Weight saving: compact spare available to replace full size spare tire?

Title says it all... my 2000 Beetle Diesel has a full size spare, which ordinarily would delight me.

BUT

My car has 90 HP. So saving weight is a good thing.

Is there a compact spare available? A casual search on fleabay turned up nothing. Is there an equivalent from some other model (or make) that would save weight and work on my car?

Thanks,

Thaddeus

If your bolt pattern is 5 x 100 then here are some eBay items:

http://tinyurl.com/lolhmho

Also, the Dodge Neon SRT supposedly had a 5 x 100 temporary spare. The problem is these small cars probably had 14" wheels.

BTW, did you read this thread: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=233534

I doubt you will see the different at the pump.

I found one from a Subaru Legacy GT, It should shave about 20 pounds.

20 here and 20 there and pretty soon you're talking... 40.

lol

A3/B4 VR6 had 5x100 pattern, adequate offset, correct center bore, temporary spares.
I don't think you'll save 20 lb. with a temp rim and tire vs. a full size, maybe 10.
Ten pounds would be the same saving of NOT venting the fuel tank with that extra gallon and a half of fuel you'd squeeze in.

Most people could save weight by removing the spare tire around their fat asses, that would help on fuel economy...

fix the 90hp part

Drive around with only $10 in the tank.

My suggestion is to ditch the spare completely and buy a large can of flat-fixer (or whatever they call it).

Now, from the tongue-in-cheek department: If you are really that intent on saving weight, then remove the back seat also. Fender liners, engine covers - top & bottom, heck if you only want the essential items, the hood and fenders, bumper covers, and most of the time the passenger seat can go, too. Most of the interior plastic trim. You can pull lots of stuff out of the interior of the car. Carpet, the liner, unused seats (i.e. rear ones) and their seat belts. Roof liner. That liner always fails and falls down anyway. Start scraping/sanding/scrubbing the bottom of the car. There's got to be 10 pounds of anti-corrosion protective crud on the bottom. And the ensuing rust will only help lighten the car as the rust flakes off.

Sand all the paint off. A thin rattle-can layer will do if you have to have color. VW paint is pretty thick, so you'll have a decent weight savings there. Get rid of all the windows except the front windscreen. Sun roof? Bonus. Throw it all out, the motor and associated switches. Then you'll have a nice, lightening hole in the roof as well. You will want to drill a few holes in the floor pan in case it rains. You need the drainage. And don't worry if it really really rains a lot. The car wouldn't have floated anyway.

Let's see, what else? Door cards. Hmm, a little trickier with these as you probably actually want a door handle and switches. Probably you can cut out the ones you want - fuel door and trunk release as well as the door lock. Just cut them out of the door card and glue them to the inner metal cover. First pull the inner part and get rid of the window regulator since you already threw out the glass. Electric windows? Toss the motor. Make your own pull handle for the door release.

You can get rid of the glovebox as they always break anyway. And just cut the passenger half of the dash and throw it out with the passenger air bag.

Make sure you properly recycle/sell/properly dispose of all this tonnage you no longer have to drag around with you all the time.

And report back on the massive mileage gain this massive weight savings has gained.

Cheers!

PH

Funniest post of the day so far. I have not figured out if this is real or not. Its posted in the upgrade section but going from a full to a donut spare seems like a downgrade to me. Powder makes the most sense, if you really want to save weight just ditch the spare. having a full sized alloy spare may save the same amount of weight as the donut. If this is the daily driver I say keep the spare and all the exterior parts that aid in aerodynamics but dump the interior stuff. Plus get rid of the radio and just use your phone/ipod/mp3 player and ear buds. I know I could afford the loss the same amount of weight as all that would save. If this also applies to you then you can x2 the weight lose and now your power to weight ratio just dropped prolly 1 lb per horse.

Its all fun and games but seriously I dont see any reason for dumping a full spare for a donut ever. I bought a vw specifically because they were one of the only companies to offer a full spare. Then when I bought my 13 beetle I made sure they gave me a full spare as they are not standard anymore. The thought of driving on a donut just scares me and the fact they are only rated for 45mph and 5-10 miles at a time tells me its safer to run a car without a donut then without a full spare.

Ron

Every major car manufacturer in the world has been using reduced-sized spares for decades because of the resulting enhancement in mileage and performance, but apparently this idea is considered "radical" on this forum.

You'd think enthusiasts of a German car marque would have better sense. The Porsche/Audi/BMW guys would never question the value of dropping 20 lbs. If it makes sense for a performance auto, it makes even more for one that's horsepower "challenged".

The full sized spare will be in the back when I do over the road trips, out of town. Around town, donut. Not going to rely on a can of fix-a-flat, not least because a tire that's been filled with that stuff can't be properly mended thereafter (unless they've changed the formulation).

Thanks to those who actually gave helpful input.

well, the fact is, the ~10lb (15 at most) difference between a spare that will fit, and the full size, will be.... nothing that you could possibly feel or even measure the mk4 is a heavy car. the most practical thing to remove would be the rear seats (they are pretty heavy) if you don't use them, but then you'll have more road noise

My 2000 1.8t is about 3300 lbs with me and a full take of gas in it. Just saving 15 lbs for the donut changes the weight of the car by 0.0045454545454545% you will need also find another 100 to 200 lbs to see any noticable change in either performance or fuel savings that could not be explained by atmospheric changes. you would get better fuel savings and higher performance by getting the car chipped then even running no donut and saving the entire poundage of the spare. If your really serious then again Pounder is right again start with actually heavy items like the back seats.

Ron

From my experience, it made 0 difference. I removed everything from my trunk, including tools. My car is too low for jacks. The mileage did not change at all. It's not that much weight. Having over 150 pounds in the car does make a small difference with my driving style, but something like a spare(with tools and everything in the trunk) it made no difference. This may be an isolated kind of a thing, but I figured I'll at least chime in for the statistics

austi012 said:

Every major car manufacturer in the world has been using reduced-sized spares for decades because of the resulting enhancement in mileage and performance, but apparently this idea is considered "radical" on this forum.

You'd think enthusiasts of a German car marque would have better sense. The Porsche/Audi/BMW guys would never question the value of dropping 20 lbs. If it makes sense for a performance auto, it makes even more for one that's horsepower "challenged".

The full sized spare will be in the back when I do over the road trips, out of town. Around town, donut. Not going to rely on a can of fix-a-flat, not least because a tire that's been filled with that stuff can't be properly mended thereafter (unless they've changed the formulation).

Thanks to those who actually gave helpful input.

Click to expand...

Actually, the major automakers are now even doing away with the space-saver spare in lieu of a can of fix-a-flat. If I ever buy a new car again, it will be a deal killer if the car doesn't at least have a space-saver spare.

I'm all for shedding weight, but I would prioritize a lot of things over removing the convenience of a full size spare.

I had a bad tire on the top of a mountain once. Steep, twisty, sandy roads the whole way down to civilization. I was glad to have a full size spare tire.

I recently transported 1/2 ton of cobble in my Golf and, other than having no suspension travel in the rear, I felt almost no difference.

Fix the 90 HP problem if you want to go faster. If you're worrying about going from 48 MPG to 48.1 MPG, there are better ways to do that (and most of them are free).

The headache of finding and buying a donut and then swapping the full size spare in for road trips, etc. just doesn't seem worth the trouble to me for the amount of gain you'll see.

What about the new spare tire design used in the Mk 7 Golfs? It is full radius/height but is only half as wide/thick as a normal tire. Anybody seen specs on this tire configuration and its wheel hub and holes specs? I looked at one in a new Mk 7 GTI several weeks ago, very clever idea, allowing greater depth of the trunk floor.

iirc the mk3 uses a spare that is thinner, but same diameter as the rest. just another reason why i love that car. and it weighs 400lbs less than the mk4 too

The spare I ordered has the proper diameter, offset, & bolt pattern. I will need to machine the hub hole out 1.1 mm larger. No biggy.

It's supposed to arrive Monday. I'll weigh the existing spare and the replacement and we'll put numbers to the difference.

austi012 said:

The spare I ordered has the proper diameter, offset, & bolt pattern. I will need to machine the hub hole out 1.1 mm larger. No biggy.

It's supposed to arrive Monday. I'll weigh the existing spare and the replacement and we'll put numbers to the difference.

Click to expand...

You will see no change. Have some fun with your experiment.

Other parameters to test:

1. Without air.
2. With 100% Nitrogen.

everyone knows spare tires should be filled with nitrogen, duh

Well, I'm cheap so I just use a 78% Nitrogen blend.

I have an argon tank. Hm....

But wouldn't Helium be lighter?

lol. i can't believe you are special ordering a spare tire to save 15 lbs at most... and machining it on top of that. really makes no sense at all. you're not gonna save anything. unless you're machining it yourself, the amount of fuel/time you spend doing this will never even compensate for the fraction of fuel you will save by saving 15lbs... OVER THE LIFE OF THE CAR!

Dr. Tran said it would work. He's a true American hero.

Thought: R32 spare.

I've considered it so I could run the JL STEALTH BOX without losing the over spare storage bins in the wagon.

Is this real?? this is just short sited and silly...have you really thought this through, I don't think so......

To see a mpg improvement you would have to drop hundreds of lbs. 10-15 lbs will make no difference what so ever! And if you have a flat a long way from home the savings that you will never see could/would cost you way more! I speak from real world experience, I hate those stupid space savers!

And in the real world we drive in 90 Hp/152 Lb-Ft is more than you will ever need anywhere in the US. Torque is matters in the real world. And the stock torque is more than adequate for the real world......

Space savers are useless if you actually drive the car anywhere away from home. I have had to buy a very expensive replacement before because of that stupid space saver in my A2 Jetta. At the end of that trip I got a real wheel to carry with me so that would never happen again!!!

The first thing I do when I get a car is throw away that space saver replacing it with a real usable spare. I don't care if the wheel costs space in the trunk I am not leaving my home area without a real wheel in the trunk....

And they use those stupid space savers not to save weight but to save them money! It is far cheaper to install one of those useless tiny wheels than to give the car a real spare.....

Maybe it makes no sense as a stand-alone mod. But that isn't how weight reduction programs for cars work. You chip away at different things and the cumulative result is what matters.

Let's say I get a 15 lb. reduction from this. And then 25 down for a muffler delete. Then another 10 for lighter wheels/tires. Starting to make more sense?

The level of intolerance of doing things differently on this board is amazing. I may be a newb to VW's and diesels, but no way am I a newb when it comes to cars. I've been modding stuff since Jimmy Carter was President.

Try not to hit any deer.