Spare Tire Compartment

While I had a wheel off I tried. Nope, no go. And the donut's
yellow face [yep, take it out and look at it] is uuUUUUUuuuggly!
But that gives you one more good reason to get the ailing real tire
fixed pronto...
.
_H*

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Woof @ Apr 12 2006, 06:58 PM) [snapback]238792[/snapback]</div>

You can use a fullsize spare, as long as you are willing to cut a hole in the cargo box to let the tire/rim stick through (if you're handy with a soldering gun and ABS sheet, you can add a filler strip and just raise the cutout portion).

 

Thanks for the idea! I think I can visualize what you mean, but would you have pics to show? Thanks in advance!

 

No, because I haven't done it ;-) I DID modify the floor of the cargo box in my 04 when I had an extra battery pack in place of the spare years ago, and had added an extra cooling duct tapped into the stock one. But I just used plastic fittings to hold those mods down, rather than welding them in place, as I didn't know if they would be permanent or not.

BUT another thing that you can do is cut out the circle to fit the tire through, then drill small holes around both the circle and edge of the cutout, then literally stitch a piece of fabric to them to hold them together and keep things from slipping down around the tire. Or just use adhesive Velcro strip on the plastic parts, and sew-on Velcro on a fabric strip.

 

A full sized tire will not fit without some "modifications" to the tire well. Some work with a hammer will allow it to fit, but it will interfere with the cargo tray.

So, you must remove or modify the plastic cargo tray. Without the plastic tray, the cargo floor loses its support and you must then be careful about how you load cargo on the unsupported floor.

It is nice to have a full sized spare for extended car trips.

 

Thanks for the idea. I did not mean to interfere with a Gen II thread, but in my 2012 hatchback the full size spare does fit without any change to the metal well, although I confirmed that the 2 inch interference with the rear of the plastic tray does exist. I was also considering covering the gap after I make a semi-circular cutout and raise that rear edge with a layer of fiberglass to prevent things from falling thru the gap. Covering the gap with fabric would be easier but less sturdy than the fiberglass approach, IMO.

 

Yep, and pretty much the first time you try to pull a fiberglas-ed tray out of the car, the FG will probably break loose from the cargo tray, because it flexes more than you would think just removing it from the car. Welding in more ABS would be best, or forming a new bottom that molds around the tire and fixing it to the tray bottom with screws/adhesive/FG (a new bottom that covers the entire tray floor, rather than a small filler).