spare tire

[Craig]

Is there any reason you couldn't keep a space saver spare tire under your rear hatch area? I have the ss spare from my 2017 Golf Alltrack, and it is a T125/70-18, which is the exact same diameter as the 205/55-16 tires on the eGolf. Is the floor of the hatch area (under the removable cover) strong enough to carry the weight all the time?
If I put the removable floor in it's upper position, it appears to make room for the ss spare.

 

[f1geek]

No reason not to have one, if you wish. I have one and it fits just fine. Also have the jack and wheel chocks. I can no longer keep my earthquake kit under the load floor, but I rarely fill up the trunk, so it's not a problem for me.

 

[Craig]

The space saver fits in the round depression under the load floor, though it does press against the plastic trunk lining somewhat at the very rear of the space. The jack kit fits as well, and the load floor, when installed in the upper position, fits flush.
I haven't had a flat on the road in almost fifty years, but I feel better being ready for it.
Thanks.

 

[JoulesThief]

My spare tire is an AAA card with 100 miles of free towing. To a tire shop for a patch or new tire. Could be time consuming, though.

 

[RonDawg]

I too have a 2017 Alltrack (see my sig line) and put the spare from that in my eGolf, after putting a full size spare in the Alltrack.

For safety reasons you should buy the part from VW that secures the spare tire to the floor, to prevent it from flying around should your car end up overturned. It's under $20: https://parts.vw.com/p/Volkswagen_2015_e-Golf-SEL-Premium-Hatchback--L---cylinder-ELECTRIC-AT/Mount-bolt-Spare-Tire-Bolt/62807544/5G0803899.html The area under the felt is the structural steel of the car, and VW helpfully provided a slit in the felt for this bolt to slide through.

As you found, the plastic part that covers the rear bulkhead doesn't quite fit with the spare tire, but you can either dremel out the excess plastic, or buy a new part for a Golf that has a spare tire and will have that part cut away, or simply let heat eventually distort the plastic to mold around the spare tire.

My spare tire is an AAA card with 100 miles of free towing. To a tire shop for a patch or new tire. Could be time consuming, though.

FYI AAA has been quoting extended ETA's lately, particularly when it's raining, due to all the accidents plus cars not working due to a rain-related electrical malfunction.

 

[JoulesThief]

I too have a 2017 Alltrack (see my sig line) and put the spare from that in my eGolf, after putting a full size spare in the Alltrack.

For safety reasons you should buy the part from VW that secures the spare tire to the floor, to prevent it from flying around should your car end up overturned. It's under $20: https://parts.vw.com/p/Volkswagen_2015_e-Golf-SEL-Premium-Hatchback--L---cylinder-ELECTRIC-AT/Mount-bolt-Spare-Tire-Bolt/62807544/5G0803899.html The area under the felt is the structural steel of the car, and VW helpfully provided a slit in the felt for this bolt to slide through.

As you found, the plastic part that covers the rear bulkhead doesn't quite fit with the spare tire, but you can either dremel out the excess plastic, or buy a new part for a Golf that has a spare tire and will have that part cut away, or simply let heat eventually distort the plastic to mold around the spare tire.

My spare tire is an AAA card with 100 miles of free towing. To a tire shop for a patch or new tire. Could be time consuming, though.

True... though I haven't had a flat tire in probably close to 20 years, and haven't had to use AAA very much at all. Not really current on how good their current service is.

FYI AAA has been quoting extended ETA's lately, particularly when it's raining, due to all the accidents plus cars not working due to a rain-related electrical malfunction.

 

[Craig]

Got it! Received the spare tire retaining bolt ($11) in the mail, dremel'd the plastic at the rear of the tire storage area, and now have a space saver spare in the boot of my eGolf, along with the necessary changing tools .
I was in a town about thirty miles away from home a few days before, and the thought occurred to me that a flat tire would be an inconvenience, to say the least. I never have gone in for the goop and air pump.

 

[Sparklebeard]

Let us know if there’s any change in your range from the spare! Can’t imagine it will be too significant though

 

[JoulesThief]

Got it! Received the spare tire retaining bolt ($11) in the mail, dremel'd the plastic at the rear of the tire storage area, and now have a space saver spare in the boot of my eGolf, along with the necessary changing tools .
I was in a town about thirty miles away from home a few days before, and the thought occurred to me that a flat tire would be an inconvenience, to say the least. I never have gone in for the goop and air pump.

Almost anyone that mountain bikes runs with a bicycle pump on their back and Stan's tire sealant while running their mountain bike tires tubeless. As long as you don't break the bead and the hole is at the bottom of the tire when you start adding air, and the hole isn't much over 3/16", it should seal up. Same thing with Slime and using in car tires, but you need a valve core puller on hand too. Usually on the lid or cap of the Slime.

 

[Craig]

I'm not saying that the goop and air pump is useless, but it's no good if you gash a sidewall or hit a really big nail: I prefer the space saver.

 

[JoulesThief]

I'm not saying that the goop and air pump is useless, but it's no good if you gash a sidewall or hit a really big nail: I prefer the space saver.

45 years of driving, and I've never gashed a sidewall. How do you do that anyways? Operator error?

 

[Craig]

I've never gashed a sidewall myself, but have towed in a few who did.
One backed over a swinging steel gate anchor, two were the result of vandalism, one hit some scrap steel that fell off a truck.

 

[f1geek]

Flat tires are not always driver error. I got one recently (pluggable, luckily) thanks to workers at a neighbor's house dropping drywall screws in the street and not telling anyone. This was definitely operator error by construction worker, though not by me.

 

[RonDawg]

45 years of driving, and I've never gashed a sidewall. How do you do that anyways? Operator error?

Coming back from San Diego, I blew a sidewall on the OEM tire of my Maxima. And it had just gotten a tire rotation with inspection a few days before, with no indication to the tech that it was about to blow out.

 

[ZeroMoon17]

I'm not saying that the goop and air pump is useless, but it's no good if you gash a sidewall or hit a really big nail: I prefer the space saver.

45 years of driving, and I've never gashed a sidewall. How do you do that anyways? Operator error?

I must be incredibly unlucky, I've had it happen to me twice now on my '17 GTI. No idea how I did it, but I've done it twice in less than 3 years :lol:

 

[msvphoto]

I'm not saying that the goop and air pump is useless, but it's no good if you gash a sidewall or hit a really big nail: I prefer the space saver.

45 years of driving, and I've never gashed a sidewall. How do you do that anyways? Operator error?

You have been lucky. I have been driving for only 40 years, so not quite as long, and it has happened twice for me. Both times in town on surface streets.

How does it happen? The two times I experienced it the cause was sloppy construction debris (screws and nails mostly). Both times were on Audi quattros so I had to buy four new tires (quattros don't like dissimilar circumferences, especially early quattros from the 1980s). Debris either gets picked up and shot over by an adjacent car on the road or somehow the debris gets into the sidewall (which is much thinner and easy to puncture than the tread). It happens, but like accidents, one can go for decades without one.

Nowadays tire shops won't even repair punctures in the outer tread blocks (which is a very common location for punctures).

 

[JoulesThief]

I'm not saying that the goop and air pump is useless, but it's no good if you gash a sidewall or hit a really big nail: I prefer the space saver.

45 years of driving, and I've never gashed a sidewall. How do you do that anyways? Operator error?

You have been lucky. I have been driving for only 40 years, so not quite as long, and it has happened twice for me. Both times in town on surface streets.

How does it happen? The two times I experienced it the cause was sloppy construction debris (screws and nails mostly). Both times were on Audi quattros so I had to buy four new tires (quattros don't like dissimilar circumferences, especially early quattros from the 1980s). Debris either gets picked up and shot over by an adjacent car on the road or somehow the debris gets into the sidewall (which is much thinner and easy to puncture than the tread). It happens, but like accidents, one can go for decades without one.

Nowadays tire shops won't even repair punctures in the outer tread blocks (which is a very common location for punctures).

My AWD Touareg is the same, wreck a tire that's not patchable, and you need to replace all 4 tires at about $1400, the circumference needs to be matched. Maybe I have been lucky and didn't know it?

 

[RonDawg]

Both times were on Audi quattros so I had to buy four new tires (quattros don't like dissimilar circumferences, especially early quattros from the 1980s).

My AWD Touareg is the same, wreck a tire that's not patchable, and you need to replace all 4 tires at about $1400, the circumference needs to be matched. Maybe I have been lucky and didn't know it?

Some tire shops have tire matching services which basically shave off the tread of a brand new tire until it matches the diameter of the others. No need to buy a new set of 4 just because one is ruined.

https://www.consumerreports.org/tire-buying-maintenance/tire-shaving-all-wheel-drive-car-no-replacing-all-four-tires/

 

[msvphoto]

Both times were on Audi quattros so I had to buy four new tires (quattros don't like dissimilar circumferences, especially early quattros from the 1980s).

My AWD Touareg is the same, wreck a tire that's not patchable, and you need to replace all 4 tires at about $1400, the circumference needs to be matched. Maybe I have been lucky and didn't know it?

Some tire shops have tire matching services which basically shave off the tread of a brand new tire until it matches the diameter of the others. No need to buy a new set of 4 just because one is ruined.

https://www.consumerreports.org/tire-buying-maintenance/tire-shaving-all-wheel-drive-car-no-replacing-all-four-tires/

Good to know, thank you! Shaving street tires for track use has been a thing for years, but shaving to match wear for AWD cars is a great idea. This makes buying road hazard warranties worth it for AWD cars if working with a shop that does this. I hope it becomes common.