Looking to get a spare tyre as this Fiesta came with the foam repair kit instead.

Local scrapyard doesn't have the 175/65/14 steel spare wheel, but I found a 14" alloy wheel to fit a 175/65 tyre. Will there be any issues with this e.g. fitting this in the wheel well? Current tyres are 195/55/15 for reference.

I presume an alloy wheel is better as is lighter than steel but correct me if I'm wrong. Only issue I can think of is the screw to hold the foam insert can't be used because the badge is in the way but I'm pretty sure you can pop that out to make it hollow.

6 hours ago, landfall said:

I presume an alloy wheel is better as is lighter than steel but correct me if I'm wrong.

With smaller wheel sizes the steel wheels are often lighter than the alloy. As the wheels get bigger then the alloy will always be lighter.

The screw of the spare tyre kit has a preformed washer that exactly fits the 63.3 mm center hole of the steel wheel.

Since the center cap hole of the alloy wheel will be considerably smaller the preformed washer of the steel wheel will not fit.


Another point of concern are the dimensional differences between a steel wheel and an alloy wheel. The spare tyre kit is designed to fit exactly inside the steel wheel. It may not fit (properly) inside the alloy wheel.

Thanks for the replies. I'll keep looking for a steel wheel in that case.

Now that I'll have a spare in the back adding some extra weight, does the 30/26psi front/back tyre pressure recommendation still apply? I wasn't sure if Ford assumes there is a spare at the back.

I mostly have 2-3 passengers including myself and occasionally luggage at the back and/or a 4th passenger (and the spare tyre now of course) so I'm not too sure if my use case falls under normal load (30/26psi) or full load (35/46psi) generally speaking. Any suggestions?

I don't know if cars that don't come with a spare have the same wheel nuts as cars that do have a steel spare, but I would suggest getting some wheel nuts suitable for a steel wheel too if you go for one of those. The alloy wheel nuts are too soft or won't locate on the stud hole properly.

I gave my friend my old 15" steel spare wheel from my Mondeo ST24 and he fitted the same size tyre that he has on his 2014 Fiesta alloys, but also got some steel wheel nuts. This does not fit in the wheel well. He's a driving instructor and the full size spare is handy when his pupils puncture the tyres on lessons.

When Ford supply a steel wheel with a new car which has alloy road wheels they don't supply different wheel nuts for the spare wheel.

A spare wheel won't make a blind bit of difference to the tyre pressures. Do you increase the rear tyre pressures when you put a bag of shopping in the boot? 

The tyre pressures are a range. It's a judgement call, with up to 3 people use the lower pressure, with 4 people and a full boot and a fully loaded roof rack use the higher pressure, in between loads use in between pressures.

7 hours ago, Frembrit said:

I don't know if cars that don't come with a spare have the same wheel nuts as cars that do have a steel spare, but I would suggest getting some wheel nuts suitable for a steel wheel too if you go for one of those. The alloy wheel nuts are too soft or won't locate on the stud hole properly.

You're right to think about the wheel nuts being different for normal steel road wheels. However the steel space saver wheels have a different profile and are designed to be used with the alloy wheel nuts.

The space saver wheel is only intended to be used in an emergency and for a short period of time therefore the use of the alloy wheel nuts does not cause a problem.

On 10/14/2025 at 2:09 AM, landfall said:

Looking to get a spare tyre as this Fiesta came with the foam repair kit instead.

Local scrapyard doesn't have the 175/65/14 steel spare wheel, but I found a 14" alloy wheel to fit a 175/65 tyre. Will there be any issues with this e.g. fitting this in the wheel well? Current tyres are 195/55/15 for reference.

I presume an alloy wheel is better as is lighter than steel but correct me if I'm wrong. Only issue I can think of is the screw to hold the foam insert can't be used because the badge is in the way but I'm pretty sure you can pop that out to make it hollow.

Hi, I am also looking as don't want to use the foam kit. My st line has 17" wheels but I'm guessing the attached would be ok to get?

16 hours ago, pcaouolte said:

When Ford supply a steel wheel with a new car which has alloy road wheels they don't supply different wheel nuts for the spare wheel.

A spare wheel won't make a blind bit of difference to the tyre pressures. Do you increase the rear tyre pressures when you put a bag of shopping in the boot? 

The tyre pressures are a range. It's a judgement call, with up to 3 people use the lower pressure, with 4 people and a full boot and a fully loaded roof rack use the higher pressure, in between loads use in between pressures.

Understood. Not to overthink tyre pressures but I'm thinking of doing a quick chalk test eventually. Perhaps seeing if going from 30/26psi to something like 31/30psi will cause any harm. I suspect it shouldn't hurt and covers me for the occasional load or extra passenger at the back.

I hope you always adjust the tyre pressure when you fill the tank up. A full tank can weigh as much as 3 space saver wheels. 🤔

7 hours ago, landfall said:

Understood. Not to overthink tyre pressures but I'm thinking of doing a quick chalk test eventually. Perhaps seeing if going from 30/26psi to something like 31/30psi will cause any harm. I suspect it shouldn't hurt and covers me for the occasional load or extra passenger at the back.

4 psi increase at the rear is likely to make the rear end feel loose or 'floating' at speed without any load over the back end.  That's why the book figures are so much lower for light load in the rear.  Chalk won't show you that, it's just done by driver feel.

I'm currently running a Fiesta, driver only and no luggage, with 31/28psi instead of 30/26psi without any noticeable handling difference.

8 hours ago, pcaouolte said:

I'm currently running a Fiesta, driver only and no luggage, with 31/28psi instead of 30/26psi without any noticeable handling difference.

I see. Out of curiosity, is there any specific reason you decided to increase the pressure rather than go with the 30/26psi combo?

Plenty of   175/65/14  space saver wheels on e bay, new and used

12 hours ago, landfall said:

Out of curiosity, is there any specific reason you decided to increase the pressure

No. That's just where they happened to land last time I checked/inflated them. I'm just saying that minor movements away from the manufacturers minimum won't be noticeable.

Hi all, I'm still on the hunt for a spare. I can see a couple on eBay (new too) but why are several 125/80/15 wheels being advertised as "Fiesta spares"? I thought 175/65/14 is the only size that was supplied as a spare officially.

Of course I wouldn't mind getting it if it fits in the wheel well and it actually fits on the car.

Picture below is 175/65/14 vs 125/80/15.

 

15" spacesaver was fitted to the ST models.

48 minutes ago, landfall said:

but why are several 125/80/15 wheels being advertised as "Fiesta spares"? 

As Tom says, they're the factory spacesaver for the ST to clear the calipers of the bigger front brakes, no such problem on other models where the 175/65x14 fits all round.

(Having seen the 15" I'd be very reluctant to fit it on the front anyway, unless only for a very short distance - I've seen fatter bicycle tyres!😀)

 

8 hours ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

I've seen fatter bicycle tyres!

You need to stop feeding your bicycle cream cakes 🤣

Hi There, I recently had to use space saver tyre steel rim on rear axle, But using alloy nuts

              as had alloys on car. Not happy with using wrong nuts no other choice, had only on one 

day. Flat tyre on alloy sorted noticed when removing alloy nuts had damage done to end of

cone nuts (Had a burr on 4 alloy nuts Transfer damage to alloy rim). Had to deburr before installing 

alloy nuts. So either get another alloy tyre rim or get a set of steel nuts for space saver steel tyre.

Hi all. Quick question, is the spare wheel kit that Ford sell separately the same rim as the one supplied in the car at factory?

https://shop.ford.co.uk/products/fiesta-14-steel-spare-wheel-kit-jack-brace-cap-2012

There isn't any difference between a 175/65/14 "space saver" and "full size" rim is there?

Tyre shop says 175/65/14 isn't a space saver and is a full size wheel. Are Ford throwing the term space saver around interchangeably?

 

 

 

A space saver wheel is a smaller, lightweight spare wheel designed to save space and weight in a vehicle compared to a full-size spare tire.

Key features:

- Smaller and narrower than regular wheels.
- Not designed for long-distance or high-speed driving. typically limited to around 50 mph.
- Saves space in the trunk or storage area.
- Marked clearly with warnings about speed and distance limits.


175/65R14 is one of the standard tyre sized for the Fiesta MK7/MK7.5 as prescribed by Ford. This is technically a full-size spare and not a space saver.

As a comparison, most of the Focus MK3/MK3.5 do have a 125/80R16 space saver which is a lot narrower than the full-size spare wheel of the Fiesta.

As far as I remember, Mk7's with steel wheels as standard (Studio & Style among others) got the full size steel spare instead of the space saver.

4 hours ago, JW1982 said:

Not designed for long-distance or high-speed driving. typically limited to around 50 mph.

I may be wrong but I think the spare wheel kit from Ford have the 50mph and 80km/h yellow stickers. That is also why I thought there was a possibility that the rim is different.

As long as a 175/65/14 fits in the wheel well, I'm fine with that. Hopefully it isn't much heavier than a space saver?

Is it correct to inflate the 175/65/14 spare tyre to 46psi with 195/55/15 fitted to the car? Tyre shop said 46psi is too high and should be around 35psi but the owner's manual says otherwise.

 

(accidental post, mods can delete this post as I can't delete this)

Edited November 12, 2025Nov 12 by landfall
Accidental post