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The Golf space-saver should not be used at over 50 mph -- it's marked on the sidewall. Just looking at the flimsy thing should engender some caution in all but the stupid, I would have thought. Still, I'm reminded of the time when I was passed on the motorway by an idiot towing a boat at 85mph.
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"all but the stupid" and dare I add arrogant. No wonder we live in a Nanny state.
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My spacesaver clearly states 80km/h as the max speed - the tread on it is like an airline tyre, no lateral grooves at all so doing 90mph is brainless.
Also remember that the spacesaver is for emergency use only i.e. to get you from where you had the puncture to home or the tyre fitter. They are not intended for continual use and using one for extended journeys is an offence.
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The trouble with space savers is that they're easily forgotten once fitted. A bit like towing a trailer that isn't visible in your rear view mirror. If you can't see them, then you're not constantly reminded of them.
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Quite a few years ago a guy got nicked in a Porsche 911 on the M3 for around 130MPH and on a space saver! Not only got done for the speed but also the unsuitable tyre.
Jim
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I had the misfortune of driving home (about 15 miles) on a skinny spacesaver on my Toyota Corolla. Probably the most uneasy journey I've ever had as I could feel the lack of grip when I got anywhere near 40mph.
Of course that might have just been the car, but I wasn't going to try going any faster.
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My Leon Cupra has 225 section tyres. The spare is a 205 section, and rated at 60 mph, IIRC. What is the point of that? Either have a space-saver that saves space, or a full size!!!
Alex.
--
Dr Alex Mears
Seat Leon Cupra
If you are in a hole stop digging...unless
you are a miner.
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My Leon Cupra has 225 section tyres. The spare is a 205 section, and rated at 60 mph, IIRC. What is the point of that? Either have a space-saver that saves space, or a full size!!!
Likewise my last car, a Vectra GSi Estate.
Shod with 215/45x17 tyres on Speedline alloy wheels, the spare was a Vx steel wheel with 195/65x15 tyre. When fitted, a limit of 60MPH applied. The reason can only be one of cost, because a full size wheel and tyre fitted happily in the spare wheel well, and there was no weight saving.
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Likewise my last car, a Vectra GSi Estate. Shod with 215/45x17 tyres on Speedline alloy wheels, the spare was
a Vx steel wheel with 195/65x15 tyre. When fitted, a
limit of 60MPH applied. The reason can only be one
of cost, because a full size wheel and tyre fitted happily
in the spare wheel well, and there was no weight saving.
Ditto my Vectra SRi estate had a 195/60-15 on a steel wheel, the road wheels were 205/55/16 though a 205 section tyre would not fit under the floor however a previous Vectra I had for a while, a 1996 2.0 SRi hatch fitted with 205/50-16's had a full size alloy spare.
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Agree with the sentiment HJ, but production costs are still costs, so it comes back to penny pinching. With modern supply chain management software and techniques, and bar code travellers on each car, it's easy peasy to ensure that the correct spare is fitted in the correct bodyshell earlier in the process. The cost is in allowing this to happen.
With respect to my Vectra however, it left Luton as an SRi and was converted to GSi spec, including swapping the wheels, a few miles up the road in Milton Keynes at the premises of MSD. Everything left over at the end of the swap was then shipped back to Luton for re-use.
Leaving a steel rim in the boot, when all this work is done post production, by hand, can only be continued cost saving (of having to purchase one less Speedline wheel per car, and of returning original fit wheels to a distribution depot and getting them back in to stock, or simply disposing of them).
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