vRS Spare Woes

[dArK5HaD0w]

Regarding the spare, I think it is rated at 80km because they are not a matched tire. The tire itself is a normal road tire with a high speed rating from memory, not that I would recommend exceeding the 80km/h unless they were matching all round....

+1.
i don't understand the 80km/h limit as its a "full sized" tyre.
it has the proper load rating.
it has the appropriate speed rating.
its ur regular tyre.

the 16" has the same rolling circumference as the 18" tyre. so they will b "rotating" at the same speed as the 18s.

the skinny space saver ones don't have a high enough speed and load rating, hence its limitation of 80km/h.

[Mysticality]

The spare should be on the rear of a FWD vehicle. it's in the manual

I don't have a second jack to allow me to swap them, else I would have already.

I'm going to get a full alignment done when I get the two new tyres put on, as well as get them to rotate the rear Dunlops to the front. Might as well let the other set of horribly loud tyres wear out first, right?

Also going to try looking at getting a full-sized Neptune to use as the spare. Hell, my Kia had a full 17" alloy as the spare. I did roughly 20,000km on it.

Seeing as the spare is only a 16", getting a replacement for that shouldn't be all *that* expensive.

Afterall... I'm now at 1,700km on the spare. :/

[kaanage]

+1.
i don't understand the 80km/h limit as its a "full sized" tyre.
it has the proper load rating.
it has the appropriate speed rating.
its ur regular tyre.

the 16" has the same rolling circumference as the 18" tyre. so they will b "rotating" at the same speed as the 18s.

+2
You may need to slow down a bit for corners but in a straight line, the narrower tyres should be fine to drive at the full speed limit.

I don't have a second jack to allow me to swap them, else I would have already. :/

The idea is to change the rear to the spare first and then put the former rear to the flat front.

[K1W1]

In Victoria a car is unroadworthy when a temporary spare is fitted. You are only supposed to drive to the nearest practical place to get your original wheel and tyre repaired.
I suspect that the 80kph limit is because braking and handling can be affected badly when the road is wet or slippery, you would also get interesting results trying to accelerate quickly. Braking distance with front drive cars fitted with temporary spares has been measured to increase noticeably even in dry conditions (10% rings a bell and that can be the difference between hitting something or continuing to drive home safely).
IMO if you need to fit the temporary spare that's fine but treat it as a temporary spare. If you want to treat it as a normal tyre than go out and buy a new normal wheel and tyre and carry that in the boot.

[Mysticality]

The idea is to change the rear to the spare first and then put the former rear to the flat front.

I didn't actually think of that when I was doing it, and I'm not willing to put any weight on that wheel at the moment.

The tyres would have been replaced, but I cannot actually afford the $545 for the new tyres, at the moment.
I need the car for work, as I'm a mobile IT support tech.

[kaanage]

Can you get hold of a jackstand so that you can prop up one end while swapping the tyres? Since you need to drive on the spare for a while, it is much safer to have the spare on the rear since the front does the steering, most of the braking and the accelerating.

Or can you borrow the spare tyre and wheel from someone else with a Skoda Octavia or Superb? (or another VAG equivalent with 5/112 wheels).

[Diesel_vert]

Did I mention our full-size spare tyres are rated for 80km/h?
No?
Well, they are.

That's mainly related to the fact that your car is using different sized wheels and tyres. If you had 205/55 R16 tyres all round, that 80 km/h speed limit wouldn't apply.

Seeing as the spare is only a 16", getting a replacement for that shouldn't be all *that* expensive.

Afterall... I'm now at 1,700km on the spare. :/

Don't replace it. Your spare is a normal tyre - not a space saver tyre. It has plenty of life left in them.

I didn't actually think of that when I was doing it, and I'm not willing to put any weight on that wheel at the moment.

Even if it's fully deflated, it won't matter. As long as the wheel doesn't make contact with the ground, it'll be fine, so get cracking!

The tyres would have been replaced, but I cannot actually afford the $545 for the new tyres, at the moment.

Just get one brand new tyre off eBay for cheap (the car is already compromised anyway by running a 205/55 R16 tyre). It is not illegal to use different makes and models, as long as they're radial and not cross-ply. You can then replace both when you're ready and in your own time. Also, save the wheel alignment until then.

As it is, your vehicle is not roadworthy because of the different wheel and tyre size on the same axle. If you are involved in an accident, the cost of two new tyres will be the least of your worries.

I'm going to get a full alignment done when I get the two new tyres put on, as well as get them to rotate the rear Dunlops to the front. Might as well let the other set of horribly loud tyres wear out first, right?

Once you've done that, you can then use the cheap eBay tyre as your new full-sized, full-speed spare tyre when you eventually buy your spare Neptune alloy.

[brad]

I don't have a second jack to allow me to swap them, else I would have already.

You don't need a 2nd jack.

If you have a flat front tyre then:
jack up the rear & fit the spare to the rear.
jack up the front & put the rear tyre on front
attempt to put full size wheel in space designed for space saver spare.

I'm not just quoting out of the manual. I had to do it on my old Cabrio a couple of times. It takes about 20 minutes if you haven't got a boot full of gear & are parked somewhere safe like a garage forecourt.

[kaanage]

This was Mysticality's response when I made (basically) the same comment a few posts earlier:

I didn't actually think of that when I was doing it, and I'm not willing to put any weight on that wheel at the moment.

[Diesel_vert]

This was Mysticality's response when I made (basically) the same comment a few posts earlier:

I didn't actually think of that when I was doing it, and I'm not willing to put any weight on that wheel at the moment.

Yeah, I read that, and thought it was an odd statement.

As I said in my reply to his posts, why would it matter that the tyre can't support itself (damaged, deflated, or otherwise) when you only need it to support a static load for 20 minutes, and so long as the tyre carcass prevents the wheel making direct contact with the pavement?

This is an ordinary situation that many motorists around the world might deal with, and is hardly a unique, special or difficult problem.