Alloy space saver wheel

[churchx]

Lowering weight is always good for cars.

I know, that many during trackdays remove stuff, including spare, from trunk, bet nevertheless, always wondered, why steely spacesaver wheel, that is there in trunk 99.9% of daily driving time couldn't be made even lighter.

Now here comes a question - does anyone know of 5x100 alloy spacesaver wheels? I tried to search, but only ones that i found where for different PCD. For BMWs, for Mercs, for RX-8/Miatas, for Bentleys, Jags, for 350Z, for Porsches. Or for 2015 Legacy of 5x114. Nothing for ours. Except maybe british RAC 17" universal multi-PCD spare, which is on heavy side. Seems that almost some lighter full size forged wheel can be lighter even with wider width & heavier full size tire :/ (but still will reduce usable trunk volume)

If no such exist, maybe someone can suggest some cheap alloy manufacturer that offers cheap enough custom wheels option and idea might be worthy enough for someone to organise group buy for such? Even better, if that organising or order/sale happens by some well known shop, such as eg. ft86speedfactory/tirerack/whatever. Multi 5x100 & 5x114 for wider market niche & extra savings on order volume. People pay for many lighter parts, why not for donut wheel?

Imho main priority should be low as possible weight (due temporary spare speed limitations and low weight of our cars, i guess high strength/rigidity/load rating is not of big priority?) and BBK clearance (17" at least?). Preferably to be mountable with both aftermarket & stock lugnuts.

[swarb]

How much weight do you expect to shave? A lightweight battery would shave more weight at a lower cost.

Cheap, light, strong. Pick two.
Oem is cheap and strong.

People buy lighter parts because they can actually use it at the track, daily(wheels X4+rotational weight), or so they can show off. No many show off their spare wheel.

17 would fit the bbk clearance requirement, but would require a new tire, why not use the old one? That alone would add weight+cost, and push it to a smaller market.

I would personally want a bigger diameter tire that would be larger than the stock one that probably(i havent tried) puts my car near the ground on lowered suspension.

I don't have the spare in my trunk. My solution is to have AAA(towing), a cell phone to call AAA or someone to bail me out, a can of fix a flat, and a diy plug kit.

A drag racing wheel is an option.

[CCJ]

How about carbon fiber? http://www.patentsencyclopedia.com/app/20150165833

[Swagopopotamus]

Originally Posted by swarb

I don't have the spare in my trunk. My solution is to have AAA(towing), a cell phone to call AAA or someone to bail me out, a can of fix a flat, and a diy plug kit.

This right here. I don't carry the fix a flat, but instead keep a small 12V compressor in the car to use with the plug kit.

[churchx]

OE tire repair kits .. they won't help in some tire damage types, after using those most probably tire can be thrown out, i doubt in tire shops wishing to work on tire after that kit used, and that may also mean having to purchase two tires of similar wear to put on same end. Spacesaver wheels, i have used them, i know i can rely on them, and fixing punched tire is cheap. And they don't intrude into trunk space like AUDM full size spare. Yes, there are other ways to lighten car, some of them are more effective, but what that has to do to this thread? There are also even more expensive and even less saving weight parts too, but people still buy those.
It turns out into offtopic discussion on pros/cons of different solutions to flat tires .. not to answers to my questions in OP - if there are any alloy 5x100 spacesaver wheels in market, and who and for how much can make some custom cheaper cast wheels of spacesaver sizing?

[swarb]

Originally Posted by churchx

OE tire repair kits .. they won't help in some tire damage types, after using those most probably tire can be thrown out, i doubt in tire shops wishing to work on tire after that kit used, and that may also mean having to purchase two tires of similar wear to put on same end. Spacesaver wheels, i have used them, i know i can rely on them, and fixing punched tire is cheap. And they don't intrude into trunk space like AUDM full size spare. Yes, there are other ways to lighten car, some of them are more effective, but what that has to do to this thread? There are also even more expensive and even less saving weight parts too, but people still buy those.
It turns out into offtopic discussion on pros/cons of different solutions to flat tires .. not to answers to my questions in OP - if there are any alloy 5x100 spacesaver wheels in market, and who and for how much can make some custom cheaper cast wheels of spacesaver sizing?

Cheaper and custom while being light, doesn't all mix. Molds are 10k++ and minimum orders are 100+ wheels, add in all the logistics, it isn't profitable as the demand is low.

Cheap, strong, light. Pick two.
96 sebring convertible. Aluminium. Good luck finding it or the weight.
Drag racing wheels
Rally racing wheels
Winter wheels off another car= Jackpot? no idea of weight. http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...-winter-wheels
part number- http://www.divergent.org/mikes.vws/R32_Accessories.pdf

Another idea is to get a pair of high offset 3 piece wheels and take the narrow outside barrels and combine them to make a space saver.

The weight savings will be marginal. Bmw tried, and solved the problem with run flat tires.

[churchx]

swarb: From here.
"temporary spare tire on a temporary duty Alloy wheel. Wheel weight 14.5lbs"
"temporary spare tire on a steel wheel.Wheel weight 22lbs"
And that's without any lightening, probably full load spacesaver with only speed limited by spacesaver's donut tire. I mentioned compromised strength to "just enough" only as possibility of further reducing weight, if it gets custom made.
Yes, it's slight. But seeing thread with all the possible weight savings in our cars, where even parts saving less then 6.5lbs were listed and changing or deletion of many compromised daily usability/comfort - why not? And OEM tire repair kit not exactly weightless. Run flat tires also often weigh more then normal ones and you have four of them .. and most commonly i've heard them mentioned in context of often first mod bmw drivers do - change them to normal ones for costs/economy/comfort/noise/grip reasons

[Swagopopotamus]

Originally Posted by churchx

OE tire repair kits .. they won't help in some tire damage types

We all know this, but those failures are rare on well maintained tyres, and this is why you have roadside assistance.

Originally Posted by churchx

after using those most probably tire can be thrown out, i doubt in tire shops wishing to work on tire after that kit used, and that may also mean having to purchase two tires of similar wear to put on same end.

If a shop wont patch a structurally sound tyre they are out to get your money, but I wont belabor this point because tyres for this car are so cheap anyway.

Originally Posted by churchx

Run flat tires also often weigh more then normal ones and you have four of them .. and most commonly i've heard them mentioned in context of often first mod bmw drivers do - change them to normal ones for costs/economy/comfort/noise/grip reasons

This is the smartest thing you've said in this thread.


No one has said that running without a spare is without it's drawbacks, but they are minor enough so that many OE's are not including them.




If you're that paranoid about it, or you regularly drive that 250 mile stretch of highway near Area 51 where there's no cell service, then throw it in the boot for long trips only. Or if you've got money to blow and want to brag about your "hella lite spare, bro" then make one with some 3 pc wheel hoops. Otherwise, the market has spoken and it is trending away from spare tyres.

[guybo]

The market is not "trending away" from spare wheels- most people who do not have a spare don't know they don't have a spare- OEMs are getting away with it because of people's ignorance. Everyone assumes they have a spare and they are PISSED when they find they don't. I work roadside assistance and I see this a lot.

OEMs are leaving out the spare for weight reduction and money savings. As a part of ever stricter CARB standards OEMs are looking for ways to trim weight while not increasing production/materials costs. They get away with it because no one buys a car and checks the trunk to see if there's a spare or not. It has nothing to do with what the market wants, it's just something the OEMs get away with.

[churchx]

Swagopopotamus: I don't drive near Area 51. I even don't happen to live & drive in US :P but in much much smaller country with closer distances. Yet once i've experienced wait for roadside assistance for 5 hours, even though average probably will be about hour. I know that i can change to spare 15-20min, per ~ 5 years i needed three times spacesaver wheel use, i know that i can count/rely on it to finish trip and on time it takes to change one without depending on any external service/luck/weather/traffic jams/etc. Please, stop assuming that everyone lives/drives at US, has identical needs/experience, and stop bashing anyone, who doesn't share your opinion completely.
While full size spare wheel usage in new cars has dropped significantly, spacesaver tires are far from disappearing in new cars, as it's proven compromise many prefer to other alternatives given choice.

Meanwhile from posts of others it seems that noone knows of 5x100 alloy spacesaver spares made/selling, and making custom will be too expensive, unless big enough order volume. Looks like idea cannot be realised at reasonable costs from what's currently offered in market.

[Scenic Driver]

Originally Posted by churchx

Swagopopotamus: I don't drive near Area 51. I even don't happen to live & drive in US :P but in much much smaller country with closer distances. Yet once i've experienced wait for roadside assistance for 5 hours, even though average probably will be about hour. I know that i can change to spare 15-20min, per ~ 5 years i needed three times spacesaver wheel use, i know that i can count/rely on it to finish trip and on time it takes to change one without depending on any external service/luck/weather/traffic jams/etc. Please, stop assuming that everyone lives/drives at US, has identical needs/experience, and stop bashing anyone, who doesn't share your opinion completely.
While full size spare wheel usage in new cars has dropped significantly, spacesaver tires are far from disappearing in new cars, as it's proven compromise many prefer to other alternatives given choice.

Meanwhile from posts of others it seems that noone knows of 5x100 alloy spacesaver spares made/selling, and making custom will be too expensive, unless big enough order volume. Looks like idea cannot be realised at reasonable costs from what's currently offered in market.

I drive in the US and I have had to wait multiple hours for roadside assistance before. I also regularly drive in mountain areas where there are lots of places where cell service is spotty or non existent.

I'm not a fan of this trend where cars don't come with spares. I do carry plugs and fix flats when I can but I've also had a couple of occasions where the sidewall was ripped or bubbled so no repair was possible.

The one things I loved most about the Golf I had was it came with a full size spare (I had to use it too).

[churchx]

Meanwhile i haven't completely dropped idea. It seems there might be narrow alloy wheels of 5x100 after all. I forgot about this legit use for narrower then stock sizes wheels, for ice rally racing. Clearance of STI brakes sounds good on fitting ours.

Imho such wheels have potential to make up nice alloy spares, that may weight less then steel ones, be much stronger (rally use bit), look better, do well on brake clearance and have native 5x100 pcd. Now off to googling about available alternatives in market.

[Leonardo]

I always wanted something like this....

[churchx]

IIRC i saw something like this for some amg mercs. Called folding / expandable / collapsible spare tire depending on source. Given how big brakes in some of those are, no wonder. But, of course, not available for 5x100 pcd.