Space saver on the front (fwd car)

[jimmy156]

Got a puncture (a biggie, two big rips in the sidewall) of our mk6 GTi yesterday. My wife was driving and she was only about half a mile from home, so i went out, stuck the spare on the front near side which had the puncture and drove home.

I’m now wondering whether I should move the spare to the rear for the journey to the garage? The garage is only half a mile to a mile away again.

Having googled it, it mentions confusing the electronic diff etc. but I’ve had no warning lights on. I’m also not sure if it’s only the performance pack car that had any kind of diff.

[SuperPav]

Half a mile? Just get on with it…
I’ve driven cars with a wheel missing that far!

Stability and cornering will be affected but if you’re just pootling along at 30mph you’ll be fine.

[Simon_GH]

I suspect the manufacturer will have approved that spare for that vehicle. If you get a warning light then it’ll most likely go out again when the normal road wheel resumes service. I wouldn’t give it a second thought.

[jimmy156]

Shows how well I judge distance 🤣, it’s actually 2.5 miles away. But it’s an 8 min drive at 20-30 mph

[thebraketester]

It will be fine. Just check it's inflated to the correct pressure.

[vikingaero]

You can do it properly and put the spare to the rear, and the rear to the front, but my main consideration for doing this is:

Is it raining? If so, nope. It can stay on the front!

[MDT]

jimmy156 said:

Shows how well I judge distance ?, it s actually 2.5 miles away. But it s an 8 min drive at 20-30 mph

you will be fine. I did 150 miles one day on a space saver, tedious yes, but noting to note otherwise.

[ferret50]

vikingaero said:

You can do it properly and put the spare to the rear, and the rear to the front, but my main consideration for doing this is:

Is it raining? If so, nope. It can stay on the front!

What is this 'rain' you mention?

[jimmy156]

Thanks all! That’s helped put my mind at rest.

As above… if I had a drive and the space and it wasn’t going to be 30+ today I’d be more inclined to swap them over, but considering I’d be doing it in the road ( all be it a quiet residential one) during a heatwave, for the sake of an 8 min journey, if it’s not going cause any problems beyond having to drive slowly and carefully, I’m not going to bother!

MDT said:

you will be fine. I did 150 miles one day on a space saver, tedious yes, but noting to note otherwise.

That must have been tedious! My concern was more space saver on the front axle of a fwd “hot” hatch, than using the space saver generally

[blueg33]

If you consider that its always best to have the newest tyres (most grip) on the rear, then a spacesaver on the front is probably safer than on the rear.

Buts as all you are supposed to be doing is trundling along gently for a few miles, it shouldn't make a material difference

[Richard-390a0]

What does the owners manual state?

[98elise]

Another vote for just driving there.

Its not like you're planning a long motorway journey.

[alscar]

Another vote for doing nothing other than driving to the garage.
It would defeat the object not to have a space saver that could only be fitted to the rear axle.

[SuperPav]

alscar said:

Another vote for doing nothing other than driving to the garage.
It would defeat the object not to have a space saver that could only be fitted to the rear axle.

Quite a few manufacturers have spares that are only approved to go on the rear, for one of two reasons:

1) some won't clear front brakes in which case you have no choice
2) stability affected (due to geometry of small space saver) to the point where manufacturer feels the need to *recommend* fitting to rear

in both above instances, the direction in the manual would be to fit the spare to a rear wheel and then fit the rear wheel to the front.


In reality, for the type of driving OP describes, if it bolts on, and you can tighten the nuts/bolts sufficiently, it'll be absolutely fine regardless.

[alscar]

SuperPav said:

alscar said:

Another vote for doing nothing other than driving to the garage.
It would defeat the object not to have a space saver that could only be fitted to the rear axle.

Quite a few manufacturers have spares that are only approved to go on the rear, for one of two reasons:

1) some won't clear front brakes in which case you have no choice
2) stability affected (due to geometry of small space saver) to the point where manufacturer feels the need to *recommend* fitting to rear

in both above instances, the direction in the manual would be to fit the spare to a rear wheel and then fit the rear wheel to the front.


In reality, for the type of driving OP describes, if it bolts on, and you can tighten the nuts/bolts sufficiently, it'll be absolutely fine regardless.

I knew about the brakes issue potentially ( one reason I didn’t get one for my Mustang daily ) but not the stability point so thanks for educating me.

[Pica-Pica]

alscar said:

Another vote for doing nothing other than driving to the garage.
It would defeat the object not to have a space saver that could only be fitted to the rear axle.

Exactly this (and do not people read their car handbooks nowadays, and has common sense gone out the window?). A true space saver will have the limitations on a big yellow label on it, usually 50mph limit and a 50 mile travel limit for any single joirney.

[Sixpackpert]

SuperPav said:

alscar said:

Another vote for doing nothing other than driving to the garage.
It would defeat the object not to have a space saver that could only be fitted to the rear axle.

Quite a few manufacturers have spares that are only approved to go on the rear, for one of two reasons:

1) some won't clear front brakes in which case you have no choice
2) stability affected (due to geometry of small space saver) to the point where manufacturer feels the need to *recommend* fitting to rear

in both above instances, the direction in the manual would be to fit the spare to a rear wheel and then fit the rear wheel to the front.


In reality, for the type of driving OP describes, if it bolts on, and you can tighten the nuts/bolts sufficiently, it'll be absolutely fine regardless.

And what if the rears are wider than the fronts?

[Mr.Grimsdale]

Sixpackpert said:

And what if the rears are wider than the fronts?

It'll help reduce understeer (maybe)

[MDT]

Poor OP on this one, I can see his situation, he is not 100% about something and so he turns to ask on this forum he uses. "ah they will know / put my mind at rest"

So I get that. We all know stuff because we either know it or have been there and found out all is ok. who has ever used a space saver and done 5mph over what the sticker says and found out the world did not end.

https://youtu.be/HPh90yNX-mY?si=KRFCmGiH_rXdi-_V

did remind me of this old Chris Harris vid

[vikingaero]

MDT said:

Poor OP on this one, I can see his situation, he is not 100% about something and so he turns to ask on this forum he uses. "ah they will know / put my mind at rest"

So I get that. We all know stuff because we either know it or have been there and found out all is ok. who has ever used a space saver and done 5mph over what the sticker says and found out the world did not end.

https://youtu.be/HPh90yNX-mY?si=KRFCmGiH_rXdi-_V

did remind me of this old Chris Harris vid

Reminds me of the Garage 54 videos where they create wheels out of a tree trunk etc.

Another one that triggers people are tyre plugs - 1m people will say you'll die a firey death fro using them, 1m will say they've run them until the end of the tyre life.