vRS Spare Woes

[Mysticality]

So, I did it.
I hit the gutter with the front left wheel.
It wasn't hard, don't freak... But I got a bubble in my tyre, so now I'm running on the spare.

Did I mention how classy it looks, running mis-matched wheels?
I feel like I'm in a Commodore.





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

I've spent the last 900k's (week) running on the spare... At 80. Its a mongrel on the highway.

$545 for two replacements and a wheel alignment.
Apparently the front stock tyres only had around 5,000km left on them.
Anyone else found they've had dodgy mileage with the stockies? (SP SportMaxxxxxxx)


Stockies.
I'm even typing like a Commodore driver. >.<

(No offence to any Commodore drivers out there, the majority of the ones around here are p-platers and lower them.)

[dArK5HaD0w]

sorry to hear that!!
but at least u have a full-size spare, and not one of those skinny bicycle looking space-saver tyres!!!

i've got conti2s on mine, done almost 30k now - still lots of thread left.

[woofy]

45k now on the OEM Michelin PE2s with heaps of tread left, geeze I wish they still made them. I love them.

[aslsw]

I've just replaced my original Continental SPC2s at 46,000. I figured they lasted so well that I would get a new set (slight upgrade to SPC3). I assume they are a harder tire - on the plus side, they last for ages. And on the plus side, I get the traction control to light up through a few roundabouts!

[Mysticality]

Ah, should have mentioned.
The car ticked over 17,000km the other day. Its 5 months old. :S

How much were the SPC3's??

[brad]

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

[backdoc]

Ah, should have mentioned.
The car ticked over 17,000km the other day. Its 5 months old. :S

How much were the SPC3's??

My Dunlops were shot by 20,000km. Sucky big time. Such poor life. And at 500 a corner not good value. Now have the top of the range Pirelli P Zero's. Much nicer tyre (grip and quieter) and done 15,000km and only look about 1/4 to 1/3 worn.

SE050 on GTI seem to be fairing much better.

[dazag]

Get a 4 wheel alignment done, dont rely on it coming out of factory set correctly. I noticed some feathering on mine after some towing and carrying gear in the boot, and i got the alignment settings in the rear as close to it's less camber setting so when the car is loaded up it has less effect on the tyres. I've managed to get 60K out of my Dunlop SP SportMaxxx, but they are an average tyre in my books. I'm booked in for it's 60K service on Monday and a new set of Goodyear eagle F1 Asymmetric 2's - really good reviews, ( google search em ) , and the wear rating on them is better then the Dunlop SP's so I hope to get the same if not better out of these tyres. They are costing $378 per tyre fitted and balanced. I was looking at getting them from tirerack.com, but really i was only going to save myself about $150 once fitted & balanced so decided to keep the money local.

[K1W1]

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

+1 what here said and after 900km I would suggest you have a real good look at replacing the spare as well. They are not designed to be used a semi permanent tyres even at 80kmph.
My original Dunlops lasted 38,000km but I got a nail in a front one but when I looked at getting it repaired it wasn't worth the hassle as they only had a couple of thousand km left so I just replaced the whole set with Kumhos which were around $200 cheaper per set than Michelins (which were not available at the time anyway) and have been brilliant. Done about 18,000km on them so far and they are way, way better than the Dunlops.

[MarksVRS]

I did the same thing although in my case it was a pothole. Sent a letter to the RTA, who sent a letter to the road works contractor, who sent a letter to say no responsibility taken. My fault that I didn't stop and get a photo of the pothole..

Anyway, as a first step I rotated the front tires with the back and thought about investing in at least a pair of tires. Over 12 months and 10,000km later I am still thinking about it.... The last thing I wanted to do was lose a tire with less than 20,000km.

I am currently at 37,000km and they still have about 40% left. Not that I like the Dunlops; they are noisy and not all that grippy in the wet or dry my opinion.

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....

[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.