Spacesaver on a 400h

[Sundance]

I've already contributed on here as an RX new boy and am very much enjoying the ride 😉 . I've also had a quick search for an answer to my new question but with no luck.

I'm planning to replace some tyres soon and am thinking that it might be an opportunity to pop the fifth (spare) 18" alloy in the garage and buy a spacesaver. My thinking is to reduce weight and maybe ever so slightly improve performance and economy, albeit negligible (perhaps).

How about it? Does a spacesaver fit the undercarriage contraption? Any disadvantages? Or is this a not so brilliant idea with no legs? 🤔

[LenT]

12 hours ago, Sundance said:

My thinking is to reduce weight and maybe ever so slightly improve performance and economy, albeit negligible (perhaps)

These are certainly the reasons put forward to justify their provision as a substitute for a full-size wheel.  My IS250 came with one to replace the 18 inch wheels and I have had one occasion to use it.

But its use comes with disadvantages.  The main ones being that it is speed limited and designed strictly for emergency use.  In my case, the car comes with different size tyres fore and aft, so the SS  is also very much a compromise -  but preferable to the injectable alternative.

I haven’t compared the weight of the SS and full size wheel, but I would question whether any marginal fuel saving would actually compensate for the initial purchase cost anyway.  

Currently, Rowley, should you be unfortunate enough to suffer a puncture, you can fit your existing spare and forget it!  I would have thought that was a benefit in itself!

[scudney]

Like everything in life the choice is yours,personally I would rather have a proper spare wheel/tyre than a space saver, moreover how much fuel are you actually saving by not having a full sized wheel anyway. Then again why have one at all, just call out the break down people if you ever have a flat/puncture 

[Bluemarlin]

Personally I'd stick with a full size spare if I had one, as it's a lot more convenient in that it's fit and forget. I doubt the marginal weight saving would impact economy much.

About the only reason I know for having a space saver over a full size alloy is where the spare is exposed and be stolen.

[Sundance]

9 hours ago, LenT said:

These are certainly the reasons put forward to justify their provision as a substitute for a full-size wheel.  My IS250 came with one to replace the 18 inch wheels and I have had one occasion to use it.

But its use comes with disadvantages.  The main ones being that it is speed limited and designed strictly for emergency use.  In my case, the car comes with different size tyres fore and aft, so the SS  is also very much a compromise -  but preferable to the injectable alternative.

I haven’t compared the weight of the SS and full size wheel, but I would question whether any marginal fuel saving would actually compensate for the initial purchase cost anyway.  

Currently, Rowley, should you be unfortunate enough to suffer a puncture, you can fit your existing spare and forget it!  I would have thought that was a benefit in itself!

All very true Len, although I'm not so bothered about the speed restriction on the spacesaver which is perhaps more of a concern for the constant long distance traveller, of which I am not one.

My IS250 experienced two punctures in my two years of ownership and of course, given the variable wheel sizes, a spacesaver is the only answer. Unless you have the 250C with runflats and no spare at all, very inconvenient in my opinion.

[Sundance]

8 hours ago, scudney said:

Like everything in life the choice is yours,personally I would rather have a proper spare wheel/tyre than a space saver, moreover how much fuel are you actually saving by not having a full sized wheel anyway. Then again why have one at all, just call out the break down people if you ever have a flat/puncture 

I am a great supporter of a 5th wheel option, small or standard, as I would never dream of calling out the RAC for something that I could manage to rectify myself.

[Sundance]

All sorted now, I've kept a full size spare, but I can only have a puncture on a nearside tyre 😳.

I invested in a 4-set of Avon AS7 All-Seasons, my very first intro into AS tyres (not that they're needed in leafy Surrey but they do look good on the car!) ... plus I got them at an excellent discounted price that even compared favourably against standard Summer tyres.

Of course I'm not expecting them to last as long as 'ordinary' (Summer) treads but I'm only doing 5k 'ish miles pa so they will hopefully give me 3 > 4 years worth of use by which time I'll have forgotten how much I paid for them and will start a fresh search 😀.

Here comes the rub.  The reason for investing in fresh tyres was that when buying the car it had 3 worn Summer tyres plus one AS7 and a cr*p & very old spare.  An 'odd' set up.  So I decided to keep the one AS7 as spare and buy 4 new ones.

Of course what had escaped my notice (until my friendly tyre man pointed it out to me) is that the AS7s are DIRECTIONAL! 😉