Spare wheel

Car_54

Is it legal to have different-sized tyres on the same axle?

interstellaflyer

Car_54 wrote: »

Is it legal to have different-sized tyres on the same axle?

Space savers are only supposed to be used as a means of getting you immediately to a tyre fitter you are not supposed to go over 50mph and you are not supposed to keep on driving for days or weeks (as I've seen some people do)

facade

On my car, the comedy space saver spare is about an inch smaller in diameter overall, and miles thinner than the ones on the car, (looks like it is off a pushchair) and should only be fitted to the rear, whether that is to do with braking stability, transmission damage or traction control problems I don't know.

I bought a correct sized wheel & tyre from a breakers as a spare.

highet

have one of those comedy spares in my mini which i punctured on the securing ''spike'' when throwing back into well in boot - cost me more to replace it than for a full sized tyre!!!guy in the tyre place said they had never replaced one before!

Inner_Zone

cardi11 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

I actually do have a space saver but i was hoping to get a proper sized wheel instead. I travel regularly up and down the M5 and am a little concerned that, in the event of a flat tyre, I would be restricted to my speed and distance with the space saver whereas with a proper full-sized tyre that would not be a concern

The difficulty that I have is that my Focus is a 2014 Titanium model with 215/55 R16 wheels/ tyres and second hand tyres of this size are not very common. Most non-titanium Focuses have a 205 sized wheel (as one of the people in this thread has mentioned) and these are much easier to find. That is the reason why I am asking whether i could buy a 205 sized wheel and replace the tyre with a 215 size. I can get a 205 wheel and worn-out tyre for about £30 and I could then hopefully replace that tyre with a 215 one.

Any advice would be welcome.

205 and 215 are not wheel sizes but tyre sizes. You know the diameter 16" so now you need to find out the wheel width i.e. 5.5J etc, offset i.e. ET 43 etc, hole PCD i.e. 4 x 100, 5 x 110 etc and possibly bore hole diameter. The first two will probably be on the inside of an existing wheel the others you may need to measure.

Strider590

cardi11 wrote: »

I have a Ford Focus which came with no spare wheel and instead has a puncture repair kit.

I would like to buy an used spare wheel that matches my existing wheels and tyres but would like to know the answer to the following:

My existing four tyres are 215/55 R16 but I can buy a used wheel with a tyre on an auction site which has a 205/55 R16 tyre which needs replacing.

If I bought a new 215/55 R16 tyre would this fit on the new spare wheel or does the new tyre have to be a 215/55R16 tyre like my existing tyres.

Are you intending (should it be necessary) to jack the car up and change a wheel at the side of the road?

Because 90% of people these days won't and the other 10% will find the wheel nuts were done up with an impact wrench and won't budge.

Part of the reason you have no wheel is because very few people change wheels by the roadside any more and if they're calling out the breakdown recovery it doesn't matter if there's a spare or a repair kit.

jk0

My gf had a go with her repair kit recently at midnight. She failed, so called the AA. (Full package that I got for her.) AA man arrived after an hour and confirmed the problem. Then gf had to wait by the side of the road at 1am for a further 2 hours for a garage to bring a new tyre.

Unfortunately her Smart car has no skinny spare, or place to keep one.

Iceweasel

cardi11 wrote: »

I would be restricted to my speed and distance with the space saver whereas with a proper full-sized tyre that would not be a concern

I agree that your speed is limited with a spacesaver - but there is no distance restriction.

For the number of times that I would prefer to have a full size spare rather than the spacesaver I'm not concerned about it.

I also fail to see what is 'comic' about a spacesaver - I think they are a great idea.

loskie

a space saver from a Volvo V50/S40/C30 would fit as well. Buy the whole kit from a breakers

facade

Iceweasel wrote: »

I also fail to see what is 'comic' about a spacesaver - I think they are a great idea.

It looks like some sort of joke having a wheel off a pushchair at one corner of the car compared to the rubber band covered cotton reels at the other 3

The other part of the joke happens when you try and get the proper sized wheel into the tiny spacesaver space.

I believe that on some models of Porsche & Mercedes you either abandon the full size wheel, or make the passenger get out and put the wringing wet slimy wheel on their seat and hope it doesn't mark the interior

However, a spacesaver is better than no spare at all.