Beware the temporary spare tyre

[Ralphs]

Hi All

In my view no SUV in Australia should have a temporary spare. These things are VERY inconvenient and on Australian highways just plain dangerous. You are limited to 80 km/hr, you can't tow and the flat doesn't fit back in the vehicle if the boot is full.

Imagine you have gone away for the weekend, car is loaded up with camping gear, you are a few hours from home and you get a flat tyre. I hadn't had a flat in Sydney for years but now that I spend more time in the country Ive had 2 this past year, and I look after my tyres.

Now you unload everything in the back to change the tyre, now what do you do with the full size flat ?? It doesn't fit in the wheel well and you have all you other gear. Finally you squeeze everything into the Tiguan (it was tight for space before this problem) and off you go at 80 with B-Doubles bearing down on you at 110. ALL FOR A FLAT TYRE !!

Finally I should say this is the only problem with my Tiguan which has now done 115,000. I would buy another in a flash; but for this issue. I will NOT buy another till Volkswagen come up with an optional full size spare. Over to Maxda CX5 I go.

[Guest001]

Hi All

In my view no SUV in Australia should have a temporary spare. These things are VERY inconvenient and on Australian highways just plain dangerous. You are limited to 80 km/hr, you can't tow and the flat doesn't fit back in the vehicle if the boot is full.

Imagine you have gone away for the weekend, car is loaded up with camping gear, you are a few hours from home and you get a flat tyre. I hadn't had a flat in Sydney for years but now that I spend more time in the country Ive had 2 this past year, and I look after my tyres.

Now you unload everything in the back to change the tyre, now what do you do with the full size flat ?? It doesn't fit in the wheel well and you have all you other gear. Finally you squeeze everything into the Tiguan (it was tight for space before this problem) and off you go at 80 with B-Doubles bearing down on you at 110. ALL FOR A FLAT TYRE !!

Finally I should say this is the only problem with my Tiguan which has now done 115,000. I would buy another in a flash; but for this issue. I will NOT buy another till Volkswagen come up with an optional full size spare. Over to Maxda CX5 I go.

Read the thread about how to alter floor to fit a full size spare in. All info and pics are there

[tigger73]

Beware the temporary spare tyre

I think you will find a lot of cars come with space saver spares these days.

I also do a fair amount of country driving and for this reason I have changed the spare in both of my cars to full-size spares. I've done this in both my Tiguan and my wife's Mazda 3.

Unfortunately the boot in both cars is not designed to accommodate a full size spare so it has required some modification to raise the boot floor.

Yes you do lose some space (and in the Tig boot space is at a premium), however it's a compromise that I've chosen to make.

I'd prefer that manufacturers provided the option for a full size spare, however understand that this is going to be an issue for a relatively small number of vehicles they sell worldwide. So instead they choose to ignore that segment of the market and design their cars for the larger market where price and boot space are more important factors than having the convenience/safety of a full size spare.



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[Ralphs]

Hi Hillbilly and Tiger73

Agree with both your comments. However I don't think I should have to modify a vehicle so to be able to accomplish the most basic of roadside repairs myself. For real outback travel I am prepared to modify the car to carry a full size spare, but here I am taking driving between our capital cities.

I notice the MAZDA CX5 has a full size wheel. Perhaps I will buy that next.

[Transporter]

Hi All

In my view no SUV in Australia should have a temporary spare. These things are VERY inconvenient and on Australian highways just plain dangerous. You are limited to 80 km/hr, you can't tow and the flat doesn't fit back in the vehicle if the boot is full.

Imagine you have gone away for the weekend, car is loaded up with camping gear, you are a few hours from home and you get a flat tyre. I hadn't had a flat in Sydney for years but now that I spend more time in the country Ive had 2 this past year, and I look after my tyres.

Now you unload everything in the back to change the tyre, now what do you do with the full size flat ?? It doesn't fit in the wheel well and you have all you other gear. Finally you squeeze everything into the Tiguan (it was tight for space before this problem) and off you go at 80 with B-Doubles bearing down on you at 110. ALL FOR A FLAT TYRE !!

Finally I should say this is the only problem with my Tiguan which has now done 115,000. I would buy another in a flash; but for this issue. I will NOT buy another till Volkswagen come up with an optional full size spare. Over to Maxda CX5 I go.

I 100% agree with you, it's not ideal but...
you knew that the Tiguan comes with the space saver tyre when you're buying it, didn't you?
So, did you think about what will happen when you get a flat tyre?

It also comes with the electric parking brake, that will cause that you can't push your Tiguan when the battery goes flat, It's something to think about too, especially if you park in the tight garage facing the front of your Tiguan against the wall - you want be able to get to the battery.

Many brands/models now omit full size spare, some even come with the puncture kit only, which also means no tool and jack for removing the wheel and you will need to buy a jack if you want to rotate the tyres yourself or go to the tyre shop.

I've put a full size tyre in my daughter's Tiguan, it raises the floor in the boot by no more than 5cm. She can live with that.

[Ralphs]

Hi Transporter

Yes I knew it before I bought it .... but in the showroom ....all that nice new shinny car !!

I used to live in Sydney and hadn't had a flat for about 10 years. Now we live down the South Coast of NSW and do much more country road driving. Buy loved the Tiguan and thought flats don't happen to me!

You are all correct, I need to bite the bullet and buy a full size spare, and put up with the reduced boot space.

Good point on the battery and hand brake. I park away from the wall and have a battery charger in the farm shed.

[Transporter]

Hi Transporter

Yes I knew it before I bought it .... but in the showroom ....all that nice new shinny car !!

I used to live in Sydney and hadn't had a flat for about 10 years. Now we live down the South Coast of NSW and do much more country road driving. Buy loved the Tiguan and thought flats don't happen to me!

You are all correct, I need to bite the bullet and buy a full size spare, and put up with the reduced boot space.

Good point on the battery and hand brake. I park away from the wall and have a battery charger in the farm shed.

I know mate, it's easy to get sucked in and regret that later. It happens to probably everybody.

My first car was Renault12, it had the spare and all tools needed to change the wheel standing up on the right side in the boot, it didn't take much of the boot space. Every car should have easily accessible spare tyre or the true run flat tyres. It's ridiculous to put a space saver into a compact SUV.

[Guest001]

Hi Hillbilly and Tiger73

Agree with both your comments. However I don't think I should have to modify a vehicle so to be able to accomplish the most basic of roadside repairs myself. For real outback travel I am prepared to modify the car to carry a full size spare, but here I am taking driving between our capital cities.

I notice the MAZDA CX5 has a full size wheel. Perhaps I will buy that next.

Adelaide and Darwin are capital cities and the road is tarseal all the way or was when I drove it last.

Sometimes it the tyres you have not the car. I did a 50,000km trip around the country and never got a puncture. Had AT tyres on though which were ideal for what I was doing.

A bit like going to the beach in stilettos LOL

I doubt the Tiguan could be described as a "Real outback" vehicle anyway. More like a "Softroader"

[jets]

Good point on the battery and hand brake. I park away from the wall and have a battery charger in the farm shed.

This is something that I hadn't ever thought about, but like Ralph I have lots of room in front where I park. I can see it could be a problem for many with a tight garage.
Now that I am used to the electric brake I look down sometimes in our Mk5 Golf, while slightly rolling at the lights, to switch the hold on. Love it.

[MGV]

Veering off topic slightly, i have a super tight garage, but as the floor is flat, i don't see the point in putting the handbrake on, i just leave it in 1st gear. Using this theory when i'm out, i have effectively increased the life of my electric brake by 500% by only using it 20% of the time (when parking on anything steeper than a slight gradient)!

[MGV]

Ralphs, your thread has prompted me to do the boot floor mod on my Tig.

Anyone in Sydney/Central Coast/Newcastle want a stock Tiguan wheel & tyre (Pirelli P6, 75% tread)? I have 3 in great condition @ $100ea.

[Dutch77]

Over to Maxda CX5 I go.

I own a CX5 and it doesn't have a full size spare either (although maybe the base model does? I've got the GT which has 19s fitted). AFAIK the only soft roader that comes with a full size spare - in alloy - is the Honda CRV.

As a side note my old man needed to own a V8 at some point in his life and so bought the latest SS Redline which comes with 19s and a space saver. However he could (and did) upgrade to a full size alloy spare as an option for barely $300. His first reaction/thought was, well, can I buy another four spares - the package would be worth $2k on the market!

[tigger73]

Here's the thread for the full-size spare retro-fit: http://www.vwwatercooled.com/forums/...ighlight=spare

There's a couple of options there. I had the standard boot floor just sitting on top of the spare for a while but it does raise the floor above the height of the boot lip.

Space saver spares are an easy way for car companies to save a few hundred $ from the manufacture cost of the car. I think most people would be happy with a full sized steelie.

[desvejk]

In the best of all worlds I'd love a full size spare on the Tiguan.

I though about modifying the existing boot area for a full size wheel but rejected it because I carry a fridge and pantry storage for camping. Imagine taking all that out in the event of a flat!

My solution was to stay with the existing space saver but to place it in a upright position to the side. This means I can get to the spare without moving my fridge.

The fridge and the pantry occupies the area taken up by the space saver wheel and substantially increases the amount of usable space!!! This is a big advantage for me.

To get a full size wheel I have attached one to my Cub Off-Road camper trailer on Cub’s utility arm. In fact I have two spares - one for the Tiguan and one for the Cub. This has an added advantage of lowering the ball weight on the Tiguan for towing, so it’s a win win situation.

Admittedly when I don’t have the Cub camper with me I’m back to the space saver only. On balance, I believe this is a reasonable solution.

I’ve done lots of outback travel with the Tiguan and it’s a fantastic tow vehicle and handles rough roads extremely well. The includes the Flinders Ranges, the Savannah Way, Outback Queensland and many bush tracks.

As far as value for money and comfort goes the Tiguan and Cub camper trailer is great for travelling.

The Tiguan is a solid 4WD with only low clearance limiting it’s performance.

[Transporter]

Nice solution.

You could also put the spare tyre on the roof for the long trips when you don't tow the trailer.