Do you have to have a spare tyre in the UK?

[chilliaddict]

Hi,

I've just recently put my initial deposit down on a R56 Cooper with chilli pack.

As it has chilli pack, and therefore has the 16'' star blaster alloy wheels, it should come with runflat tyres. I didn't bother with the space saver tyre option which was 45 quid extra.

I was chatting with a couple of friends recently and they all seem very surprised that the car didn't come with some sort of spare wheel as standard and questioned whether it was actually legal to drive without one.

To be honest, I'm not that car-savvy anyway, so if I did get a flat, I'm inclined to just call the AA out rather than attempt a tyre change and if I have the run-flats I'd expect I should be able to at least get to a garage even if the ride is a tad bit bumpy!

However, I was just wondering whether there was any substance to the rule that you had to have a spare tyre to drive in the UK or whether this is urban myth. It would certainly seem surprising that MINI would make this an optional extra if it was a legal requirement.

Has anybody else wavered the spare tyre option? Do you get anything else instead?

[s33gav]

The whole point of runflats is you dont need a spare wheel. There is no law against having a spare. If you get a puncture you can still drive upto 50mph for x miles with runflats so it wont be a bumpy ride

[Nath316]

the law as far as i am aware is that if the car is supplied with a spare wheel then that must be kept road legal aswell

this applies to space saver wheels

however, even if you have runflats the car does not have to have a spare wheel

for example the Megane 225 was supplied with a can of tyre weld, this caused an argument between a friend and a renault dealer

so as long as an alternative is available eg runflats or tyre wled foan etc then they do not have to supply a spare wheel

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

It is not a legal necessity to have a spare wheel. If a spare wheel is carried it doesn't even have to be legal! It only becomes illegal when you fit the dodgy spare spare to the car. So it's not illegal to have a worn out spare tyre, simply pointless as you can never use it!

A spare wheel can still be better than runflats as, if you find yourself with a ruined tyre and there isn't a new tyre available (all tyre depots shut / no new tyre of the correct size stocked locally) at least the break down services have something to fit to your car!

However, the only problem is (that I never considered before ordering a spare for my first MINI) where the heck the damaged tyre is stored in the car afterwards!!! It won't fit in the spare tyre well; it's only big enough for a space saver anyway and it's impossibe to replace even the space saver without first having the car up on a full size trolly jack or an inspection ramp. If you're on a long journey and your car is full (and mind always is!) where else are you going to put the damaged wheel????

I specified a spare wheel on my first MINI, but wouldn't do it again for this last reason!!

Tigger.

PS: It's ALWAYS worth carrying a cheap, compact, electric tyre pump; a lot of puntures are just slow leaks anyway and if you come back to a flat tyre, after the car has been parked, it may be possible to put enough pressure in the tyre to drive to a local tyre depot without having to run flat at all.

[AMHMAZ]

I asked at our dealer about the existence of a space saver spare and he was pretty vague - we now have a MC on order for WK33 build and I want to include a spare if possible and will call the dealer on Monday. Only problem is it is not shown in any brochure on on the WWW - can anyone tell me:

How much ?

Where it is sited ?

Does it rob boot space if under car ?

Do you still get run-flats with the spare ?

Sorry for all the newbie questions - first Mini and pretty excited ...

[KenL]

It is not a requirement, but I ordered the spare.

My thinking was that with a spare you could drive a lot further than the 100 miles or so allowed on a runflat. This would also allow time to shop around for a decent price.

[morrisminiminor]

If ever there was proof the law is an ass, this is it. If you have a spare tyre and the tread is below the legal limit, 1.6mm average across the width of the tyre, you will fail an MOT providing of course your car needs one. The answer is to remove the spare if your tyre is baldy. Having said that, the polis will give you grief if they stop you with 2mm or less on any part of the tyre.

As for MINI not providing a spare, this is supposed to be a prestige make yet they are too tight fisted to fit a crappy space saver tyre never mind a proper spare. I specc'd for the space saver my car but had to buy a new air pump as the old one couldn't blow the spacesaver to the recommended pressure. The can is a joke. If I get a puncture on a Monday, it would be Friday afternoon before I could get to a tyre repair place. 50 miles is simply not workable, fine if you are in the city but elsewhere, not worth bothering about.

morrisminiminor

[LizzyG]

Quote: Originally Posted by morrisminiminor (original)

If ever there was proof the law is an ass, this is it. If you have a spare tyre and the tread is below the legal limit, 1.6mm average across the width of the tyre, you will fail an MOT providing of course your car needs one. The answer is to remove the spare if your tyre is baldy. Having said that, the polis will give you grief if they stop you with 2mm or less on any part of the tyre.


morrisminiminor

A couple of years ago when I had my Ford Ka, I took it to the ford garage for it's first MOT and one of the front tyres was bald so they swapped it for the spare - this meant the bald tyre became the spare, but it still passed the MOT

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

Quote: Originally Posted by LizzyG (original)

A couple of years ago when I had my Ford Ka, I took it to the ford garage for it's first MOT and one of the front tyres was bald so they swapped it for the spare - this meant the bald tyre became the spare, but it still passed the MOT

Please see my post number 4.

Tigger.

[LizzyG]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tigger, Eeyore & Roo (original)

Please see my post number 4.

Tigger.

I know what your post said. I wasn't questioning you, I was questioning morrisminiminor by highlighting my own experience re spare tyre/MOT.