Spare Tire Options

What type of spare tire/wheel is everyone using? I am considering a donut (T115/50-15) on a 4.5 inch VW rim. This should provide a height of 4.5"W x 19.5"Dia I believe. I know this is much shorter than the stock size, but hopefully it will never have to be used, and then only spareingly (pardon the pun). Will the temporary donut install correctly on a VW rim?

Ron,
I posted a brief article in the knowledge base section which chronicles my experience installing a spare. Personally, I would avoid a temporary spare, if you are referring to the compact spares offered by some auto manufacturers as OEM. My system worked out fine, but, as you said, I will hopefully never have an occasion to try it out.
John H.

I may have one for sale soon. Its a 145 15 nankang on a chrome 4.5 speedster wheel.

If a donut or thinner spare is used, what happens if you have a flat and are left with a regular sized flat tire? Where do you put it to get it for repair/replacement? Seems to me that if you're going to carry a spare, it has to be the same size as the four on the ground or you're left driving your car with the hood up (at least partially). Maybe everyone's right when they say spare is spelled: Fix-A-Flat + AAA + Cellphone.

A full-sized rim and tire will fit behind the seats with the top down - which should suffice for a short jaunt to the tire repair shop.

I have a spare under the hood of my VS. See "Dub-U-Tub" for a picture. I run 5.5" 185/65s on the car, but the spare is a 4.5" 135 and fits nicely in the car. I have a neat securing system that Kirk created for it, and I keep a scissors jack, small hydraulic jack, and a fold up lug wrench all secured under it with canvas wrapping to eliminate noise. As for where to put the flat? Wellllll... I would suppose I would throw it in the back seat for the minimal trip to a station, orrrr, see if in a deflated state if it would fit in the spare slot.

I also carry a can of fix-a-flat, cell phone, AAA card, a paperback, and some bottled water.

Jim
OKC

Jim,
I would add a couple of vallium tablets to control my heightened rage for having a flat in the first place; It seemed that you thought of everything else. If my tire wasn't too grungy, I would put it behind the seats. Another approach would be to bungie it to the luggage rack. That reminds me, I should add some spare bungies to my emergency kit. thanks!
John H.

If you order a new car from VS, JPS, or IM they can probably modify the front end fibreglass to take a full sized spare. IM did this for me but it required rack-and-pinion steering (a good thing) because the original steering setup would not clear the trunk mod.

How about a 33 gal. drawstring garbage bag (very small when folded) to throw that grungy flat tire in before tossing it in the back?

As a matter of Fact, I have already offered the patterms for the spare conversion to Kirk at no charge. I think that is a very nessecary upgrade, and as I have proven unlike the IM you can still use the old steering box if you like. I will also exstend the same offer to JPS if they want it,

Just an update on my original question. My Speedster trunk is a bit different than most and due to the fuel tank positioning will not allow anything larger than a 19 inch diameter spare. I finally lathe cut out the center hub spider from a 13 inch rim temporary spare which had the correct tire diameter. I also cut out the spider from a VW hub and mig welded it in place on the temp rim. It runs nice and true although it looks rather small. I will carry a can of stop leak and only resort to the spare if I have to. Thanks to all for your response.

The stop-leak, "fix-a-flat-in-a-can" thingies are fine but after using be sure to have a service station clean out the tire and inner rim when they fix the flat as most of these are corrosive over any period other than a very short time.