Smaller spare tyre legal or not legal

[jaysta]

I have put alloy wheels on my car which are 15" rims with 195/60 R15 tyres on.

The previous standard steel wheels were 14" with 175/60 R14 tyres on.

My spare is the 14" standard wheel.

Over the weekend coming back from the lakes I had a flat tyre on one of my alloys and replaced it with the spare and thought that since it's only another 50 miles home I would drive at a lower speed of between 40 - 50mph.

A couple of friends of mine were saying that this isn't road legal and I never thought about it until now.

Any opinions and advice is appreciated.

Thanks for your time.

Jay

 

[iwaters]

I don't think it is illegal, a lot of cars have space saver spare wheels which are considerably smaller than the rest.

However, you may have problems with your insurer. Assuming you have notified them of the original modification 14" wheels to 15" they maybe assuming that you will also have a full size spare as part of that modification. You should check with them about that issue.

 

[jaysta]

Hey iwaters,

Thanks for the heads up about letting insurance know. I'll give them a call.

About the space saver tyres though... I thought that while they maybe thinner they are still same the diameter. My spare is possibly an inch shorter in height/diameter.

Can anyone confirm if their space saver spare wheel is smaller in diameter compared to their alloy wheels?

Thanks

Jay

 

[JonB]

I was under the impression that if you put alloys on your car with low profile tyres the outside diameter of the tyre should stay the same as per original.
The rim diameter could be bigger with low profile = same tyre diameter. OR your speedo will be out.
Does that make sense.
JonB

 

[tinytom]

yeah john your right, i used to have 15" on mine now they are 17", and ive used the spare wheel which is a 14", my dads a mechanic and he said it would be fine but he rang some agency and they said it would be ok, aslong as it was not for too long as it may pull slightly too one side

tom

 

[oobuc5]

I was under the impression that if you put alloys on your car with low profile tyres the outside diameter of the tyre should stay the same as per original.
The rim diameter could be bigger with low profile = same tyre diameter. OR your speedo will be out.
Does that make sense.
JonB

[quote oobuc5 ] Vauxhall omega runs 16x 225 55, spare wheeel is 15 x 205 55 as standard as per the book:

 

[oobuc5]

yeah john your right, i used to have 15" on mine now they are 17", and ive used the spare wheel which is a 14", my dads a mechanic and he said it would be fine but he rang some agency and they said it would be ok, aslong as it was not for too long as it may pull slightly too one side

tom

oobuc5[quote ] may pull slightly ! if you have to brake in the wet or frost or snow that car will get out of shape in a second !

 

[Trazor]

This may be useful too look at...

http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/visual-tyre-size-calculator

 

[Avocet]

It's illegal, I'm afraid! a space-saver can be smaller width, smaller diameter, or both, but the space saver needs to be type approved by the manufacturer for use on that car. That means braking and stability tests under various load conditions. Your car might handle no worse than one on a factory-approved sace-saver, but unless you've got the bot of paper to say it's passed it's tests, you could be liable to prosecution - thought it's not that likely unless you have an accident. Speeding seems to be the only thing they're inetersted in these days.