[Guest]

I had my back wheel off today to sort out a problem with a rubbing mud flap. I opened my boot to get the jack out and found a Ralliart sticker next to the spare wheel stateing the following:

This spare wheel cannot be fitted to the front of a vehicle that has 17inch wheels fitted as standard .

Does this mean that if I have a puncture I cannot use this wheel on the front of the car.

What do I do in the event of a puncture?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks

Skeletor

 

[Guest]

The space saver spare wheel will not fit over the front Brembo caliper/disc.
In the event of a puncture on the front then you have to remove a rear wheel and replace it with the space saver spare. Replace the punctured front wheel with the rear wheel you have just taken off.
A pain in the arse in the rain no doubt!

 

[Guest]

YEh - but upgrade your rear brakes and it don't fit anywhere!

Which means a can of tyre weld for me!

 

[Guest]

I'm always wary of tyre weld and would only use it as a last resort. I've heard it can bugger your tyre up totally which makes for a very expensive puncture.

 

[Guest]

Cheers Heave Ho Six,

You would think that any car on the road would have a spare suitable to do the job.

Anyway thanks for the solution, pretty obvious really.

Skeletor

 

[Guest]

Cookie,

would you really be happy running on a repaired tyre on an Evo anyway?

Bin the spare and the jack. Get a can of tyre weld. Must save 10kgs at least.

 

[Guest]

I've been thinking of doing this myseff as it would then allow me to put my sub in the well and finally be able to fit a rear strut bar

The only query I have with the tyre weld (don't know enough about it) is does it inflate the tyre? if it does then there doesn't seem any point keeping the spare - like Oli Goon says, you're not going to repair that puncture are you?

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Kevin.

 

[Guest]

Yep tyre weld does also inflate the tyre.
As for getting a tyre repaired it all depends on how servere the puncture is and how much tread is left as to whether I would keep the tyre or not. I would certainly not throw away a perfectly good newish tyre just for a small repairable puncture. Reputable tyre firms will not repair a tyre if its not safe to do so.
Obviously whether you repair or not (if its possible) is up to you.

 

[Guest]

You can repair the pucture, the place where i took mine to simply took the tire off, rinsed it out with a hose pipe and continued on as usual with the repair!.

Richi.

 

[Guest]

Oli... yeah it's a fair point really. I said on a thread here sometime ago that they reckon on average you will only get a punture once every 90,000 miles so for me thats only one every ten years!!!!!!!

I must admit that the idea of ditching the spare to save some weight is a very tempting one.

 

[Guest]

Cheers folks,

Seems like the spare is merely decorative - get some tyre weld and you'll save weight and get more boot space!!

Kevin.

 

[Guest]

Why don't you flog the spares to a Mitsi colt customer sets of 5 .must be wider than their standard wheels.
£70 inc tyres bargain.

 

[Guest]

You can always rely on Shorty to provide a different perspective...

 

[Guest]

They would make some good snow tyres with some spikes in....if you could only fit them on the front

 

[Guest]

Gents,

Once, I had a puncture on my old Honda in New York City. Thanks to that magic can I had in the boot. It did inflate the flat tyre and I drove the car all the way to Boston and back to NYC, then to Atlanta!! I kid you not. And half of the times, I was driving no less than 120 km/hr.

A month later, thinking that somebody must have let the air out on that tyre, I went to my regular workshop and had that tyre taken out and inspected. The sealant did a pretty good job and yes, there was indeed a puncture.

Don't take my word for it but if only necessary, you can trust the tyre puncture sealant/weld as long as you don't go overboard and push your Evo to the limit. There might be a few different brands out there, but no doubt worthwhile to buy the best one if you are gonna dump the spare tyre.

Cheers

 

[Guest]

The new MINI doesn't have a spare either, just a can of mousse and a little compressor....arghhhh ain't that sweet!

 

[Guest]

How much much is this stuff to buy.
Touch wood I have never had a puncture on the EVo since owning it from sept 1998.
the spare is the cleanest unused part of the car.
what the shelf life of a can of this tyre weld.?

 

[Guest]

probably worth keeping two cans of mouse 9maybe different makes) just incase of the fact that one may not work or need a top up or maybe you will forget to replace it and get another puncture...makes sense.

I think that reputable repairers will not repair a puncture depending on the rating of the tyre..evo's being rated for over 120mph probably would be binned?

 

[Guest]

Shorty,
Not sure how long it would be good for if you keep it but I'd reckon for a long time, at least six months. Can't recall whether there's an expiry date stamped on it but I remember that they are fairly cheap, around USD12 a can.

HH6,
If the new Mini is equipped with that so-called mousse, I guess they trust it enough not to put the spare tyre instead. Do you know the brand name or are they made specifically for Mini?

Cheers.

 

[Guest]

Mousse technology has come a long way since the early days mainly due to its use in rallying.
For example Demon Tweaks list a Mousse suitable for clubman rally drivers that forms a permanent repair lasting 25,000 miles and can be used under load at speeds up to 140mph (meets and exceeds BSAU159 and amp; ECE regs) and that is not even a professional mousse!
'Rally' mousse and 'everyday' mousse that's available to the general public has slightly different uses. Rally mousse is put in the tyre when its fitted and repair punctures instantly when they happen. Everyday mousse we get to buy is just to repair a puncture after the event hence they are aerosols which allows you to inflate the tyre at the same time.

Anyway I have a can of 'Tyreweld' in my glovebox just in case.

RobVI,
I think it depends on how bad the puncture is as to whether they repair it or not. A small nail hole in the tread part of a tyre is easily repaired and will not have damaged the steel belt in the tyre enough to be worried about. Any larger or any damage in the sidewall then its only fit for the bin. You may well be right though, its a long time since I got a tyre repaired but I have had a 120mph rated tyre repaired on my MR2 before.

Humble,
I have no idea as to brand of the mousse for the MINI (no doubt it has a BMW label). I do know it is only a get you to a dealer at a max of 40/50mph job just like 'Tyreweld'. I don't think it is an aerosol though due to the shelf life problem and it also explains why you get a small compressor in the kit. BMW MINI dealers are supposed to have extra stocks of MINI tyres just for reason that MINI's don't carry spares. I think the reason for not having a spare was to get more boot space!
MINI's are not the only cars without spares, Alfa GTV V6's don't have spares unless you ask for them (or at all, I can't remember) or come to that neither do most Ferrari's.