Evening all,

Probably a well documented question but thought I'd ask.

I removed the spare wheel from my car last week and took it for a drive. Could've been a placebo but the car felt as though it pulled and handled better.

Is removing the wheel a bad idea, will it affect fuel consumption and are there any down sides? I.e the cars handling has been designed around the spare being present.

The major downside is when you get a puncture & haven't got a spare wheel ! :)

I cannot see why the car would pull better, very small weight loss. As for handling, as the wheel is in a central position I cannot see why it would make any difference.

Surely it's just a placebo? It's not the same as riding a bicycle where 100g of weight makes a noticeable difference! :)

Maybe it was a spare off a tractor?

Tbh I'd keep it, TyreWeld isn't much use when you've had a blowout and got a 6" gash to deal with lol.

It probably will be very slightly quicker...but only until you stick 10 litres of fuel or a bit of shopping in and even up the weightloss... MPG should improve slightly but not noticeably. Mines no different whether I carry a 20kg tool box or not, but the acceleration difference is noticeable without that.

I recently took mine out and replaced it with a ford repair job, got the whole kit for a couple of quid off eBay inc the compressor.

Every single time I've had a puncture its been a replacement job because of where it was, add to that the fact that those skinny wheels on motorways can be lethal under braking in the wet (I live in Scotland so it rains pretty much all year) I decided to just drop it and use the space for some essentials keeping my boot clutter free!

Yeah I know that a blow out would ruin my day but in all the years I've driven its never happened, if it does then that's what I pay AA for, nearest garage (which id have to go to anyway even with a spare wheel) and a new replacement fitted.

As for weight, its relative, yeah adding 10k of shopping would negate it, but having the wheel in the back would make it 20k on the rear if I left it in there. I'll keep the wheel in the garage, its brand new, never used and the car is a 58 plate! Worst possible case, If need be can just call the other half up to drop off wheel :)

One of my mates has had 2 blow outs over the last year... Admittedly he does more miles than me but not a chance I want to take lol.

I have driven on the space saver in the wet, they're not as bad as people say! The problems come when you exceed their speed limit, I have seen one explode because they can't cope with the heat at 70.

End of the day it depends on the person, whether you want the piece of mind that you can chuck another wheel on regardless of the tyre fault, or if you'd rather save the fuel and gain a small amount of acceleration. :)

Having no spare or foam can could be an issue when there's no mobile phone coverage & you're miles from civilisation :)

Each to their own I guess. I've had 2 blow outs as well, both times in the fast lane of the motorway which destroyed the tyre completely. The space saver at least got me off the motorway without having to wait for the rescue van which in some countries such as France would cost €150 minimum. In one case I continued the journey with the space saver as it was a weekend and everything was closed, but 200 miles at 50mph is a pain to do.

I am looking to go the other way and get myself a full sized spare wheel and tyre so that it just costs me the time to change it over if this ever happens again. I think its just a case of building up the boot base a bit to allow for the extra thicknes of a proper wheel and I lose a bit of boot space.

got one of those space saver things :lol:would not !Removed! use it they are a danger in my view full size spare for

Each to their own I guess. I've had 2 blow outs as well, both times in the fast lane of the motorway which destroyed the tyre completely. The space saver at least got me off the motorway without having to wait for the rescue van which in some countries such as France would cost €150 minimum. In one case I continued the journey with the space saver as it was a weekend and everything was closed, but 200 miles at 50mph is a pain to do.

I am looking to go the other way and get myself a full sized spare wheel and tyre so that it just costs me the time to change it over if this ever happens again. I think its just a case of building up the boot base a bit to allow for the extra thicknes of a proper wheel and I lose a bit of boot space.

Yeah you can get a lump of polystyrene to raise the boot floor a couple inches for a full size spare. Shame really as I can't afford to lose boot space in mine, otherwise I'd have got a full size as well. That's what I did on the Vectra as it already had the space for one.