spare wheel Spare Wheel Vs Tyre Repair Kit

[GregMech18]

Hey all, so my car has the tyre repair kit, with the VW goop and compressor. However the goop had been used by the previous owner as the bottle is empty and the compressor's 12v connector cable is all loose.  So I am currently without any method of dealing with punctures.

 

The price of new goop seems astronomicaly high, in the order of £50. Some cheaper prices on eBay...

 

From what I can see, a spare wheel kit is in the order of £150.

 

So I am wondering if it's a more cost effective long term solution to get a spare wheel kit, preferably a Skoda one. I haven't pulled out the big polystyrene mass under my boot floor so I am unsure of the geometry down there.

 

Some initial questions I have about going down the spare wheel route are:

 

- This may seem like a really silly question but I can't seem to find clarification that spare wheels come with tyres? Does this differ between full size and space savers? 

 

- Do Skoda do space savers or full size spare wheels? Or both? 

 

- does the geometry of the area under the boot floor mean the wheel will sit snug and not slide around? 

 

- My car's wheels are 17", if I get  space saverI am guessing I would need to have a wheel with an equally sized centre.  

 

- is it advised to go with a wheel and kit not made by the same manufacturer as the car?

 

Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks  

 

 

 

[threadbear]

Personally I’d go with either a full size spare, I was lucky that my Octavia came with a full size spare. My Fabia had the compressor and can of goo and fortunately I never had to use it. Even a space saver is better than a can of goo and a pump. I’d talk to a parts man at your dealer. 

Edited 2 March, 2020 by threadbear

[SurreyJohn]

Most spares are full size (but on steel rims) and the tyres are often a cheaper brand in a more basic size (the outside circumference will be similiar, but the rim and sidewall proportions different) wont be any expensive optional alloy wheel with low profile tyres

 

You can buy the set (including the jack and tools and polystyrene holder) from a dealer,

or find cheap alternatives on ebay (buyer beware)

 

 

Edited 2 March, 2020 by SurreyJohn

[skoda2019]

I had a look online, eBay etc, but with cost of wheel then Jack and brace and foam inserts, just called at local dealer who sold me job lot for same as online prices. (Give or take a few quid) I went for the full size spare wheel.

Already used when I got a blow out courtesy of a pot hole, no amount of goo would  fix that 😁

Edited 2 March, 2020 by skoda2019
additional info

[skoda2019]

When you get your spare wheel, have a practice at changing it, don't wait till you need to do it in the dark and rain!

[edbostan]

I have been toiling with the idea of a spare. At local dealers a kit is £160 odd but you might have to order it when ordering a new car. This Sunday I spotted a screw in my tyre after visiting the local recycling centre the previous day. I always check tyre pressures after washing car and one tyre was lower in pressure than the other. In 6 years of ownership I have had 4 punctures with only one miles away from home. On that occasion I was on the M20 en route to the Channel Tunnel. The AA breakdown technician says that if I had a spare we would have been off and away in 30 mins so he had to take us to Maidstone for a tyre repair. We missed the booked train so rebooked for a later time. At least we had a good English breakfast in the Premier Inn opposite. 

[Stoofa]

My car came with the space-saver and I'm happy enough with that.

At the end of the day it only needs to get me to somewhere to have a new tyre fitted (even if I have to buy a temporary ditch finder before I then source a pair of good, branded tyres for the axle)

 

I'm running on 19" wheels, I'm told that a full-size spare will fit in the well, however will lift the floor slightly - my OCD wont allow that to happen

[skoda2019]

17 minutes ago, edbostan said:

I have been toiling with the idea of a spare. At local dealers a kit is £160 odd but you might have to order it when ordering a new car. This Sunday I spotted a screw in my tyre after visiting the local recycling centre the previous day. I always check tyre pressures after washing car and one tyre was lower in pressure than the other. In 6 years of ownership I have had 4 punctures with only one miles away from home. On that occasion I was on the M20 en route to the Channel Tunnel. The AA breakdown technician says that if I had a spare we would have been off and away in 30 mins so he had to take us to Maidstone for a tyre repair. We missed the booked train so rebooked for a later time. At least we had a good English breakfast in the Premier Inn opposite. 

 

Go and buy it, you don't have to be buying a new car, that's about the price I paid, just go to the stores dept and get it.

[GregMech18]

Thank you for all the input. I had a feeling people prefer spares over goop. but just thought it would be worth asking. 

 

11 minutes ago, Stoofa said:

My car came with the space-saver and I'm happy enough with that.

At the end of the day it only needs to get me to somewhere to have a new tyre fitted (even if I have to buy a temporary ditch finder before I then source a pair of good, branded tyres for the axle)

 

I'm running on 19" wheels, I'm told that a full-size spare will fit in the well, however will lift the floor slightly - my OCD wont allow that to happen

 

I agree with your sentiment on the space saver, it just needs to go a short way. 

 

With your being 19" wheels what is your tyre's OD? Would they be the same as mine, but with a smaller sidewall? if so then I may well go for a space saver. MY OCD would also eat away at me if the floor was uneven/ raised over the spare!

[Alex-W]

There's other posts on this, you can fit a full size spare in without lifting the floor.   It depends on the tyre fitted, some have greater sidewall protection, which add crucial mm onto the width.  

 

In terms of diameter, they're all similar, see below (18/19/space saver)

 

Of course, if people put a 235mm tyre on a 19", which is common, to increase kerb resistance and comfort, it's not going to fit.

[Gabbo]

+1 for a full-sized-spare.

In my 15 years of driving I've been lucky enough to only have one tyre related incident. In this case the valve of the tyre had been completely removed from the tyre so no amount of goop would have got my going again.

 

Since then I've always ordered the full-sized-spare with every car but so far had the good fortune not to need it. 

€150 for 5 years worry free driving is pretty cheap for me.

[GregMech18]

16 minutes ago, Alex-W said:

There's other posts on this, you can fit a full size spare in without lifting the floor.   It depends on the tyre fitted, some have greater sidewall protection, which add crucial mm onto the width.  

 

In terms of diameter, they're all similar, see below (18/19/space saver)

 

Of course, if people put a 235mm tyre on a 19", which is common, to increase kerb resistance and comfort, it's not going to fit.

 

Thanks for your insight, with my tyres being 225/45R17 I would assume a full size would fit? calculator comes up with 635mm OD.

Makes sense that a wider tyre wouldn't fit as I Imagine the well is slightly conical in shape.

[skoda2019]

15 minutes ago, Gabbo said:

+1 for a full-sized-spare.

In my 15 years of driving I've been lucky enough to only have one tyre related incident. In this case the valve of the tyre had been completely removed from the tyre so no amount of goop would have got my going again.

 

Since then I've always ordered the full-sized-spare with every car but so far had the good fortune not to need it. 

€150 for 5 years worry free driving is pretty cheap for me.

Totally agree.

Can't understand why they sell them without a spare, when a spare will fit.

The extra cost to someone spending thousands of pounds on a car, they wouldn't notice or care. Also taking into account the inconvenience of goo repair and health and safety of being stranded as you don't have a spare.

[Gabbo]

2 minutes ago, skoda2019 said:

Totally agree.

Can't understand why they sell them without a spare, when a spare will fit.

The extra cost to someone spending thousands of pounds on a car, they wouldn't notice or care. Also taking into account the inconvenience of goo repair and health and safety of being stranded as you don't have a spare.

 

Cost to the manufacturer & a bit of a fiddle on "emissions/weight class". Its prbably €25 versus €100 to the manufacturer which can be directly "profit".

If you think VAG sell millions of cars per year thats a lot of millions from selling goop instead of a alloy wheel & tyre.

 

You will find that most cars have base options without many "heavy" features like spare wheel etc.

As it is "optional" it is not necessary to have them fitted when running emissions tests so the results are better (easier to get into the required targets).

At least with the old system this was the case, I'm not sure how this is handled with the WLTP tests now.

 

[Mouldy]

My vRS came with a space saver spare, which in my opinion is infinitely preferable to goop and a compressor, however I secured a full size 18” Gemini alloy from eBay and fitted a standard size 225/40 x 18 tyre, which fits in the boot, albeit by raising the boot floor a couple of mm.  As for the polystyrene insert, rather than butchering the standard one, again eBay came to the rescue with one from a breakers, complete with tools.

Over the past three years, I have suffered three punctures and every time have been thankful that a few minutes changing a wheel, has saved the inconvenience of waiting for the recovery services to attend and my journey has continued without travelling at reduced speed.

Whilst I recognise that weight reduction is allegedly the reason for not fitting a spare wheel, along with the quest to fit ever larger rims to even the most mundane of vehicles, with nowhere to store them, to me a spare wheel is a necessity.

[Lingnoi]

My car (secondhand) came with a spare wheel, which despite being a full size steel spare, because it's a 16" it's smaller than the 17"s that the car is fitted with so you have to treat it like a space saver i.e. no more than 50 mph or 50 miles. BUT it's been an absolute Godsend, used it 3 times now including when the tyre sidewall was ripped open by extremely sharp kerb stones. Wouldn't be without it. Previous car was a BMW which came with no spare and runflats, ironically I've had more flat tyres since I got a car with a spare wheel.

[Alex-W]

That's a fair point.  

I wonder if anyone does a 7.5" steel wheel in the Octavia fitment.

[edbostan]

Skoda dealer quoted £143 for steel wheel with budget tyre and £175 with premium tyre. Wheel is 6x15 and tyre 195/55 R15 so that must be a full size spare. I will go for it for peace of mind.

[Alex-W]

That's only full size if you have 15" wheels fitted to the rest of the car...

 

To be able to do more than 50mph you need to have the same wheel size and tyre profile on both wheels on each axel.  

[nbramwel]

I wouldn't have a car without a spare wheel.  The can of goo is useless in my opinion.  My full size spare is 205*55*R16 (same as the wheels on the car and with the same Michelin tyre).  It and the jacking kit fit in the spare wheel well no problem.

[GregMech18]

So I heard back from my loca dealer/Skoda service centre:

 

£322 for the full size 17" spare wheel

£109 for a matching tyre

£12.50 for fitting. 

 

A bit steeper than I was thinking it would be. But from everyone's comments here it would be worth it. 

 

 

[peter3197]

On 02/03/2020 at 21:37, edbostan said:

Skoda dealer quoted £143 for steel wheel with budget tyre and £175 with premium tyre. Wheel is 6x15 and tyre 195/55 R15 so that must be a full size spare. I will go for it for peace of mind.

If that's on a Octavia Mk 3 it should be a 195/65 R15 not 195/55.

[edbostan]

1 hour ago, peter3197 said:

If that's on a Octavia Mk 3 it should be a 195/65 R15 not 195/55.

Roomster

[edbostan]

On 02/03/2020 at 13:33, skoda2019 said:

Totally agree.

Can't understand why they sell them without a spare, when a spare will fit.

The extra cost to someone spending thousands of pounds on a car, they wouldn't notice or care. Also taking into account the inconvenience of goo repair and health and safety of being stranded as you don't have a spare.

Visiting the council dump is not always a good idea. 

[varaderoguy]

I retrofitted a spacesaver wheel to my old VRS TDI184 - which I needed when I went to Europe last year.  You can with a bit of jiggy pokery - have gloop/spare tyre in the same space.  Basically, the rule is - the space for a spare wheel is 17" tyres.  If you have an 18" wheel, then you can either get a space saver - 16" and 17" setups can use a full size steel.