The spare wheel (spacesaver) on the car is damaged on the rim so air will not stay in the tyre. Is there other spares that will fit, or does it have to be only from a Croma model?

Cheers

AFAIK it's a standard Vauxhall Vectra 16" space saver.

Thanks. Gonna have to locate 1

Will it be vectra 2005 onwards or different ?

Fiatcromahull said:

Will it be vectra 2005 onwards or different ?

Click to expand...

Try eBay search - enter > 115/70/16

Results will show-up options - normally Vectra-Charlie or Saab 9-3, but others maybe suitable.

But nearest to you (Rotherham) are not cheap.

When I had a wheel (17 inch) off my car I tried it in the spare wheel well where the spacesaver is located. It fitted diameter wise easly and was only a little proud of the boot floor, lifting the capret cover a little.

Towing a caravan I've always been concerned about having a spacesaver wheel to rely on.

At the time I thought that two sheets of wood/rubber about 2cm thick with a full spare wheel and tyre OR a narrower profile tyre on a standard steel tyre would be a much better option than a spacesaver wheel.

What I did not get round to looking into was the legality of doing this, i.e. mixing tyre sizes/types on the same axle. This is normally illegal so I don't know what exemptions a spacesaver takes adavantage off. Certainly marked speed limitation yellow sticker and possible it's red painted finish. This could easily be achieved with a spare steel rim. It could be however that a proper spacesaver tyre is the only tye permitted in law (UK/EU) and thus anything other than a proper full tye is prohibited.

I'll sell you my space saver if you want it. No idea how much. I'm happy to wrap it up and post it if you want - reply to the thread or PM me if you want it.

Mine's surplus as I got a full size 18" wheel as soon as I got the car. I don't fancy doing 50mph on a motorway on a pram wheel.

The 18" fits into the well, but I had to put about an inch of wood/rubber packing around it to raise the boot floor slightly. It still fits in though. The 17" should fit better, 16" better still, as I think they also get narrower with smaller diameter.

My full size one came from ebay, and is from a Vauxhall Astra. It has exactly the same dimensions and offset as the Croma, but obviously looks a bit different (but it's actually pretty similar looking).

I suppose at least a space saver is better than just the can of squirty goo you get with a lot of new cars. This was once just the case with little sporty cars, but a lot of mainstream cars have it now, especially 7-seaters (as they use the spare space for the rear seat legroom).

I'm amazed that there are no regulations requiring a full size spare, or even a spare at all.

The handling seemed to improve with a full-size spare too. A bit of weight on the back axle can be useful. Clarkson on Top Gear on Sunday had an old BMW with a paving slab in the boot. Skoda now put 25kg of "ballast" in the boot of the sporty Fabia.

£30 delivered if you want it...

Totally unused, still has the bobbly moulding bits on the tread.

I'll put this in the For Sale bit if you don't want it.

Sold! To the man from Hull.

Little spark crossed my mind regarding replacing a space saver with a larger wheel/tyre combination.

The rolling radius of the replacement must be the same as the original main or space saver tyre otherwise the ABS/traction control system will throw a fit at the differentional wheel speeds.

the one i bought is the same size as the original 115/70/16
thats what fiat put in the car when manufactured

s130 said:

Little spark crossed my mind regarding replacing a space saver with a larger wheel/tyre combination.

The rolling radius of the replacement must be the same as the original main or space saver tyre otherwise the ABS/traction control system will throw a fit at the differentional wheel speeds.

Click to expand...

I think the 16", 17" and 18" wheeled versions all have the same space saver, as they all have (roughly) the same outer tyre diameter. The tyre gets roughly 1/2" thinner with each 1" of extra wheel.

My full-size replacement is 100% identical in every dimension to the wheels on the car (even though it's Vauxhall). The tyre is also the same size as those on the car, but a different make, as I had to find one with a non-directional tread (quite difficult these days). With directional tyres, you'd need two spares - a left and a right spare. Not really feasible!

cheers doofer thats great. i wasnt worried mate haha