No spare wheel

Yeahbut how often do you need to stop?

 

Tyre, no, but wheel, yes. 2017.

 

I have no dipstick in my Z4 coupe, not spare wheel. Having replaced the run flats with much better normal tyres, I'm a little vulnerable. There is an oil level sensor but only operates after the engine oil has warmed up.

Oddly, my Arteon has a full size spare 20" alloy!

 

I've got one that is just a black tube with a tyre-valve clip on one end and a big round gauge with rubber padding at the other end. No buttons or zeroing mechanism. It just works.

 

Looks like this:
https://www.amazon.it/Bamax-BX106FM...vlocphy=20621&hvtargid=pla-279674179106&psc=1

 

Strange, how it is possible to tell level when oil is all over engine? You have to run engine to get oil warm, right?

 

Yup. When I travel to my mother's, the car is ready to press the oil check button. This whilst I'm on the motorway with the oil flying around the engine.

This is the same engine with the same button on the 3 and 5 series, of that era.

 

Oil pressure maybe? I once overfill oil by mistaken oil level light with oil pressure light. Light only come up when I was driving.

 

No spare in my Cmax; just the useless pump and can of sealer. There's a space under the carpet in the boot, just no spare!
Supposedly it's a weight saving measure for better MPG and emissions. I've had a puncture twice where the can and pump were worse than useless!
I bought a spare wheel and tyre from a scrapyard for £25, sorted.

Andy

 

No need to use a scrapyard.

did you get the Jack and wheel brace?

 

By that logic weight of driver counts, and even do not think about getting passangers. It is all about money, makers save a lot of money on those tens of thousands cars, charging the same price. Same as with pack of butter, cost the same as earlier, just little bit smaller.
Scale works. Imagine how much money would be sitting useless if multi hundred truck company would carry spare for each truck and trailer. Much cheaper to pay for roadside service when it needed sometimes. Not even jack in truck anymore.

 

The only way to know for sure is to drain it all and refill with a known quantity.

 

If you have a spare wheel, where do you put the subwoofer? The space for the wheel is ideal?
Honestly, do people not realise this is an hi-fi forum?

 

There is a photographic answer to this question upthread.

 

A few observations:

Why don't manufacturers supply spare wheels any more? They take up space and add significant weight - by removing them car-makers can squeeze a few more crucial CO2 off the car's official number. As cars have gotten larger with bigger wheels, the space required for a spare has increased to the point where it's probably not even viable on cars with 18/19/20" wheels.

It's not just fitting it under the boot either; if you go with a space-saver then the chances are that on a modern, heavy car with bigger brakes, a space-saver wouldn't fit over the brake calipers.

Also related to the weight of a typical car - is that scissor jacks might not be able to take the weight of an average modern car without being seriously beefy (if one could even lift the car at all)....which adds even more weight and takes up even more space.

Finally cost - manufacturers can save a few quid per car without passing on any discount to buyers; every little bit clawed back = profit.

I'm also going to speak up in favour of run-flats here; most have a knee-jerk hatred of them and early ones were pretty terrible. I had 18" Bridgestone REO50As on my 2009 BMW 123d - it had M-Sport suspension and the ride could be jarring. More recently I had 20" Pirelli P-Zeros on my 840i Gran Coupe (also M-Sport spec) and they rode much, much better. The car also had adaptive supension which could soften or firm up the ride depending on the driving mode. I now have a 530i SE (so non-M-Sport, non-adjustable suspension) - this came on 18" Pirelli P7 Cinturato run-flats and to be frank if I hadn't known they were RFTs I would've sworn they weren't.

Modern RFTs are WAY better than the RFTs of old and will work just fine even with a slice or a hole in; you'd have to do some serious damage to stop one being driveable. The entire sidewall is reinforced and can be driven on with no air in at all. They've gotten me home in at least 3 situations in the last 3 years where a normal tyre would've left me stranded.

 

This is how it works in my 1987 911. You have to have the engine/oil up to full running temperature, and the engine running. There is a dial on the dashboard, but the car's manual says that to be absolutely sure you should use the dipstick in the oil tank, next to the engine. All this is because the engine has dry-sump lubrication. So when the engine is stopped and cold the oil drains down into the engine, but when it is hot and running it "lives" and cools itself in the separate oil tank, which is where it is measured by both the dial and the dipstick. Does your Z4 have dry-sump lubrication?

 

My sub fits inside the space saver.


Pete

 

My MK8 Golf came without the spare and foam tool insert so I bought one from a MK7.5 and it fits perfectly.
The only issues are the cable for the sub are much shorter on the MK8 and only just make it over the tyre.
Secondly the front brake disks are larger on the 8 so if you have a front puncture you need to swap the rear to the front and put the space saver on the rear.

 

The spare full siz alloy wheel in my Arteon is upside down so it is concave.

The Dynaudio setup has the subwoofer in this concave.

See, @Nero you can have your cake and eat it

 

Unsure tbh Paul