All the donuts you could want!

[Will]

I would not see too many problems with "in town testing". That would at least answer the MPG questions, while keeping it off the open road until safety questions could be hashed out.

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally Posted by Will

I would not see too many problems with "in town testing". That would at least answer the MPG questions, while keeping it off the open road until safety questions could be hashed out.

You know what it takes to be cool.
...
You're a ROCK-IT man, burning out your fuse out there, alone.
...
Oh YEAH! That's the GOOD stuff!

[metromizer]

ok, I get where you are coming from now.

So you've heard from many (me included) saying we thought it was a bad idea, but really, you should throw together a pair to experiment with. I've experimented with several things that most wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. The blackpowder-grassfire incident comes to mind... but I digrese

When I was in my early 20's, (circa 1984) a guy I knew ran a pair of space savers on the front of his chopped roof "Cal-Look" VW (chopped as in 'chopped off' with a sawzall), He wanted that 'slammed' look and lowering the beam wasn't enough for him. He had a hard time finding someone to mount them on his wheels, didn't get many miles out of the tires he chose as I recall, and got harrassed by the local police. (side note: talk about making yourself and easy target for the police, a kid, driving a primered VW, AND lowered 2" off the ground). You won't have that problem.

I think many of those are designed to be used on a specific rim, a 'steel rim on steroids' and if I remember right, a tire store won't mount space savers on a regular wheel. Somthing about regular wheels not built to take the higher psi required for a space saver, don't they run at 70psi or some-such? Maybe you know someone who works at a tire store that would do it anyway, just stand back or put the wheel into one of those tire cages when you inflated it, since tire changers have been killed by rims literally blowing apart. I'm going from memory and not positive, but it's worth checking out before you get to far into it. good luck and let us know if you find additional FE ---Tom

[WheresMyGas]

What's the weight of the spare wheel/tire?
What's the car you're using?

My spare tire is a rock hard rubber. I'd doubt you could use those.

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally Posted by metromizer

ok, I get where you are coming from now.

So you've heard from many (me included) saying we thought it was a bad idea, but really, you should throw together a pair to experiment with. I've experimented with several things that most wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. The blackpowder-grassfire incident comes to mind... but I digrese

When I was in my early 20's, (circa 1984) a guy I knew ran a pair of space savers on the front of his chopped roof "Cal-Look" VW (chopped as in 'chopped off' with a sawzall), He wanted that 'slammed' look and lowering the beam wasn't enough for him. He had a hard time finding someone to mount them on his wheels, didn't get many miles out of the tires he chose as I recall, and got harrassed by the local police. (side note: talk about making yourself and easy target for the police, a kid, driving a primered VW, AND lowered 2" off the ground). You won't have that problem.

I think many of those are designed to be used on a specific rim, a 'steel rim on steroids' and if I remember right, a tire store won't mount space savers on a regular wheel. Somthing about regular wheels not built to take the higher psi required for a space saver, don't they run at 70psi or some-such? Maybe you know someone who works at a tire store that would do it anyway, just stand back or put the wheel into one of those tire cages when you inflated it, since tire changers have been killed by rims literally blowing apart. I'm going from memory and not positive, but it's worth checking out before you get to far into it. good luck and let us know if you find additional FE ---Tom

I know a couple of used tire places where you jack the car up yourself and they have impact guns sitting out front for customer use. That, and I have a couple of friends who have tire machines.

I used to be a mechanic so I know how tire mounting works.

That said, I did just score a 14" motorcycle tire that looks like it might fit ....

[an0nymous]

Just a thought regarding running doughnuts on the rear. If you are running pizza plate hubcap covers and have fender skirts and the car is dropped a touch, that might prove to hide them pretty well from casual scrutiny, if you were trying to stay undercover.

[IndyIan]

Just giving this some thought; what you need are the spare tires from the heaviest all wheel drive car with the same bolt pattern as your car.

The AWD cars need a spare with same diameter at the other tires, and with a heavier vehicle the spare has to be built to handle that.

4 of those tires on a Metro might last for a year or 5 while giving the gearing for good mileage.

There were AWD versions of many minivans too, check out their spares.
Ian

[Memorytwo]

uh AWD requires you to have the same size wheels on all four. so awd doesn't have anything else than full size spares.

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted by achang1

uh AWD requires you to have the same size wheels on all four. so awd doesn't have anything else than full size spares.

I am pretty sure I've seen AWD spacesaver spares before...

From a Ford Edge


The trick is to get one with the same bolt pattern, but maybe with a Metro sized car you could just make your own holes.

[rjacob]