car spare wheel question

[danny1]

was driving down to london last week at night. got a puncture. repaired the puncture. put my sopare wheel on (which hasnt been used for 5 years)

tightened the niuts up way beyond what you are supposed to

there was still a small bit of play between the plate and the bolt - like a mm of movement so that the wheel was nto tight up against the plate.

so obv i couldnt drive far so had to opull up and kip in barnsley and cancel my next days meetings

my nuts obv dont match the spare wheel

could i just fix this with some proper robust washers to fill the gap where the play is happening...if so is there a special type of washer for this?

or do i have to get a new spare wheel??

anyone?

[swiggy]

tightened the niuts up way beyond what you are supposed to

Don't ever do this, easy way to warp/damage brake discs/hub assembly. Seen it happen when tire places way overtorque lug nuts with an impact gun, end up needing new brake discs.

there was still a small bit of play between the plate and the bolt - like a mm of movement so that the wheel was nto tight up against the plate.

Is the stud coming out from the hub threaded all the way in? Only way I could see this happening is if it wasn't threaded all the way and the spare wheel is significantly thinner than the normal wheel, and you were just tightening the nuts against the unthreaded portion of the stud.

Are you sure you aren't feeling play in the wheel bearing? Is it definitely the nut not tightening against the wheel?

could i just fix this with some proper robust washers to fill the gap where the play is happening...if so is there a special type of washer for this?

Many cars/wheels have specially shaped nuts that fit in a recess or something in the wheel, and so will only go in one way (they do this so it locks and doesn't work loose over time), using a washer to fix it is pretty ghetto but will probably work for an emergency spare. If you do that I would check every so often that it isn't working loose, and don't rely on it as a long-term thing. Just to drive on with a puncture though is fine. But its a weird problem, something doesn't make sense to me here.

[danny1]

nice one cheers mate....

yeh its fookin weirdman

its like the thread wasnt long enough...didnt go in enough

any suggestions on what i should do? gotta drive to ncl- stirling- ncl- whitby- loughborough- ldn - whitby this week on good wheels...but if i get a puncture i got a problem!

just get a new spare that fits?

[Chris F]

Is it a space saver or a full size wheel? If it's a space saver it nmight not be the original one from the car. Did you get the car from new and have you used it before. If it's a concern I would go to a srapyard and get another full sized spare wheel. Also how bad was the puncture? If it's a minor leak you can get those cannisters of compressed gas plus a sealant which can make a temporary repain. I carry one in the van in case of emergencies.

[Matt Rose]

Is it a space saver or a full size wheel? If it's a space saver it nmight not be the original one from the car. Did you get the car from new and have you used it before. If it's a concern I would go to a srapyard and get another full sized spare wheel. Also how bad was the puncture? If it's a minor leak you can get those cannisters of compressed gas plus a sealant which can make a temporary repain. I carry one in the van in case of emergencies.

Thats what I was thinking, the wrong wheel.

If its just a punture, it will only cost £10-15 to repair should be able to do whilst you wait.

[swiggy]

Yeah I don't like driving on space savers for a long way, I would avoid doing length of the country on a space saver (you then have no spare right? If the spare is v old it may not last that long at 60 mph, rubber does die with age not just use). They can only repair punctures in the tread, if the sidewall is damaged they won't/can't do it.

I second the just get another full size wheel option if you can't get your tyre repaired, but if the bolt pattern and offset is right (the spare wheel physically fits, plus it clears the brakes etc.) using a washer will work in a pinch if you really are stuck.. Make sure its at least grade 8 though, don't use cheap alloy shit, and I'd put some loctite threadlocker stuff on it so it doesn't vibrate loose, you don't want it coming loose on the motorway. I dunno if I'd drive across country like this though (unless I had to and waves were pumping haha, and then I would check the tightness periodically..). With a washer on there though you might find that the wheel is no longer perfectly centred, you'll want to make sure you tighten it properly in sequence, if it isn't centred you may get some vibrations at speed.

I have done some pretty sketchy shit to cars, we broke a suspension mount on my mates 4 wheel drive when we were in the middle of nowhere, had 2 vehicles there so we used the car batteries hooked up together to weld the mount back on. It worked, and we just welded it properly when we got back to town