Has any owner of a 500L done away with the "Spacesaver" spare wheel and replaced it with a full sized one, alloy or steel? These "Spacesavers" are my pet hate with any car as nowadays it seems most carmakers fit either these or worse still, the can of 'gunk' and a mini-compressor, about as much use as a chocolate fireguard if you're unfortunate enough to get a puncture hole larger than a pin size! My previous car (Citroen C3 Picasso) had a Spacesaver, and I replaced it with a full sized alloy, and I've been lucky enough to source another for my 500L, but the daft support fitting won't go through the centre of the alloy, and I realise that stand-off brackets under the car will have to be removed to allow the alloy to fit closer under the car floor for good road clearance, but has anyone tried this?
What many owners with a Spacesaver don't realise is that, not only are you limited to 50mph with one fitted, but the tyre only has a life of 50 miles, (very soft fast wearing rubber!) so have a run to the coast on a Sunday, get a puncture when the tyre bays are shut, and it likely won't even get you home. What a "con' by car manufacturers!
Keith.

I had the misfortune to have a blowout on the M42 last year, firstly I couldn't get the bloody wheel off as it was stuck solid, I have had this before on another car with alloy wheels, a common problem is the steel wheel hub 'fuses' with the alloy wheel. I called the RAC, no problem he managed to get the wheel off after a bit of brute force. I thought no problem put the spacesaver wheel on and make my way to a tyre centre, however the standard wheel wouldnt fit in the space that houses the spacesaver wheel! Who designed that?! I couldnt put the punctured tyre into the boot or back seat as I had a full car of people and luggage. Thankfully RAC brought new tyre.
So with my car '500l trekking' you cant replace spacesaver with standard size tyre. With regard to wheels stuck on the RAC guy gave me a tip and said take all the wheels off and line the hubs with grease to prevent the wheels fusing in future.

Hi.
I usually give the steel hub centre a light coat of 'Copaslip' or similar copper grease where the alloy contacts it. Basically it's electrolytic action by dis-similar metals in contact, air and water (salty in winter!) just encourage this type of corrosion. I've only had a brief look under my 500L and there are a couple of bolted on brackets that hold the spacesaver away from the floor by about 4 inches. I reckon that if I were to remove these, it would allow clearance for a full sized alloy to pull up into this space whilst still allowing the same clearance above the road, but in this weather at this time of year, it can wait until spring! The horseshoe shaped bracket that goes through into the spare steel wheel centre will not go through an alloy centre as the alloy is too thick, so some modification of the bracket will be needed. It's on my 'to do' list! On my previous car (2010 Citroen C3 Picasso), the wheel is kept in the boot, wheel bay accepts a full sized wheel, but Citroen took the 'cheapskate' route with a spacesaver, latest models only have the minicompressor and can of gunk. It's all down to the 'Bean-counters' as a cost saving exercise!!!
Keith.