Questions re NC Not a Spare Wheel

[taminga16]

Ended up needing jsut about all of it when the engine decided to chew all the teeth off the timing gear.
of course, we didn't have a timing gear in the boot.
Probably failed under that weight of all of that superfluous stuff in the boot.
Greg.

[taminga16]

I dont think Mr Chesterton had an MX5 in mind - a little bit of planning and forethought is no bad thing.

Mr M. Mr Chesterton would have been dragging about the country over appalling roads in cars that dropped more oil than the fuel that they consumed. My diaries suggest that I have travelled about 80,000klms on various motorcycles in the past 15 years (without a spare) and only ever had tyre trouble once and that was a 'TEK' screw that I picked up in Warrandyte.
I love the road less travelled and cotton wool only makes me itch.
Greg.

[meanmx]

Last road trip.. we didn't have a timing gear in the boot

Yeah but you were driving a Kingswood so that makes sense

[Rocky]

The Wiki page on GK Chesterton is an amusing read.

An MX5 mate and I have talked about a 'round Australia trip' sometime in the future.
I was thinking about the issue of the 'spare'.
My thought was a full-size spare on an alumin. bracket mounted on the tow-bar fitting.
Bit expensive to get it fabricated I guess but would be the optimum solution.

[Mr Morlock]

Facts are that spares have been a part of the boot for just about forever. People actually changed the wheel themselves and it got you going quick.

Mazda dropped the spare for the NC because of design problems and as Okibi pointed out a belief in the ease of getting help thru a service provider. The NB has a space saver- good and if it never used so what.

Other makers have often made a spare an option essentially for penny pinching.

The RACV NRMA always remark on the spare or lack of it because it is considered to be important.

People also need to understand that because you travelled for 10 years or 200000 kms it does not amount to a hill of beans because getting a puncture or destroying a tyre is not a predictable statistic. In my circle of friends and family punctures and etc have been quite common- one has had 3 punctures and used the space saver on a modern car used in suburbia. Incidentally on that same car travelling on a highway a tyre disintegrated - smoke the whole thing and thankfully no accidents. I already told the story of a friend in a less than 1 yo high class SUV on a sealed road who had a piece of metal go thru the tyre and destroy it. The space saver got him going though the maker did not even have a tyre in the country thats a story in itself.

Au is a large country- if you going cruising around the back blocks of our sparse country and no spare that is simply not clever in fact its probably irresponsible.

Ask your local tyre repair how many punctures and repairs they do- plenty.

What to do with the removed wheel- guys thats a bit feeble isn't it?

I agree its not mandatory for a spare- your choice but the bloke did ask.

[hks_kansei]

Yeah but you were driving a Kingswood so that makes sense

Pretty much.

We just figured that since it's a 35 year old car SOMETHING was bound to happen, so we'd be prepared.

That, and after years of MX5 ownership it's a luxury to have enough boot space for all that stuff

[taminga16]

Mr M,
I live in the back blocks, infact warm evening entainment is often driving 20klms to sit in the window of a hotel in Castlemaine and watch the traffic lights (we have two sets now), a spare in my NC would be nice but the logistics are a nightmare. Spares, parts etc were standard a time ago but cars have come a long way and the average person wouldn't even know where to point the torch today, in fact the reasoning behind yellow coloured oil dip sticks and then shrouding everything else in plastic is because there is nothing that the average person could do anyway. Tyres have come a long way, roads have improved and yes there is always the 'but what if' factor but life is short.
Some years ago whilst travelling to Brisbane (January), the ignition system in my BMW motorcycle failed 9klms from Forbes.
I pushed the fully laden bike to town and parked it O/S the Stock Agents office and went to the pub next door to refresh and slake my thirst, within an hour I had full use of a mower repair outlet's (Eddie Gould and Paul Clifford) workshop, a room at the Albion Hotel and parts on the way from Brisbane with a local truck driver who's brother I met while having a haircut. I stayed in Forbes for three days, Later my former wife and I did a couple of road trips with a stay at Forbes and to visit all of the wonderful people that I met on what will always be one of my most memorable trips. Sadly The Albion has been burnt and I must admit I shed a tear when I saw the images.
Greg.
Every adversity leads to an equal or greater opportunity.
Unknown.

[taminga16]

The Wiki page on GK Chesterton is an amusing read.

An MX5 mate and I have talked about a 'round Australia trip' sometime in the future.
I was thinking about the issue of the 'spare'.
My thought was a full-size spare on an alumin. bracket mounted on the tow-bar fitting.
Bit expensive to get it fabricated I guess but would be the optimum solution.

Hi Rocky,
I am pleased that you enjoyed GK Chesterton, check R L Stevenson too. The tow bar spare wheel idea would put considerable weight a long way behind the rear axle and I feel that it would upset the handling. A lightweight trailer might be a better option.
Greg.
EDIT. Trailer.

[M1474]

A quick post on this forum would have you the use of a spare tyre within an hour or two 99.9% of the time.

PM me if you need a 4x100 spare anytime NOR Perth.

Just keep cold beer in the boot.

[JBT]

Unfortunately, the NC is 5 stud.

[JBT]

Facts are that spares have been a part of the boot for just about forever. People actually changed the wheel themselves and it got you going quick.

Hmmm. I recently checked the spare on the bimmer - space saver hanging in a carrier under the back floor. Pulled the wheel out and ooh says I, that pressure is too low. So I pumped it up to the recommended 61 psi, checked it over, gave it a clean, replaced the wheel in the carrier and buttoned everything up. Job done.

As I was walking past the car about 10 minutes later, I heard this faint weird whooshing noise - like you sometimes get when the fuel tank cap is opened. Ears follow noise to find it is coming from the vicinity of the rear of the car - in fact the spare wheel area. Hmmm....lower the carrier again and pull out the wheel to find air is coming out of the valve which is partly dislodged from the wheel. Hmmm...valve is perished from 10 years of being beaten up by road grime etc. Off to Bob Jane's who replaced the valve etc. Put it all away and job done again.

So I could very well have dríven around for the next "x" weeks thinking all was good and I was safe with a space saver only to find it was dead flat when I needed it. I also discovered that the bimmer's 17" x 8.5" rear wheel + tyre, or the 17" x 7.5" + tyre front won't fit in the spare carrier and would have to go in the boot - pretty difficult with more than a shoebox of luggage in there. Mind you, BMW did thoughtfully provide a lovely little baggie to put the dead wheel/tyre in so that you don't get your boot carpet or the Louis Vuitton luggage messed up.

[M1474]

Unfortunately, the NC is 5 stud.

I know, that's why I made the distinction.

[ricky-pinky]

Finagle's Law, commonly and mistakenly referred to as Murphy's Law, states: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".
Sod's Law, a corollary of Finagles Law states: "The probability of something going wrong is inversely proportional to your preparedness for that something to go wrong".
So on that basis, get yourself a Plug Kit and a Space Saver Spare, and the chances are you will never have to use iether.

[Mr Morlock]

I did not have to wait long for the puncture. Received a phone call from family- large vehicle- bolt thru tyre- problem with jacking - pack the really big jack- wheel changed - full size spare- going again- even got to use my waterproof pants. Hopefully its repairable etc. You would think I just made that up but I didn't.

[zero00]

At the NC launch the question was asked about the missing spare wheel, the rep from Mazda Japan's response was "everyone have mobile", perhaps most markets have way better mobile coverage than we get here in Oz.

Could be worse, some Toyota 86 guys paid for a car with a spare wheel and Toyota decided to screw them over and not provide one as advertised.

That's so true Okibi, I ordered when they had spares and then they were DUMPED, in favour of a can of goo!! No price drop no real excuse just simply NFS [work that one out for yourselves!]

As such I order an alloy of a similar size as genuine Toyota was being quoted at around $1,400 [2003 Corolla Sportivo 16" alloy was $995] I got him to fit a tyre of the same spec as the GTS only difference was offset 42 on the 'mongrel' and 48 on the 86

Low and behold Toyota reduced the alloy to $440 but many guys who changed to after-market wheels decided to sell off the originals and I picked up a genuine for $150!!

Whilst I haven't got the 'donut' floormat as yet, the rubber mat sits maybe 20-25mm above 'total flat' and that's not a worry - I also secured the bits to secure the spare thru Subaru for a couple of $$

I travel the Newell Highway and last thing I want is to do a sidewall on a Saturday afternoon in that area, say, around Moree!

That would mean:

1. Pray you have phone reception
2. Flat top truck to Moree or nearest town
3. No tyre place would be open until Monday
4. 2 nights accommodation at least
5. Hope the tyre place has your size [mine 215-45-17]

With my NB8A which has done a couple of return trips via the Newell from Brisbane to the Victorian border I carry both the spacesaver and also a 15 x 6.5 as a spare - again cheap insurance