Full size spare wheel - limited to 50 MPH?!

[pmorg4]

I just bought a full size spare wheel and tyre (along with the jack, wheel brace, etc) for my wife's Seat Ibiza, to replace the compressor and can of goo that sits in the full size spare wheel bay

One of the main attractions of a full size spare is the ability to swap it onto the car and get on with your day, having the punctured tyre replaced at a time and location that suits. However, much to my surprise, when the wheel and tyre arrived it has a 50 MPH sticker on the wheel, which I would expect on a space saver but not a full size.

Being that the tyre is a standard Continental H-rated (so up to 130 MPH if memory serves correctly), can anyone hazard a guess as to why it has this sticker in place? It seems completely bizarre and I cannot think of a scenario when a 130-MPH rated tyre of the correct dimensions cannot be used as normal on a car that surely isn't capable of 130 MPH!

[anonymous-user]

Assuming the tyre is absolutely identical to the others on the car, check the offset of that spare compared with a standard wheel. It may locate the tyre in a different position relative to its hub, compared with a "normal" wheel.

[niva441]

I've seen it on a Ford Ka, the spare was the same spec as the standard model, not the uprated size actually fitted to the other wheels. Particularly in limit handling conditions if the spare was fitted it would behave differently than usual (especially different left to right).

[dxg]

I had this in a Skoda fabia - same platform and same sticker. The offset was fine, the tyre was exactly the same as all the others. I drove normal speed just fine

I think the sticker's just there to remind you that you have a flat tyre in the boot!

[GreenV8S]

Maybe it's because that spec of spare wheel+tyre may not be identical to the original wheels+tyres in all situations where it could be used?

It may be used on models sold with different tyre options, or the OEM tyres could have been replaced subsequently without updating the spare. In the spirit of "Caution: contents of coffee cup may be hot!" the manufacturer may want somebody else to blame if something goes wrong.

[pmorg4]

Some good points here. Actually the spare wheel is 15" whereas the normal wheels are 16", but with the difference in tyre profile the rolling circumference is within a few mm. In the good old days where spare wheels were included as standard it was common to have a steel spare standard across the range, with many models having larger alloy wheels fitted to the car. There were no restrictions placed on use of the spare aside from it looking rather strange!

I appreciate that the handling will be different, although I'd hazard no more so than many of the cars driving around on a daily basis with mismatched and incorrectly inflated tyres. I'm not going to try setting rally stage times on the B-roads, but I'm sure it will be happy sitting at 70 MPH on the motorway

Good point on the Fabia - agree it's exactly the same, this wheel and tool kit was advertised as fitting a VW Polo but as everyone on here knows exactly the same parts are used across Polo, Fabia and Ibiza.

My mind has been placed suitably at ease, thanks all!

Edited by pmorg4 on Tuesday 8th September 08:26

[finishing touch]

pmorg4 said:

Some good points here. Actually the spare wheel is 15" whereas the normal wheels are 16", but with the difference in tyre profile the rolling circumference is within a few mm. In the good old days where spare wheels were included as standard it was common to have a steel spare standard across the range, with many models having larger alloy wheels fitted to the car. There were no restrictions placed on use of the spare aside from it looking rather strange!

I appreciate that the handling will be different, although I'd hazard no more so than many of the cars driving around on a daily basis with mismatched and incorrectly inflated tyres. I'm not going to try setting rally stage times on the B-roads, but I'm sure it will be happy sitting at 70 MPH on the motorway

Good point on the Fabia - agree it's exactly the same, this wheel and tool kit was advertised as fitting a VW Polo but as everyone on here knows exactly the same parts are used across Polo, Fabia and Ibiza.

My mind has been placed suitably at ease, thanks all!

Edited by pmorg4 on Tuesday 8th September 08:26

So the question you ask in post 1 is not quite the same as the post above.
You have two different tyre sizes.

???- ??-R15 and ???-??-R16. I assume the first is maybe 50 profile and the second a 40 profile to make up the circumference.

I'm not at all surprised that for similar tyres but with a profile that differs there's a speed limit when using the spare.


The last three daily drivers I've had I've bought an identical alloy as the spare as they all came with skinny's and I often tow a twin axle car trailer.

A Passat est, an E class est, and now the V50 pictured below. Don't want to get caught with a puncture and a tonne and a half behind me.

( and yes I do have 5 wheels for the trailer )

Paul G

[GreenV8S]

pmorg4 said:

Actually the spare wheel is 15" whereas the normal wheels are 16"

I got the impression from your post that the spare was the same specification as the normal wheels. Clearly it's substantially different and that will be why a speed restriction applies.

[pmorg4]

Fair enough on the wheel size difference, although as I previously noted this was a common practice in the 90s and 2000s where the full-size spare wheel would be steel and in the size of the base-spec model (e.g. 15") across the range, meaning if you bought a top-spec model it would have say 16" alloy wheels fitted to the car but you still got the 15" steel spare. I don't recall ever seeing a speed restriction sticker on spare wheels other than space saver types. I guess the rules have moved on from those days.

I'm not too bothered about the speed restriction to be fair, it's more that it doesn't have the 50 miles limit that comes with a space saver (or tyre goo, which might not even get you going at all depending on the cause of the puncture). Besides, with mismatched tyres I'd be much more concerned about unpredictable handling on the corners of B-roads even at speeds well below 50 MPH, but that's another matter.

Thanks again for your input all.

[Chris32345]

pmorg4 said:

Fair enough on the wheel size difference, although as I previously noted this was a common practice in the 90s and 2000s where the full-size spare wheel would be steel and in the size of the base-spec model (e.g. 15") across the range, meaning if you bought a top-spec model it would have say 16" alloy wheels fitted to the car but you still got the 15" steel spare. I don't recall ever seeing a speed restriction sticker on spare wheels other than space saver types. I guess the rules have moved on from those days.

I'm not too bothered about the speed restriction to be fair, it's more that it doesn't have the 50 miles limit that comes with a space saver (or tyre goo, which might not even get you going at all depending on the cause of the puncture). Besides, with mismatched tyres I'd be much more concerned about unpredictable handling on the corners of B-roads even at speeds well below 50 MPH, but that's another matter.

Thanks again for your input all.

What 50 miles limit on using them, them?

[kambites]

Maybe it's an acknowledgement of the fact the spare rarely gets used and hence is likely to be very old?

[PaulKemp]

You bought a spare wheel not a standard road wheel. Other models of your car may well of had spares like this instead of the pump and goo.
You shouldn’t run different tyre sizes at full road speed

[imagineifyeswill]

Its actually a road traffic offence to use wheels with different sized tyre profiles on the same axle. Due to a complaint and an ongoing argument with a well known motoring assistance organisation I had a big discussion with DVSA, Traffic Police and Insurance regarding spacesaver wheels a few years ago, because they are supplied by the manufacturer and labelled for emergency use and limited to 50mph they have to accepted although dangerous in the opinion of all of them.
With that sticker your free to use that wheel in emergency, remove the sticker and your then committing a road traffic offense.