Stolen Zafira spare wheels

mikey72

vikingaero wrote: »

I have one of the Osprey K-Loks fitted to my Zafira. On a good sunny dry day I reckon it would take me about 30 minutes minimum to change the flat with the spare - assuming that I'm going to sling the spare into the cradle without securing it with the K-Lok. :eek: To change the wheel properly and remount the spare securely would take 45 minutes to an hour.:eek::eek::eek:

It's unfortunate that the K-Lok is such a faff to use.

To give you an idea of what is involved you have to:

(1) Move stuff out of boot and passenger area - remove child seats
(2) Slide rear bench forward
(3) Remove floor lining and access tools
(4) Raise OSR third row seat and wedge it in place with it 2/3rds open
(5) Attempt to unscrew the K-Lok with the special yellow nut. At this stage the seat will slip and attempt to guillotine your hands. :mad: I carry a ratchet spanner in the car and even this gives only limited degrees of turn. :mad: Swear profusely as your hand gets guillotined and trapped over the next 5 minutes it takes you to undo the nut.:mad::mad::mad:
(6) K-Lok off and lower the wheel using the rear cradle holder nut
(7) Grab spare from sling and unbolt K-Lok. Swear if you forgot to Coppergrease it.:rolleyes:
(8) Fit spare
(9) Place flat tyre in boot and drive off; or place flat tyre in cradle and re-secure and drive off; or do the job properly and........... fit K-Lok to flat tyre, place flat tyre in cradle, clip on cradle lift and crank up 90% of the way, attempt to locate the K-Lok bolt through the K-Lok plate, whilst trying to hold rear seat that is attempting to chop off your hands, If you do this OK then crank up the K-Lok nut/bolt with the ratchet using minimal amount of room, once K-Lok is tight then secure cradle lift bolt, put tools away, place boot carpet back, place stuff back in boot, reslide back seats, refit child seats, drive off!

Or do I what I do and carry 2 cans of Holts Tyreweld in the car because I really don't want to access the spare except in a dire dire emergency.:D:D:D

Do 9 in my Zafira, two minutes later you hear the scraping noise as the cradle has bounced open, and is dragging down the road, trying to find an excuse to tear off. You need the emergency luggage elastic as well now. I've never found a tyre fitter that would do a repair after using tyreweld either, so it would have to be a real emergency for that.
But as I'll phone the AA, I don't mind the thought of them crawling under the car to get the spare.

goldspanners

mikey72 wrote: »

Your spacesaver can't be saving a lot of space if it's the same size as the normal tyre then.

it probably isnt,seen as the well for it could take a full size wheel. unfortunatly i didnt design said feature,if i did i would have supplied myself with a full size alloy and kept it where the spacesaver is just now, under the carpet.

mikey72

goldspanners wrote: »

it probably isnt,seen as the well for it could take a full size wheel. unfortunatly i didnt design said feature,if i did i would have supplied myself with a full size alloy and kept it where the spacesaver is just now, under the carpet.

It's a Ford, what else can you expect.

goldspanners

mikey72 wrote: »

It's a Ford, what else can you expect.

to be cleaner than you after changing a wheel.

mikey72

mikey72 wrote: »

But as I'll phone the AA, I don't mind the thought of them crawling under the car to get the spare.

Hmmm

goldspanners

mikey72 wrote: »

Hmmm

well in that case i intend to be continuing my journey much quicker than you.

personally i would rather save my AA calls for something that is important and something i dont have to tools or parts to repair with me or if i need towing away,not for a simple wheel change. :rolleyes:

mikey72

goldspanners wrote: »

well in that case i intend to be continuing my journey much quicker than you.

personally i would rather save my AA calls for something that is important and something i dont have to tools or parts to repair with me or if i need towing away,not for a simple wheel change. :rolleyes:

Like I said, it's a Ford. You probably need to.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

goldspanners

mikey72 wrote: »

Like I said, it's a Ford. You probably need to.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

if once in 5 years counts then fair enough.
infact i would say thats good if you compare it to the french stuff.

fatpiggy

Inactive wrote: »

Indeed, cheapskate engineering by the French, all of the Japanese cars that I have owned have had full size spares under the boot carpet that is easy to access by the owner and doesn't get nicked or covered in crud, I would sooner get a spare out of a nice clean boot than crawl about underneath it.

Um well mine is a Toyota!

mat777

holts tyreweld DOES NOT WORK!!! i had a flat and bought some, it has the consistency of shaving foam so when the tyre was pumped back up it just started spraying out of the hole - and it was only a thorn hole, you cant get a much smaller puncture. i comlained who holts who gave me a load of drivel about having to drive so the tyre heats up and makes the stuff set, but when i pointed out that by that time it would all have sprayed out anyway they admitted defeat and sent me a load of car care products as compensation. i suggest you get some of this stuff:

http://www.linseal.com/

its a much thicker green slime with flakes of rubber inside it so it really bungs up the hole - a bit like the stuff in self sealing bike innertubes. i bought a bottle and it worked brilliantly, now i have several bottles and use it on all my pneumatic tyred transport and other implements.
they say its mainly for heavy/farm machinery but ive had no problems with it in a car tyre.
its also quite chep, you get a bigger bottle than radweld, and its available from most lawnmower/far/atv service/sales establishments - mine came from county power in middlewich, cheshire.





as for the original posting subject about stolen spare wheels, wrap a bike lock or two round it and fasten it to something that non-hacksawable