Looked in the boot this morning to make sure my Skinny spare wheel tyre still had air in it.

 

The tyre is Branded " Linglong "  I'm just glad it has " MAX SPEED 50 MPH " actually moulded into the sidewall  If I had full size Linglong tyres on all the car I wouldn't be doing more than 50 anyway 

 

I'm picking up a  18"Gemini full  size wheel in a couple of week and I'll stick a quality tyre on it, can't be doing with the " MAX SPEED 50 MPH " malarkey.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 19 July, 20196 yr by Auric Goldfinger

I take it a full size spare actually fits in the space?

21 minutes ago, *JP* said:

I take it a full size spare actually fits in the space?

 

I would say so.  The Octavia floor pan will be the same across all variants of the MKIII. The wheel fits face down and the Insert contains the Jack/tools drops into the wheel

It will sit slightly proud of the boot floor and raise the carpet slightly, but this can be overcome with some thick upholstery foam or insulation board cut to fit around the wheel well.

 

I think the foam insert will require some alterations to the outer edges to sit properly inside the full size wheel.

Wondering why this is a surprise? Space savers are always speed limited, tyre brand irrelevant.

I'd prefer to have this than nothing or a tin of just tyreweld - Spare wheel was only option my car came with. Since I don't own it and never will I have to stick with it.

 

To be honest I would probably do the same and have a full size spare alloy if I did own it though, so agreed on that approach.

Edited 19 July, 20196 yr by Scotty72

5 hours ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

 

I would say so.  The Octavia floor pan will be the same across all variants of the MKIII. The wheel fits face down and the Insert contains the Jack/tools drops into the wheel

 

Might be worth checking you'll be happy before venturing too far south Mr G.  I never kept it in the wheel well, where there was always a space saver.  This was spare in terms of I did something stupid, I'd have a proper alloy instead of a space saver to drive around on, the s/s being there just to get me home.

 

Gaz

46 minutes ago, 132 said:

 

Might be worth checking you'll be happy before venturing too far south Mr G.  I never kept it in the wheel well, where there was always a space saver.  This was spare in terms of I did something stupid, I'd have a proper alloy instead of a space saver to drive around on, the s/s being there just to get me home.

 

Gaz

 

 

Thanks Gaz but I'll be down to pick up the wheel, If I got a puncture on the was home from London I don't fancy diving a 50 mph.  I mean 50, what is the world coming  to.......................

Better than 0mph which is what I'd be doing. How much for the Linglong? 

I appreciate in this day and age a 50mph tyre is a joke, but I chose the spare wheel due to a friend trying to use a 'can of gunk' at the roadside and all that happened was the gunk came out the hole. It wouldn't seal due to the low temperature apparently. He ended up, not only getting recovered on a low loader, but having to get a new tyre as a few garages didn't want the job of cleaning the 'gunk' out. I supposedly can be cleaned, but most tyre places want a quick turnaround.

My experience of using my space saver I think it's a 195/ 15" was that I could safely do 70 mph on it.   On my way back from Glasgow at night on the A74m/M6 I didn't fancy being in the inside lane at 50mph.  Also it was on the rear.

 

And mine is a conti, not a Linglong ... lol.  I had 4 linglongs fittedc new to a car years ago, within a few months 2 were replaced under warranty due to cracking, then the other 2 cracked a few months later.  I binned all 4 and went Toyos at that point.  I've never brought a 'value tyre' since.

16 hours ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

 

 

Thanks Gaz but I'll be down to pick up the wheel, If I got a puncture on the was home from London I don't fancy diving a 50 mph.  I mean 50, what is the world coming  to.......................

 

 

I suppose they limit it to 50mph so you can Linglong and prosper...

Rammalammalinglong

History repeats itself. Not so long ago Skoda was the joke, now a Skoda owners ridicule Linglong. Kinda ironic, no?

 

"I'm just glad it has " MAX SPEED 50 MPH " actually moulded into the sidewall  If I had full size Linglong tyres on all the car I wouldn't be doing more than 50 anyway" yet not a single piece of evidence is provided to support why LingLong is no good for over 50mph. Given that the brand is widely sold in the UK and their tyres pass all our regulations, then why mock LingLong?

 

On 20/07/2019 at 07:00, ScoutCJB said:

My experience of using my space saver I think it's a 195/ 15" was that I could safely do 70 mph on it.   On my way back from Glasgow at night on the A74m/M6 I didn't fancy being in the inside lane at 50mph.  Also it was on the rear.

 

And mine is a conti, not a Linglong ... lol.  I had 4 linglongs fittedc new to a car years ago, within a few months 2 were replaced under warranty due to cracking, then the other 2 cracked a few months later.  I binned all 4 and went Toyos at that point.  I've never brought a 'value tyre' since.

 

No need to go searching on the internet, just search for 'tyre cracking' on Briskoda and you'll see complaints of Continental, Michelin etc  tyres cracking.

 

I often read people complaining about braking distance, wet weather performance, cornering etc and here we have someone driving at 70mph on a tyre rated at 50 max. The mind boggles on why you think you're a person who should give advice on mini-spare tyres. And you call that 'safe'?    Jeez !!!

 

Hope I'm not the only one to find that incredibly stupid thing to do.  Just lucky you didn't have an accident of any kind because not only would you have been prosecuted regardless of blame, you wouldn't have been covered by your insurer.  

I had green max uhp tyres on my alfa mito 155 ,they were made by lingalong ,they were soft compound so were not high milage tyres ,but they never missed a beat in any weather condition infact i replaced with a second set ,i believe they were designed by continental then made in china just like lots of todays good brand tyres are ,the falkens azenis on my 220 are chinese and i cant fault them either ,seems lots of folk on forums think their tyre experts either that or fall for the brand name 

On 19/07/2019 at 12:43, Auric Goldfinger said:

I would say so.  The Octavia floor pan will be the same across all variants of the MKIII. The wheel fits face down and the Insert contains the Jack/tools drops into the wheel

 

I bought a full size Gemini and put a Michelin PS4 on it, as my spare.  I also bought the Skoda insert with the jack etc.  I can confirm that the boot floor will definitely sit flush, once you've hacked enough away from the foam insert.  You can safely remove loads from the bottom which avoids the raised floor issue.  You will also need to take lots off all around the circumference.

 

The only other factor to maybe consider is the tyres being uni-directional.  It then depends which side of the car the puncture is on as to whether the wheel is rotating in the right direction 😁.  I wasn't too fussed as I would only have the spare on very short term, if that was the case.

 

Touch wood, I've never needed it, so far, so I've going to shut up in case I tempt fate!!

1 hour ago, peterhardy said:

 

I bought a full size Gemini and put a Michelin PS4 on it, as my spare.  I also bought the Skoda insert with the jack etc.  I can confirm that the boot floor will definitely sit flush, once you've hacked enough away from the foam insert.  You can safely remove loads from the bottom which avoids the raised floor issue.  You will also need to take lots off all around the circumference.

 

The only other factor to maybe consider is the tyres being uni-directional.  It then depends which side of the car the puncture is on as to whether the wheel is rotating in the right direction 😁.  I wasn't too fussed as I would only have the spare on very short term, if that was the case.

 

Touch wood, I've never needed it, so far, so I've going to shut up in case I tempt fate!!

 

That's it...

Space savers are usually speed and distance rated whatever the make.

 

There is obvious handling and grip issues but also heat dissipation issues which is why there's sometimes a distance restriction.

 

I've had a spare, space saver or runflats for over 30 years and I've never had to fit it. Yes I've had the odd slow puncture or noticed a nail or screw in the tyre but always got it to a tyre place first.

 

Then in March I bought a car that has a can of gunk. The spare wheel well is full of subwoofer. (Not a Skoda) And since March I've had two punctures that couldn't be repaired and the Gunk wouldn't seal. Had to be recovered back home.

Each time £50 for new gunk, £150 for new tyre and £25 to wash the gunk out of the wheel. 

 

I've now ordered a space saver spare and a boot bag. The space saver is a Pirrelli but is still 50mph and 50 miles limit.

 

 

 

 

My car has a steel spare wheel (oe) with a standard tyre 205/55/16, V rated. Fits fine with the foam insert and all the tools. My remaining wheels are alloys, with the same size of tyre. The spare wheel has the 50 mph sticker on it. No reply needed, this has been the topic of several debates. I'd be happy using it at any speed.

SWMBO new Kia has got a space saver tyre and wheel. Looks like a lightly built wheelbarrow tyre with little tread. I can definitely see why it is not suitable for more than 50mph. The last puncture I experienced was a real tyre shredder.

Edited 21 July, 20196 yr by gregoir

As above,there's a significant difference between a modern pram like spacesaver and an alternative spare that's not exactly the same size as the normal wheels and tyres.

When I had an Octy vRS mk2 it was on standard 18" alloys and 225/40 tyres.The spare provided was a 16" steel with a tyre size which,IIRC,was 205/55,which would have had a similar overall rolling radius.

That spare,if fitted,had no speed restriction,as far as I know.

 

(p.s. Can someone get it into the thick heads of the car makers that the majority would like their proper spare wheels and tyres back,even if it means dispensing with some of the showroom appeal/tech stuff that in the real world is of little use.)