to cause wind-up.

 

The winter option for the scout on 16" rims is 205/60, which gives a circumference only marginally less than the standard 225/50r17 set-up.

That's why I'm wondering about a larger tyre on the spare, since it would be a better match in circumference for both the 225/50r17 standard and the 205/60r16 winter set-up.

I had a puncture on the back on my old Scout (17"s) and fitted the spare which was limited as is yours.  I drove round on it for 2 weeks and did normal motorway speeds without issue.  Being honest It did feel a little bit different

 

 

20 hours ago, ScoutCJB said:

I had a puncture on the back on my old Scout (17"s) and fitted the spare which was limited as is yours.  I drove round on it for 2 weeks and did normal motorway speeds without issue.  Being honest It did feel a little bit different

 

 

That's interesting to know! Perhaps I'm worrying about nothing. I suppose the best thing might be to try to put a 205/60r16-fitted wheel in the well once I've actually had my winter tyres fitted to the 16" rims.

Ever wondered WHY it says 80kmh  MAX speed and the effect it has on of driving a car with  4 wd at motorway speeds?

Sangrail,

Did you do the first best thing and take one of the wheels off the car and try putting it in the spare tyre well, if it fits all is well in the spare tyre well.

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

 

 

PS.

It is scary the amount of drivers that do fit an odd tyre to the other 3 or to the other one on the same axle and think that will a different size, width, weight, compound, tread even pressure there is no need to reduce speeds and just use as a temporary fix to get to a place to get the correct tyre on, a repair or replacement.

Not all Temporary Spares have stickers on saying 'Use your common sense'.

Edited 25 July, 20187 yr by Offski

It’s because it’s not that common @Offski

What is not that common, people driving with Spare Wheels on at speed?

 

Maybe open your eyes when out driving. 

Look at those cars with Alloys & 1 steel wheel on.  Look at ones with 1 red wheel or a steel wheel with a Yellow sticker.

 

I see ones every day i drive on the roads.  

Common Sense I meant!

When I got my puncture I was in Scotland it was about 7pm and I was driving down to Manchester that evening.  With the spare on I was aware of the speed advisory sticker on it, but in all honesty, after 3 mins of the A74m at night I was uncomfortable sat at that speed. Id rather sit at 70mph and stick with the relative flow of traffic as opposed to doing 49mph in the slow lane which, i feel is far more dangerous.

 

Had the car felt massively different or been a spindly space saver it would have been a different story but the only noticeable thing was when i hit a pot hole - it felt softer as the back wheel went through it.

 

I ordered 4 new tyres the following day but for reasons unknown 2 went via a different hub and turned up a week after the other set.

 

 

Edited 26 July, 20187 yr by ScoutCJB

So, today I had my 205/60r16 winter tyres fitted to the set of used 16" alloys that I bought for winter use. A quick test shows that this wheel/tyre combination fits reasonable comfortably in the spare-wheel well - so I will be replacing the 205/55r16 on the steel 16" spare with a 205/60r16 - which will be a decent match for both the summer 225/50r17 and the winter 205/60r16 setups. Better than the 205/55r16, at any rate!

18 hours ago, Sangrail said:

So, today I had my 205/60r16 winter tyres fitted to the set of used 16" alloys that I bought for winter use. A quick test shows that this wheel/tyre combination fits reasonable comfortably in the spare-wheel well - so I will be replacing the 205/55r16 on the steel 16" spare with a 205/60r16 - which will be a decent match for both the summer 225/50r17 and the winter 205/60r16 setups. Better than the 205/55r16, at any rate!

 

Just be cautious if using the the 16" spare with a 205/60r16 summer(?) tyre when you have the 225/50r17 summer tyres or 205/60r16 winter tyres. Different sizes and different designs of tyres used  on the same axle can be "interesting". 

11 minutes ago, gregoir said:

 

Just be cautious if using the the 16" spare with a 205/60r16 summer(?) tyre when you have the 225/50r17 summer tyres or 205/60r16 winter tyres. Different sizes and different designs of tyres used  on the same axle can be "interesting". 

Absolutly! Caution is always a good idea under such circumstances.

My feeling is that the behaviour of a generic 205/60r16 tyre as a spare with either setup will be a bit less peculiar than a generic 205/55r16, just becuase of the better match of diameter.

Edited 3 August, 20187 yr by Sangrail

At the end of the day, it's an emergency spare wheel and it's better than a true spacesaver and much better than the tyre repair kit.

 

For a comparison of tyre diameters and the effect on the speedometer, try https://tiresize.com/calculator/.  I have used this site since my early Yeti days.

 

For what it's worth, my own Octavia is on 16" wheels with 205/55-16 tyres (I chose this spec as I have a set of winter wheels in that size for ski trips) but I have a spare wheel kit I bought for a previous Yeti.  The Yeti was on 225/50-17 tyres as standard but the Skoda spare was a 195/60-16.  I have put that in the Octavia spare wheel well.  At 195/60-16, the calculator shows very little difference in speed readings and the tyre is appropriately speed and load rated.  Actually more appropriate than on the Yeti which had W rated tyres and was wildly over-tyred for a 1.2!!

 

As I said, much better than a spacesaver or a repair kit.

 

John

Edited 3 August, 20187 yr by jst_at_home
update

I ran my Scout on 205/55/16 winter tyres for one winter.  The speedo is out by about 4%, but I have VCDS so I just recoded the speedo for standard wheel circumference.  I now run a set of annapurna's off a yeti as my winter tyres (and why I now have 3 sets of wheels for one car...) as the tyre size was the same.  The 205/55/16 option seems to be the standard spare wheel size regardless of what is fitted to the car.

Edited 3 August, 20187 yr by trundlenut