Should I have a wheel brace?

[nigxl]

Seems my car is missing its wheel brace and also jack.
Mine does not have the spare wheel option but thought it should have a brace and jack surely???

[Chrisv60]

Nope.

They are available at extra cost from your Volvo dealer.

[PJordan]

I am sure you only get these two items if you have the optional spare wheel as they are part of that kit.

[nigxl]

Ok that surprises me, thanks.

[Baxlin]

The local breaker could be your friend, methinks. That’s where we went to get a kit for Mrs B's Nissan that only had the nigh on useless tin of gunk.

Do some research on which spacesaver wheels will fit, as they are often common across quite a range of vehicles.

[Tannaton]

There are loads of breakers selling kits with the wheel, jack and wheel brace on e-bay.

You may need to check your boot insert to see if it will fit - but I *think* the inserts are common.

Any wheel from a P3 V70/XC70, S60 Mk2, S80 Mk2 or XC60 will work... but if you have a XC60 or XC70 then there is a special jack (to cope with the higher ground clearance and longer suspension travel).

[Whyman]

Originally Posted by nigxl

Seems my car is missing its wheel brace and also jack.
Mine does not have the spare wheel option but thought it should have a brace and jack surely???

You need a jack if you have a spare wheel? The Volvo wheel brace is not much use you need something more substantial if you want to remove the wheel on the side of the road.

[nigxl]

Thanks for the replies, looked at loads on ebay but they mainly seem to be 17" rims.
I'd need an 18" wheel I'd imagine so as not to upset the 4wd system.
Looks like it may be a trip to Volvo unless anyone has a spare lying around?

[Zebster]

I've got 18" wheels but the space-saver is only 17"; it's tyre profile offsets the difference to some degree, however side-by-side there is still significant difference in the rolling radius so I guess the tyre monitoring system will register an alarm when used. Does it matter?

The Volvo wheel brace is actually really good! The towing eye screws into it as an extension, making it easy to shift the wheel bolts with no problem.

The only drawback is that my car was not originally fitted with a space-saver so, while the wheel does nicely fit under the 'shopping bag' floor cover, there is no threaded hole to receive the holding screw. Due to the floor pan shape it can't move very far, but I've wedged things round it (hi-vix jacket, warning triangle, jack/brace/eye wrapped in towels, gloves tarpaulin, etc) just to be sure. You have to be a bit careful, as there are a fair few wiring looms, connectors and electronics boxes that I'd be frightened of damaging!

Oh, and I recall the owners manual says something about disabling the 4WD system when using a space-saver (didn't really pay much attention to this, seeing as how my V60 isn't 4WD).

[nigxl]

Thanks for the heads up on the boot floor mount, I'll check if mine has one.