Spare Wheel/Jack

[UpTheIron]

I've recently joined the TVR club with a 1993L 4.0 Chim (and plan to use the car as a daily drive!)

One problem is that one of the previous owners has removed the spare wheel & jack. I'm waiting on prices from a couple of dealers but presumably both are standard parts from another major manufacturer. Anyone know which?

[steveab]

Paul,

Congrats. and welcome to the fold. I'm sure you'll have many years of 'Tony Blair' grinning fun.

As for the spare and jack, get a can of tyre weld from Halfords etc, Steve Heath (writter of the TVR Bible) recommends it and most other Tiv owners agree. The spare wheel is a space saving one and its a very hairy drive, so for the same drive and less boot clutter, you can't go wrong with tyre weld.

As for the jack, mine seems like a standard scissors (same as the one in my old Vauxhall Cav) type jack which, again you can get from Halfords and alike, theres no fancy TVR embosing etc that you're missing out on!!

Where about in Bucks do you hail from??

Enjoy

Steve

[UpTheIron]

Steve,

I'm a Scunthorpe lad exiled in High Wycombe. However the Tiv makes the 400 mile round trip to see the old man a bit more fun!

Thanks for the advice re spare tyre - I'd been thinking that TyreWeld may be the best option, and I'm sure that the thought of 3 services a year will put me off using it as a daily drive!!!

Still, so far only a faulty ignition switch and one flat battery (hotel porter left the lights on!).

And lots of wide smiles...and scared passengers!

Paul

[MistyAR]

Hey there Paul, Fellow Iron supporter who owns the same type of great car!!!!
Let me know when your around - meet and chat cars and footie!!!

MistyAR 97 Chim

[shpub]

I carry two cans of sealent and a small air pump. If you read the instructions on the sealent, it says you may need to inflate the tye a bit, hence the pump. I don't even bother with the jack either. I don't have a spare wheel to change, scissor jacks are notoriously unreliable at the best of times and I can't think of what I could do with a jack without a whole lot of tools. Any problems on the road and its call into a gagrge or call the recovery. I do carry spare fuses, jump leads, bulbs, gaffa tape and a selection of cable ties.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[trefor]

I'd have thought a dealer would have spare jacks/space savers lying around.

If you want to get a space saver then you might want to look around car boots in breakers yards as the hubs are std Ford fitment.

Trefor/.

(Another Scunthorpe escapee, living near Wycombe too!).

[caro]

Just to show the cans of sealant idea makes sense, my W reg Chimaera was delivered with 2 cans of sealant and no spare tyre, giving more boot space.

[steveab]

Caro,

Thanks, I meant to add that at the end of my original post. I think I heard somewhere that TVR no-longer supply their cars with space savers, just tyre weld. Certainly the Cerbera only comes with tyre weld.

Steve

[pbrettle]

Ah, that has triggered a question from me...

I have a space saver (joke) and have bought a can of tyre weld as this is a better bet. However, I dont have the locking wheel nut key - have been recommended to get it "drilled out". Any recommendations on where and how much? I can then replace them with a new locking wheel nut that I have the key for.

Also, I was intending to do track days. Was thinking about a set of crap wheels (steel) instead of the alloys with the scrub tyres for the track - is this a reasonable thing or impractical? I noticed that someone mentioned that the spare is a standard ford part - what about replacing the alloys with a steel wheel? Ideas - good, bad or totally stupid - I dont know...

Cheers,

Paul

[shpub]

The space savers are not standard Ford items and the tyres cost around 150 pnds and need replacing after about 50 miles.

If you have ever driven on one you will junk it asap! My Cerbera came with tyre weld as do all the recent cars from the Factory. Aston Martin have the same policy.

You can get new lock nuts from TVR, Leven Tech and as they are Ford based most other places.

As for spare wheels, the wheel sizes are unique to TVR i.e. you won't find scrapyard fodder replacements. You do find spare sets of wheels with tyres for sales when owner upgrade the wheels and use them for track days. Bit of a mistake using dodgy tyres on a track day as the grip can suddenly dissipear and when you are pushing hard and this has caused me to see more car write offs than anything else! Plus you have to drive home again afterwards.

I got a set of Griff wheels with 6 mm tread BStone tyres for 300 pnds a month or so ago. At that price, dfinitely not worth rummaging around.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[MikeyT]

quote:
However, I dont have the locking wheel nut key

Paul

Is it not worth trying to contact the last owner – if you bought from a dealer it's unlikely they would still have it/be able to find it. He may have it lying around somewhere.

MIke

TVR owner one day (after Christmas)

[trefor]

quote:
However, I dont have the locking wheel nut key - have been recommended to get it "drilled out". Any recommendations on where and how much? I can then replace them with a new locking wheel nut that I have the key for.

I've heard stories of kwik-fit type places just bashing a smaller socket on the locking nut and forcing them off when owners have lost their bolts in the past. Ruins the locking nuts of course.

[tvrinbfg]

I've got an unused space saver wheel (but no jack), taking up space in the garage, which you can have for £25.00 plus p&p. Interested?

[RCA]

paul, what type of locking wheel nuts do you have on your car?