Not sure how the Berlingo cage works but the Renault 4s my mum used to have had the wheel supported by two bars, hinged at one end and secured at the other by a long bolt. The head of the bolt was visible in the boot floor, and by loosening it with the wheel brace, you could lower the cage and remove the wheel, but only if you could open the tailgate first. (You'd hardly have to be James Bond to open a 4 without the key, but no-one ever did.) It wouldn't be hard to replace the bars with a plate (which would also keep the wheel cleaner) and to shield the securing bolt, and you'd have a fit-for-purpose modern equivalent.
In principle, it's much the best place to keep the wheel - I dread the prospect of a puncture with a full load in my car: once I've got the space-saver on, what do I do with the big, dirty thing that won't fit under the boot floor?
The problem with the Picasso, I suppose, is its own popularity, coupled with the knowledge among petty criminals that there are easy pickings to be had. The third part of the problem is the willingness of owners, having lost out once to the thieves, to fuel the market by buying replacement wheels through Ebay - they're hardly likely to be from bona fide owners who've decided to make do with a can of foam and use the cage as a wine rack instead, are they? What's the old talkboard maxim about not feeding the trolls?
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usethe cage as a wine rack instead, are they?
You sir are a genius.
Spare is on eBay now.
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I'll watch out for a new thread next week:
'Scrotes stole Yquem 1959 from under my Picasso'
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My son's old Fiesta spare is released from its cage via a bolt into the boot. IIRC, you'd have to remove some luggage to get at it and you would need an overall to avoid getting filthy. For the 50p you might get for the wheel, I don't imagine it would be worth the time, even for the most worthless of scrotes.
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I browsed Ebay hoping to buy back my own spare with its Brand new Michelin tyre.
However the one wheel that I bought was from somebody who had put alloys on and sold his 4 wheels individually to people like me. How do I know (or believe) he was genuine? The wheel came in the original alloy box!
--
pmh (was peter)
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I think spares are inevitably going the way of the starting handle. Being realistic, do you really want to change an offside wheel on the hard shoulder, especially if you are dressed for work, or an evening out? Get a tin of foam, or breakdown cover.
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>>Not sure if this post shouldbe allowed, it may have too much info for the criminals.
It is already very common knowledge to the low lifes, so much so that I know people in the police force who are regularly tasked to knock on the doors (very early morning seems popular) of people known to specialise in collecting enough Peugeot and Citroen wheels to knock up a set to order.
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It also one of the reasons ( along with cost ) PSA stopped fitting alloy spare wheels back in 1994, Do 4 cars with the same style wheels & you would have a nice new set of alloys.
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Official Citroen policy as of july 06 has been that purchasers of new vehicles should all be offered the spare wheel lock as an accessory. If the dealer in this case did not do that then you may have grounds to complain to Citroens customer care people.
AFAIK this policy was put in place because of the large number of complaints and goodwill replacements that Citroen were having to make.
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doug,
i for one would want to have the choice to change the wheel or not. For some, like my wife, squirty gunk is fine because if she has a flat she will call out the breakdown people. No good for me though. Take tomorrow as an example. I have a meeting outside of derby and have to drive. If i get a flat, im going to want to change it and not use gunk - or worse call breakdown and get towed. It would be inconvenient and costly.
My tyre came with gunk, but had space for a space saver. So i bought one just in case.
I think an individuals driving habits and circumstances would dictate how useful a spare but i would hate to have to rely on gunk. not much good when the tyre shreds.
Back to original topic, i always thought it an odd place to keep the wheel, under the car. They should be fixed to the front and be used as fenders!
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I prefer to have a spare wheel.
My 206 originally came with a noddy wheel, that went on Ebay for £5 & was replaced by a new full size steel spare, I cant stand or see the point of space savers, normally the spare wheel well or cage has room for a full size wheel, saw one stupid design of space saver in the boot of a car once ( cant remember what make or model ) that had loads of moulded polystyrene to pack it out in the wheel well up level to the boot floor, whats the point in doing that, fit a full size spare.
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It is quite simple.......the French car makers couldn't give two hoots for their British customers.
The spare wheel problem has been so for yonks (ex-wife's company Clio in 1994 had this happen, solution was Renault dealer fitting bolt through the boot floor). Until it happened we were clueless.
If this market is important to them, which looking at the sales figures it must be, then they need to adapt their product for this market. If a fair number of British toerags nick spare wheels, to the extent the main dealers know this and have a solution for it, (which incidentally the customer has to cough up for), then that should have been incorporated into their cars from the start, once they realised the problem.
To have it still happening all these years later shows a contempt for the customer.
I appreciate that the bottom of Cornwall or top of Scotland probably doesn't have this problem, but there's a fair number of their products in our major cities
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You cant blame the French for people going round & stealing spare wheels.
Ford & Vauxhall also use these under slung spare wheel system on some of there cars too.
This is turning it to a slag Citroen off thread when really it isnt there fault in the first place!
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i'm willing to widen it to any manufacturer who provides an under slung spare and inappropriate security...it's just that this thread relates to Citroen and my own experience related to Renault......i've never owned anything else with an underslung spare
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It strikes me that if manufacturers are prepared to put a lock on, say, the fuel cover, they should make the external spare (if that´s where they put it) a wee bit more secure. Particularly if they designed the lockable bit in in the first place. Or am I in a world of my own?
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If a thief is prepared to take tools along to remove a standard underslung spare wheel then a simple lock added on isnt going to stop them, they will just learn & go better equipped next time & just cause more expensive damage.
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This always leads me back to the same old question - why should we have to spend so much time and money protecting our property when the simplest solution would be to deal effectively with the scrote?
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I've lived in North Cornwall for 30 years and since year 2000 its got like everywhere else. A mate has just has his Renault 5 spare stolen and the car was on his driveway! In Launceston a stretch limo had its fuel tank punctured - rather cleverly the hole was made halfway up and the owner only discovered this when he tried to brim the tank. There are people who drive around in vans just looking for things to steal. Going back 40 years or more there was a bloke in Redruth who had a valuable motorcycle. This he chained to antique heavy duty iron railings at his house and he used a massive lock and chain. When he returned a few days later the bike was gone and the paint on the railings was burnt. How do you stop people with oxy-cutters and crane equipped lorries? AK47 perhaps? Its about the only thing these toe rags would understand.
Edited by oilrag on 02/07/2010 at 07:36
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When he returned a few days later the bike was gone and the paint on the railings was burnt. How do you stop people with oxy-cutters and crane equipped lorries? AK47 perhaps? Its about the only thing these toe rags would understand.
British Rail, LUL & other don't allow contractors to chain palnt to bridges or travellers to chain bikes to fences; the thieves will cut the bridge/railings if the chain defeats them..
I recall a colleague' under-slung spare being the target of an attempted theft by a druggy in 1980.
You can go down the AK47 route; the French have armed people (Gens d'armes, I believe they call them) for this purpose. We used to have Police Forces. It goes wrong if the criminals don't follow your rules and they get AK47s as well, probably by stealing them from the police. Suddenly you're living in America.
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Underslung spares go back to the 1950/60's.
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I bought a s/h car from a dealer years ago but told him I'd only buy it if the tyres were replaced-were just about legal.On collecting it and being happy with the tyres,I noticed that the car next to it on the forecourt had been fitted with the wheels/tyres I had complained about.
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