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FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 11:45 am
by nipperdog
Just after buying our "Coop-Cab" as the dealers would say, we had a puncture on Douglas promenade on a Sunday morning. I vowed then to fit a full size spare as it was a pain being without the car(no tyre depots open). No point in ruining a brand new tyre with the foam stuff we thought.
That was in October '09 and this week I finally got round to buying a 16inch steel wheel from Lookers in Chester!! £62 including a small discount. A cheap (ish) tyre from Buckley Tyres £54 completed the mission. I was warned to treat this combo like an emergency spare since the alloys are 17in with the new slightly higher profile tyre making up the difference.
A flat boot floor from Lookers would cost an horrific £133 - yes three figures!! I think not! I will make a boot floor from a piece of 3-ply covered with thin carpet.
The polystyrene insert to store the tools in the wheel was over £60 so again I have made do with wrapping the larger items in old T shirts and storing the smaller items in a Ferrero Rocher box!.
Unbelievably the handling seems to have improved with the extra weight (roof up)and the mpg remains the same at a rather paltry 42.
Hope this helps anyone thinking of doing the same.

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 1:52 pm
by davet47
I've posted this before but I used a 15" wheel with bigger profile tyre ex Renault Laguna (overall tyre height is the same as the 205s on my 16" rims and yes it does clear the calipers!)which I got from a scrapyard for £10.00. I've kept the boot floor as it is-it is raised about 40mm by the tyre but at least you can still use most of the "well" in it. I use it as an emergency spare only but it has to be better than the aerosol cans-these would only be of use if you came to the car and found a flat tyre-no use if you get a puncture at 70mph because by the time you've stopped. the tyre's wrecked.

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 4:01 pm
by faffer
I have a Kubera 16" 4stud alloy (oem 2006 Dynamique) with some kerbing it has a legal 3+ mill Michelin 205/55/16 91h tyre. Useful as a full sized spare. Any interest?

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Thu Oct 28, 2010 4:26 pm
by wildboar
When I bought my '54 plate 1.9 DCi earlier this year I too was a little disappointed to discover that there was no spare wheel, just a couple of poncy-looking aerosols. I wasn't too keen on the prospect of suffering a puncture in the middle of the night somewhere between Calais and Marseille with just these little chaps on board so I set about finding a solution.

EBay was the first port of call, where I found a very nice 16" alloy with an almost new Uniroyal attached for £45. The wheel isn't quite the same pattern as the Nervastellas on the car, but it is only a spare after all. Of course then I discovered the same problem as many people: that a full size spare sits too high to accomodate the existing boot liner. My first thought was to cut the bottom out of the recessed section and replace it with some reasonably fine mesh garden netting or some such. This would mould itself to the shape of the wheel beneath and stop items falling through. I am, unfortunately, one of the world's worst exponents of DIY, so that particular idea was quickly shelved.

Just as I was resigning myself to living with a raised leading edge to my boot floor I happened to visit an old and spooky tavern where hardened CC owners gather to consume strong drink and say "Aaaaaaarrrrrrrrr" rather a lot. It was there that I heard The Legend Of The Alternative Renault Boot Liner. Armed with this possibly apocryphal knowledge I decided to track one down. My first attempt to procure one was from Crawley Down Renault (from whom I had bought the car). The Parts Dept line was busy but I left a message and asked them to call back. This call, when I received it, went along these lines: "Awright mate? You wuz on abaht a spare wheel or somefink?". I explained what I needed once more. "Dunno what you're on abaht mate", came the reply, "There's no such thing".

Undeterred I called Renault Croydon, safe in the knowledge that my experience could be no worse than previously. The Parts Dept put me on hold for about 60 seconds while they consulted their computer. On their return they told me that the part was available in grey or black and that they could order it in within 2 working days. The only down side to it all was the £123 it was going to cost. I ordered the part. After all why have a nice vehicle if you're going to bodge it and take cheapo options.

I collected the part today and it's a perfect fit. It even has a velcro strip along the front edge to attach it to the existing carpet and cover the metal lip that the original liner hooks over at that end. The boot still has enough room for a couple of kit bags, which is pretty much all I ask of it, and it looks lovely.

The moral of this tale is twofold: 1. Don't settle for second best, and 2. Don't bother calling Crawley Down Group's Service and Parts departments unless you've got some time you want to waste. :-)

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 8:54 am
by faffer
What have you done with the jack & tools?

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2010 5:45 pm
by wildboar
The jack, tools, aerosols etc all sit inside the spare wheel wrapped in an old towel. There's room for some coolant and screen wash too. The only slightly weird thing I encountered was that the fixed threaded section that the plastic spare-wheel restraint screws into was full of water. Since the boot doesn't leak I can only assume that some herbert was a little over-enthusiastic with the hose when preparing it for me to collect. My local Croatian hand-washers give it a good going over each weekend with their Karcher and ne'er a drop gets in.

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:57 am
by faffer
Have a look at this post,
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=10691
I am thinling that the tool tray would fit into the CC boot but have had no luck in tracking down a part number. Maybe you could try your part dept?

Re: FULL SIZE SPARE WHEEL

Posted: Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:10 pm
by cityslicker01
Hi , Looking at a steel wheel with following mesurements 205/55/16 will this fit into Phase 2 megane cc without further modifactions or will I stlll have to modify bootwell/ carpet to enable it to fit correctly thanks for any reply.