Wheels/Tyres: Spare wheel

[yatesspud]

I know i have asked before, but does anyone know of anyone who has had the sparewheel carrier adusted to take a full size wheel. I have just come back from southern Spain in my XC90( nearly 3000 miles) and the thought of having problems having to find a new tyre if needed, especially on a sunday, played on my mind unlike in my cherokee jeep which had a full size on the back. Thanks.

[DCO]

Originally Posted by yatesspud

I know i have asked before, but does anyone know of anyone who has had the sparewheel carrier adusted to take a full size wheel. I have just come back from southern Spain in my XC90( nearly 3000 miles) and the thought of having problems having to find a new tyre if needed, especially on a sunday, played on my mind unlike in my cherokee jeep which had a full size on the back. Thanks.

Hi,

Can't help directly regarding the spare wheel carrier, but one problem with a full size spare wheel is that the standard fit Continental tyre, and a number of the alternatives such as the Nokian, is that they are handed, thus can only be used on one side of the vehicle! My XC90 has the space saver spare, which although not perfect can at least get me out of trouble until a repair / replacement tyre can be sorted. Tyre sealants are OK but mean the tyre cannot be repaired permanently later, so I tend to avoid them.

[yatesspud]

i just put 2 new conti's on my xc90 and yes they can only go on one way, but i've never heard of any tyre that can only go one one particular side of the car but thanks anyway.

[Conehead]

tyre sealants do not to my knowledge stop the tyre being repaired permanantly. The repairers just cant be bothered to clean the inside of the tyre. The thing that seems to stop tyres being repaired is the manurfacturer of said tyre, and legal implications. Had this on motorbikes years ago. mThe best thing you can do is carry a BMW motorbike repair kit. Not cheap but they are good. But be warned for trips also carry a pump. These kits were issued to all AA patrols, and as such have never been without it when travelling abroad.

[DCO]

Originally Posted by yatesspud

i just put 2 new conti's on my xc90 and yes they can only go on one way, but i've never heard of any tyre that can only go one one particular side of the car but thanks anyway.

Re the handing of the tyre, once the tyre is fitted to the wheel, that wheel can only be used on one side of the vehicle. Hence two full size spares are really required!

[yatesspud]

Thanks for pointing the directional tyres thing out, thought i'd look into this so asked my brother, a tyre fitter. He says that the conti's on my car can go on any corner as the are asymetrical, they have "outside" written on the tyre,so as long as the "outside" is pointing out the water disperses the same and the car wont be "thrown " of the road, so no need to 2 full size spares !

[CTCNetwork]

Hi,

You can always use a non-directional tyre as a spare as it will happily travel in either direction.
No, not recommended to swop directions on a tyre, but then the spare is aimed at getting you to a destination safely and where you can get the original fixed/swopped.

Des. . .

[DCO]

Originally Posted by yatesspud

Thanks for pointing the directional tyres thing out, thought i'd look into this so asked my brother, a tyre fitter. He says that the conti's on my car can go on any corner as the are asymetrical, they have "outside" written on the tyre,so as long as the "outside" is pointing out the water disperses the same and the car wont be "thrown " of the road, so no need to 2 full size spares !

Apologies for error!

I was not looking at the tyres, and you are absolutely correct. I was thinking of some tyres I had on another vehicle previously (off-roader) which had a rotation direction. Thus once fitted to a rim, they would only work properly on one side or the other of the vehicle, depending on which way round they were put on the rim. If put onto the wrong side of the cehicle, then water, mud etc washed forced into the centre of the tread and not outwards. If in heavy mud, they would become clogged in seconds when on the wrong side! In simple terms the tread looked like a series of chevrons, which is quite unlike the XC90 tyres (but very like those fitted to F1 cars on full wets)