That ******* spare wheel

Probably they were thinking that a *flat* full sized tire would fit.

 

Mine came with some black straps that are meant to hold the flat tire in the rear cargo area.

 

use the black straps it came with, i only know this cus my GFs old Scion tC was the same thing

 

Well, you'd have to move everything out of the rear cargo area to get to the spare in the first place. You just put the regular tire in the cargo area because you're probably going to go straight to someplace to get it repaired and back on the car. You don't drive around very long on a spare. They're not made for it. They stopped putting full size spares in cars a long time ago.

 

Would you be able to replace the black plastic box and the folding hatch cover, if you have a full-size tire sitting in the tire well?

Did your car come with the scissors jack that normally lives on top of the spare tire, and the tools that fit into the black plastic box?

BTW, I had to replace one of the tires with the compact spare after my wife hit some debris on the highway and the right front tire suffered an immediate deflation. The provided tire wrench is pretty short; therefore it is difficult to use. I was able to loosen the lugnuts by standing on the end of the tire wrench to apply the needed torque. The lugnuts had previously been tightened by me to 76 ft.-lb. If they had been significantly tighter, this approach may not have worked.

I found that the handling of the car was OK with the compact spare installed in the RF position. However, this is for temp use only and I recall that tire is not rated for use above 60 mph or so.

 

deflate the spare and bring a small air compressor to fill it up when you have to

 

True, Tony, although the odds of selective probability say that the chances of having a flat increase dramatically if you have no room to carry a flat. Likewise the odds go up pretty fast during heavy rain or slushy days, especially if you are wearing dress clothes.

Tom

 

Use the "space saver" spare, how often do you get a flat tyre?
If you are fully loaded put some of the load on a passenger's lap while you drive to a repairer on the space saver. Good chance you will never need to.

By the way, here is Australia donuts are a food item. They are a round deep fried cake with a hole in the middle. Never use one as a spare tyre.

 

It is actually more likely to get a flat in rain. The reason is the water acts as a lubricant to the tire cutting item/nail/screw. It's actually very difficult to puncture a modern tire in the dry, which is why it happens so infrequently.

Case in point, over the years I have seen people drive over glass beverage bottles. So far, in the dry, I've never seen it cause a flat, but in the wet, it's 50/50 (the bottles almost always shatter wet or dry).

At any rate, if you want to use a full size spare, you have to carry it deflated (as posted above). Which also means you have to carry a pump. Or you could just carry a can of "fix a flat" (the Mazda RX-8 comes this way).

You still have the original wheels with the tire pressure monitor sensors? Don't fret if they stole the OEM tires, they aren't worth much.

 

It wasn't you experiencing a newbie moment. It was the dealer guy experiencing whatever it is that they experience. No spare well is sized to fit a full size wheel if the car comes with a donut. What would be the point in wasting all that space?

 

Not to mention the ding on fuel economy that would come from carrying a full-sized spare around for a hundred thousand miles, or the added bother of wrestling with two full-sized wheels if the driver ever needs to do a swap on the road.

 

How true! The one time I had a flat on the interstate (knock on wood!), I was wearing a dress, it was raining, and I had my elderly mother and her friend in the car with me. Thankfully, we could see an auto shop nearby on the access road, so I carefully drove through the ditch to get there, and the guys changed the tire for me.

My last flat happened just before I got into town on a back road, and I was able to drive slowly to a nearby tire dealer without any damage to the tire.

Linda

 

Oh great, just brilliant. Now my tummy is rumbling

 

This situation is a well understood and vaguely documented law of nature: If you carry a well maintained spare tire, odds are that you will never need it. However, the day you remove your spare tire (and/or tire jack), the probability of tire failure increases radically.

Keith

 

lol.... it's only funny 'cause it's true.... The last time I had to change a tire was on the side of a VERY BUSY freeway in the pouring rain wearing nice clothes... Now of course I have roadside assistance on my ins. Won't be doing that EVER again.

 

i transported a flat today by removing the top of the luggage box cover (the hatch floor) and dumping the wheel in there.

normally i have a blanket i keep in the back for messy things, but it's currently in use elsewhere.

 

This is actually one of the infinite variations on Murphy's Law!