Spare Wheel and Tire Info

[JoeyJet]

OK.. so I have no spare.. used to drive a tow truck so it seems kind of risky to me. Wondered what the consensus was. Anyone sell a inexpensive spare ?? The dealer thinks that I am made of money. Either way, Thanks..

Oh yeah, how about some jack info too...

OK... I called the "dealer" and they said that they had some pure wheels coming in and would let me know when they arrive. I will attempt to acquire one and then work on the tire.. Thanks for the help...

[NuBiker]

Hi Joey.
I don't have a Smart yet. But obtaining a spare is gonna be high on my list of things to do.
We visit Death Valley, California 2 or 3 times each winter. We also like Joshua Tree, California. (DV has no cell phone reception.)
I have searched this forum, and what I got is most people seem to think the included tire repair kit is good enough for them.
And really, if you live in the city, it probably is.
I get a flat tire almost once a year - I mean completely flat (there are nails in the street just waiting for me!) - so being able to change the tire myself is very important.
I plan to get a small scissor jack to carry with me, and keep my spare befind the driver's seat.

Best regards,
Nu
(I wanna yellow/silver one!!!)

[mike-in-sa]

I paid $30 for a steel wheel while in Germany. I put a donut spare tire on it. Jack from a 77 corolla. Cheap insurance.

[smarteepants]

I have been researching this for a few days now, because I too am worried. Fix-a-flat might be ok if you have a slow leak, but if you have a blow-out, your screwed and better plan on spending the night somewhere. On the Tirerack.com website, there are only too choices for that size tire so finding one at a remote tire service station might be near impossible. I haven't found any donut spares that will work. So I plan on buying the steel rim that they use on the "Pure" from a Smart center(about $85) for the front, and if I can't find a tire locally, than either buy that from Smart or from the Tirerack.com($79). I also priced the "Passion" alloy rim from a Smart center , but they were about $250. Then I would find a spare tire cover and just store it behind the seat. I would much rather lose some of my storage space than to be stuck somewhere in the boonies. A small sizzor jack shouldn't be a problem to find or make room for.

[rotate]

Thats a good question. I agree, when I had an RX-8 I had the optional spare tire kit and it came in handy once. My car was parked under the 59th street bridge in NYC and I came back a 2 AM to find a flat. Would not have been fun to wait for AAA. Anyway, does anyone know where to buy (in the states) a tiny doughnut? They must sell them somewhere. In fact, I'm gonna use the power of google and report back my findings.

[rotate]

Okay so I did a bit of searching and not much came up. It seems that spare tires are actually hard to come by, as they dont manufacture that many of them. My thoughts? Find another economy car out there that has the same lug nut pattern (#of nuts) and go it its parts department and order a replacement spare tire. I just took a quick ganger at the chevy aveo and it has a spare. Now to find out how many lug nuts its wheels have. I also emailed tire rack, so I'll let you guys know what they say.

[smarteepants]

Originally Posted by rotate

Okay so I did a bit of searching and not much came up. It seems that spare tires are actually hard to come by, as they dont manufacture that many of them. My thoughts? Find another economy car out there that has the same lug nut pattern (#of nuts) and go it its parts department and order a replacement spare tire. I just took a quick ganger at the chevy aveo and it has a spare. Now to find out how many lug nuts its wheels have. I also emailed tire rack, so I'll let you guys know what they say.

I am not aware of any other vehicle on the road with 3 lug nuts. If you purchase some 3 to 5 lug adaptors you will have a few other choices, but the adaptors I've seen are 5x112 bolt pattern which are a european bolt pattern, so you are still limited to a european spare which still kinda sucks. The only donut spare I found on ebay with that bolt pattern was from an audi, and I believe the diameter was too big compared to the smart.