Spare f*cking wheel

[C.A.R.]

Back in the old days we used to remove the spare wheel altogether for 'weight saving innit' cos we were all too cool to get a puncture.

Well replaced the rear shocks yesterday which meant I needed to drop the spare wheel down.

The tyre (P6000) is probably the original and the cage has left a permanent mark in the tyre wall. The wheel itself, the cage, the lowering/raising mechanism etc. was all rusted to f*ck.

So what shall I do? It's gonna be useless if I do get a puncture, we had to use a jack to secure the cage back up! The lowering hook is seized solid.

Thinkiing about f*cking it off and leaving it in the shed tbh, but now I do a lot more miles and some of that is for business, so I'm not sure!

Is the Tyreweld stuff any good as a temporary fix?

[Niall]

A tyre is supposed to be replaced after 4 years anyway wether its in use or not so yes, its f*cked. Replace it with a budget and put it back under the car. Sods law says you will need it!

[cully]

bin it get a tin of foam shit and a breakdown card

[kingy]

bin it get a tin of foam shit and a breakdown card

im with this man.....

[ginge191]

True story cully; having a busted lowering mechanism (as i also have) is pointless! if you broke down, the chances of getting it down is very low.

[Niall]

bin it get a tin of foam shit and a breakdown card

Yeah. Great idea for a large puncture or a blowout.

[lozz]

Hi,

if your 306 is a Hatchback, Dont bin the spare wheel or the hanger,
leave it on mate,

iwas in a crash in a 306 hatch back . if it wasnt for the spare wheel the the tailgate
wouid of been in my back,

The car wouid of just folded up withought it,

[cully]

Hi,

if your 306 is a Hatchback, Dont bin the spare wheel or the hanger,
leave it on mate,

iwas in a crash in a 306 hatch back . if it wasnt for the spare wheel the the tailgate
wouid of been in my back,

The car wouid of just folded up withought it,

this boy also speaks the truth as the spare is part of the crumple zone

[Eeyore]

Interesting that the spare actually gives it a bit of strength or padding either way!

[Curt]

Get a new tyre and all the other bits from a scrapper, cover it all in copper slip/chain lube and stick it back up. IMO running without a spare with the option to run one is daft. You can carry a can of Tyreweld, but chances are when you need it, it won't work!

[Toms306]

The spare is there for safety? Christ, bit if a bugger if you have a puncture and then are rear ended!

Personally I wouldn't bother, I've never run without a spare, but I've also had many breakdowns, none of which needing a wheel. Maybe I should carry spare drums/shoes, headgaskets, waterpipes, aux belts, turbos, cams, driveshafts, etc.... But we don't (well, I think ruan does lol), just seems pointless to kerp a spare wheel when there's so many other possible and more likely issues that could arrise. And let's face it, apart from not bring able to crack the nuts when the garage have gunned them to 500Nm but also would you really stand outside you car in the dark and pouring rain trying to get the wheel out of that stupid f*cking rusty cage (after removing the saftey bolt from under all the shit in your boot) then hoping your handbrake works as you have no chok and attempting to change the wheel? More than likely not!!

[Scott]

Bit of a surprise that it's not been flagged on the MOT if it's that f*cked! I know in my old GTi it got away with a ruined spare but only because it was still in the original black wrapper so the testers had never bothered!

[C.A.R.]

Yea so I'm convinced to probably keep it, I'll give the cage a lick of black hammerite but I'm gonna need a new bolt thing and lowering hook cos it's seized solid. Can someone look the parts up on servicebox? Probably £ra*e.99

The other problem is the "key" bit in the boot, what a shit idea that was. I imagine I could use a 21mm (same as the wheel bolts iirc) long bolt instead?

[Toms306]

Wheel bolts are 19s on these, but actually that's really not a bad idea to use a bolt instead!

[lozz]

soak everthing in wd40 it shouid free up,

use two pairs of mole grips to work it free,
then put some grease on the Threads,

or grab one off a scrapper and just cut your old one off,

[gareth7]

New carrier retaining hooks are about £20 from Ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/220376126575?s...1423.l2649

[JamesG]

I've got a good that's free from rust available if your interested? Could do with a clean up just to get rid of the crap on it

[Shea]

Ive got another hanger going on in summer thats being powdercoated red, keep thinking of getting rid and just sodding the spare off but i know sods law comes around and ill get a flat...

[Piggy]

I had a couple new cars for work...they dont come with spares...I argued with them about how stupid these dumbass cans were...as all the punctures I have ever had would not be fixed can a crap of high pressure crap.

they picked me up from the side of the road after a 1hr wait when piece of glass puncture the low pro tyre. the gunk was useless....anything but a perfectly round tiny puncture and its no good.

I just keep mine all greased up...seams to be fine.

mine only has the slot too but at the pug garage the guys used to just weld a nut to it and keep a cheap speed brace in the boot!

[Parksy87]

The spare is there for safety? Christ, bit if a bugger if you have a puncture and then are rear ended!

Personally I wouldn't bother, I've never run without a spare, but I've also had many breakdowns, none of which needing a wheel. Maybe I should carry spare drums/shoes, headgaskets, waterpipes, aux belts, turbos, cams, driveshafts, etc.... But we don't (well, I think ruan does lol), just seems pointless to kerp a spare wheel when there's so many other possible and more likely issues that could arrise. And let's face it, apart from not bring able to crack the nuts when the garage have gunned them to 500Nm but also would you really stand outside you car in the dark and pouring rain trying to get the wheel out of that stupid f*cking rusty cage (after removing the saftey bolt from under all the shit in your boot) then hoping your handbrake works as you have no chok and attempting to change the wheel? More than likely not!!

Thing is if your brakes, water pipes, head gasket goes you've got no choice but to get a recovery where as a wheel can be changed easy and its not like youve got to keep it on the passenger seat, just keep a little trolley jack and breaker bar with a 19mm socket on hardly gonna cause the arse end to drag due to weight is it.
Had a blow out 6am on the m5 front passenger side, balls to sitting on the side of the motorway, lit a fag jacked it up and by the time id smoked it the wheel was changed and i was back on my way to work instead of sat waiting for a rubber necker to cause an accident

[Piggy]

^^^^ fyi doing it yourself on the motorway is illegal...if not just suicidal!


anyway...if your not a newb and do wheels/maintenance yaself then you will have torqued up the wheels appropriately and wont need to carry more weight around just in case

[Parksy87]

Oops nevermind, making you an the car are visible, face oncoming traffic, common sense ...... I survived

[Rich306]

I'm just gonna carry the Spare wheel in the back, sod waiting around for recovery.
I've not been attended to sooner than 45minutes.

[bigcheez2k3]

Mine did the same, wasn't coming undone and the tyre and wheel were shit too. Hacksawed it off, which isn't easy as it's a thick bolt, and now got an old swallow on there with the bolt from the old car, with some copper grease of course, want to be able to get it off again

Good shout on the hammerite though, might do that with mine once I've rubbed the rust off.

[C2K]

Butchers.

When mine was seized I jacket up the cage, unhooked it and dropped the tyre away. Bit of blowtorch and molegrips required but having wirebrushed the hell out of the rest of the thread it came off.

Probably seized again.

[C.A.R.]

Well I have the Hammerite ready to apply and I'm going to give the spare steel a smattering too.

Only thing missing now is the motivation

Also need to source a new bolt / hook arrangement, but really can't afford one right now. I've had a couple of PM'd offers on here but I haven't got a penny to my name this month

[silestanix]

I'd keep a spare mate, when I hit a stupidly big Pothole in my Volvo last year, the rim and tyre were ruined and the Can of TyreCrap was useless. First thing I did when I got a new rim and tyre was source a spacesaver spare and kept it in the boot. Ended up using it a week later when I had a blowout at the rear on the M25 Jct 23...50mph Max speed (I just tagged behind some Lorries lol) but it got me home and around for a few days whilst a tyre was sourced.