Spare Tyres

[Chauffard]

With some car makers content to consign the spare tyre [along with the CD player] to the "you really don't need that" Automotive Pit of Ordure. Some of your memories of the cars you've owned with the best and the worst placed spare tyre to get at.
I don't think you can beat the Zodiac Mk 4 or the Citroen DS for ease of access, Ford Consul/Granada was excellent also.

[donkmeister]

Xsara Picasso had the spare wheel in a carrier under the boot, old school. You used the wheelbrace (easily accessible even with a loaded boot) to crank a little wheel on the boot floor (thoughtfully located, so also easy to get to).

In summary, you could change the wheel without emptying the boot. However... A moron specd the spare wheel so it looked like the wheel nuts weren't properly engaged when they actually were. Suspect because the spare was a Steelie but the "normal" wheels were alloy. The one time I needed to put the spare on, I spent longer checking the manual and googling than I did changing the wheel.

[Funky Squirrel]

2005 mercedes slk. It had a deflated space saver in the boot. Second day of ownership went out with my gf in it and got a puncture. The tyre itself was a bit of a faff to fit but worse, was there was no where to store the wheel and was too big to have on her knees with the roof up. Having the roof down on a rainy scottish autumn was an experience.

Trying to deflate the spare tyre enough to get it fitted back into its hole was a nightmare too!

[Miserablegit]

The new Alpine A110-
Spare wheel (if specced) is stored on the passenger seat. Owner’s manual helpfully illustrates this if the owner somehow can’t see a massive wheel next to them.

[Miserablegit]

I also recall helping change a wheel on a Renault (possibly a 5). Jack and brace were mounted either on underside of bonnet or on top of engine. Being distracted I made a grab for the brace and promptly burned my hands on the tools that were hotter than the sun.

[InitialDave]

Fiat Pandas with the spare under the bonnet were always good.

[swisstoni]

I had a RR with a full size 22” spare. It could hardly be lifted out of the pit it sat in under the boot.

[Decky_Q]

Friend had an '86 porsche that had a collapsible wheel as its spare. Sold it for £1600 to a classic restorer even though it was knackered and would never in a million years hold air, but some people want their classics 'complete'

Used the money for a spare Fuchs which worked, and looked so much better (cant remember if he went for a front wheel or rear though as they were different sizes of course).

[bergclimber34]

Had a Mazda 2 I think 05, you had to hold the tyre in a tray under the back end will simultaneously trying tog et a rod and bolt into each other

I did mange it, took about half an hour and nearly piscking up the car and throwing it in the road!

[sparkythecat]

The Bristol 410 and 411 had a spare wheel compartment in the wing

[catso]

Had a few cars with the wheel under the backend which seems fine until you need to use it on a wet day and it is (and you get) covered in crap. We had a Galaxy with this arrangement and to try and avoid this I fitted a cover on the wheel only to find that when the wheel was needed, it was sitting in a pool of crap that had gathered in the cover.

Also, if the spare's never been used and is a few years old you find it's no good because the rubber's perished and it won't hold air - this happened to my Son's Clio, the spare was 'new' but no good as it had basically rotted away.

Much prefer it in the boot floor, preferably a full-sized wheel, though my car has a space cost saver in there which is not great (but better than nothing) but it raises the dilemma of where you put the full-sized, punctured wheel?

[InitialDave]

Do people still nick underslung spares?

Seemed to be a persistent issue with Peugeot/Citroen stuff years ago.

[Bobupndown]

Funky Squirrel said:

2005 mercedes slk. It had a deflated space saver in the boot. Second day of ownership went out with my gf in it and got a puncture. The tyre itself was a bit of a faff to fit but worse, was there was no where to store the wheel and was too big to have on her knees with the roof up. Having the roof down on a rainy scottish autumn was an experience.

Trying to deflate the spare tyre enough to get it fitted back into its hole was a nightmare too!

Read about a woman being killed holding wheel with a bulge in the tyre, it had been removed because of the bulge.
Space saver put on, nowhere to store the full size wheel, holding the wheel on her lap when it exploded.

[Puddenchucker]

For ease of access you can't get much better than having the spare wheel mounted on the rear door:

[fourthpedal]

Chauffard]With some car makers content to consign the spare tyre [along with the CD player said:

to the "you really don't need that" Automotive Pit of Ordure. Some of your memories of the cars you've owned with the best and the worst placed spare tyre to get at.
I don't think you can beat the Zodiac Mk 4 or the Citroen DS for ease of access, Ford Consul/Granada was excellent also.

Some?

Which car makers still offer a spare wheel, never mind including it by default? I didn't spot any while buying last year, I would've had to get it third-party.

[mac96]

Fiat X1/9 - behind drivers seat (in RHD car) behind a hatch. These cars were astonishingly well packaged, loads of boot space front and rear, owing partly to spare wheel and petrol tank being side by side behind the seats in front of the engine.

[djohnson]

Not quite what you asked but I had a 996 C4S about 20 years ago, it had a space saver spare in the boot at the front. I’m unsure if it came with the car or whether it was put there by the previous owner but it seemed to fit well in the space at the bottom of the boot. The only challenge was that the car was so small and the regular wheels so big that if you fitted the spare there was nowhere you could put the the wheel you’d taken off. This made carrying the spare a bit less useful!

[Bobupndown]

Puddenchucker said:

For ease of access you can't get much better than having the spare wheel mounted on the rear door:

G4 Defender

[Pica-Pica]

fourthpedal said:

Some?

Which car makers still offer a spare wheel, never mind including it by default? I didn't spot any while buying last year, I would've had to get it third-party.

Skoda Fabia and Scala offer a spare wheel (steel) as an on-cost extra, and the road wheel fit in the well too, as far as I am aware. Plus those too still have a traditional manual parking brake lever.

[Pica-Pica]

Puddenchucker said:

For ease of access you can't get much better than having the spare wheel mounted on the rear door:

Just to point out it is not mounted on the rear door. See the spare wheel carrier hinge points.