spacesaver steel wheels

[BrianAbington]

This thread has me wondering how much the stock 13's on my little Subaru weigh.

My car has 185/70/13 and thats the tallest I can find locally.

From what I have read I think that they are 4x100 bolt pattern. If I can find some space savers in a 15 that would be a nice way to bring the HWY rpm's way down. Even if the new wheel tire combo does weigh a little bit more than stock.

[Christ]

Next time I get ahair and go to the junk yard, I'm gonna search out some 4x100 spares and see if my oe wheel covers can fit them.

[gocamgo1]

Dang, no altima spacesavers for me. Altima has a different bolt pattern than my civic(4x114 vs. 4x100). On with the search!

[zonker]

4x100? my fave is the 95-97 miata alloy "hollow spoke" 14x5.5 wheel, at 10 lbs.

[Christ]

What about any 13x4 or 13x4.5 steel? I'd really like to retain the oe caps for aero and the non-mod look.

[SuzukiSteve]

Originally Posted by zonker

These wheels have your same bolt patterns and look killer, as well as are even lighter (the seller in the ad is off his gourd tho thinking it's worth 99 bux). U can get these are the pick and pull as well... just look in the back hatch of any 4 lug 86-88 mazda rx-7.

86-88 Mazda RX7 Spare Tire Alloy Wheel 15x4 4-1/2" OEM | eBay

Those do look pretty cool. I would still cover them up for aero. lol. But maybe Ill find some anyways and then I can take off the covers when I wanna look nice.

[Mpgian]

i wonder if you could drill and tap 4 of the spokes and have matching holes in you pizza pan aero cover. This way you could take em off and on when you want to...

[Frank Lee]

I read the sticker on my spacesaver wheel and what do you know, it says basically when the tire is shot, do not put another tire on it, throw it.

OK... but in looking at it, it seems the gauge of steel, construction, welds, paint, and all that are comparable to a regular wheel so IMHO the wheel itself is as functional as a regular wheel; they just put that warning on there for CYA liability reasons.

[darcane]

The real deficiency in space savers seems to be the tire, not the wheel. I know of several people that use them as wheels for their race cars and they exceed 130mph on them. At least one car is running about 160mph on space savers. The tires have been replaced, but the wheels are stock space savers (except for the tabs to hold the moon discs on).

I think the biggest challenge with using them is finding the right size tire.

I'm personally skeptical about wider tires being better than narrow for efficiency. That doesn't mesh with my experience so far.

Mike

[CapriRacer]

I'm wondering:

If I were the wheel supplier for the spare wheel, and knowing that the wheel doesn't have to go 200K miles - more like 2K - I'd make the wheel out of thinner gauge stock.

I tried to measure the thickness of my wheels, but could not get my calipers in the holes. Does anyone have a micrometer - and a vehicle with both a steel spare wheel and steel street wheels? How's 'bout someone measure that?