Spare Wheel Well?

[Caydus]

I've been trying to look for a spare wheel to put in the wheel well of my WT LX Fiesta.

Nobody's been able to tell me with any reasonable certainty though. Will a full sized 15" wheel with 185/55 tyre fit?

[Twinpiston]

I can't see why not, i have put a 17" with a 205 tyre in my WQ, although it is a little too tall for the well

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Caydus

Will a full sized 15" wheel with 185/55 tyre fit?

Yes it will .. I had 17"x7" spare wheel with a 205/40R17 tyre on it in the well of my WQ Zetec.

As "Twinpiston" said, it sits a bit high for the well but not too much, and that's with a 205 tyre! .. your 185mm tyre would of course sit lower, won't be a problem.

If you have 15" wheels and 185 tyres on your car then the space saver wheel and tyre will be the same rolling diameter as those stock wheels ... hence the full sized spare will fit into the well.

[Caydus]

Well, why I'm worried is becaue the WT fiesta doesn't come with a spare wheel and instead goes the way of the temporary mobility kit, which consists mainly of a big polystyrene container in the spare wheel well containing a cig lighter powered pump and a can of gunk.
I tried to fit a 195 tyre in it and it wouldn't fit. Also WTs come in 14", 15" and 16" rim sizes on the same body.

[Twinpiston]

14" which model has this!!!!

[Caydus]

That would be the CLs with 14" steel rims, the LXs have 15" alloys and Zetecs have 16" alloys i think;

[somers181]

My CL came with 15" steel rims which i still have for sale if anyone wants one, $20 each with a brand new plastic trim and wheel nuts if you want a real spare as i did, pick up from Blacktown or Homebush...... I purchased aftermarket rims when i bought my car last month and kept the originals for this reason.

[Caydus]

Oh, my bad, looks like 15" is the smallest

Also, Somers, were you able to fit those wheels into your spare wheel well?

[somers181]

Hi Caydus,

Will try and post photos showing spare wheel well with 15" mag wheel with 185/55 tyres and still have room around tyre........ this is also sedan so hatch may be different, just do what i did and take off front wheel and see if it fits.........

[Caydus]

yea, gonna see if i can do that this saturday.

Thanks for that though. The sedan wheel well looks actually pretty radically different from the hatch's wheel well, but im pretty sure they should design it to the same size wheel... logically speaking...

[Caydus]

Thanks for all the replies again.

Went into Bob Jane today and it seems a Ford dealership drove a brand new Fiesta down to them to have alloys put in and they left behind 4 steel rims with the original Continental tyres still attached.

So picked up one of them and put it in the back of my Fiesta. Worked great, snug fit with no wrangling required to get it in, though as mentioned before, it does sit a bit high and the boot mat rests on the wheel, though only by 1cm at most.

Pics will come soon when the sun finally comes out again in Sydney

[Caydus]

Well, now I've run into another problem. Can't seem to find the hardpoints for the car jack to attach to to jack up the car for a wheel change.
Can't find it in the manual and can't find it when looking under the car.

Can anyone give me pointers?

Oh, and here are the pics





Still need to buy a bolt from ford to screw it to the well.

Edit: Ford Service dept just called me as i was writing this and apparently there's no official bolt from them to hold the spare wheel down. He said to try a WS bolt but he says it's only a slim chance it'll work.
Anyone tried this?

[somers181]

I found the same issues.

I used a trolley jack initially to lift car but am now carrying a small bottle jack in with the spare tyre and a few tools, this helps keep the wheel in snug so theres very little movement, plus being a sedan theres no chance of damage in an accident if the spare did bounce around.

I also noticed when under the car there is no real areas for jacking points so carry a small piece of timber to put between jack and floor to spread the load.

[Caydus]

Yea, the timber seems like a pretty good idea, though i have read around that there may be a flap which you have to pry open to expose a jacking hardpoint. I'm far from certain so I'll prob try to look for it once i get home from work.

Also, asked a few Ford dealers today, 2/3 dealers said they dont have the bolt and/or there's no such bolt for it, one of them said that i could try the bolt from a WS Fiesta and another said they have a bolt that would fit, but would require a bit of modification and needs a plate which they dont have in stock (been waiting for 3 weeks for it) and that they were going to charge me $42.63 for it.
When i remarked it was quite expensive for a bolt he just said to find somewhere else who can do it for cheaper

Bought a bottle jack and a wrench for the nuts, wonder if the nuts from the alloys would fit the steel rim. or do i need to buy some extra nuts too?

Oh well, the hunt continues.

[trento]

My WS has a moulded piece of high density polystyrene that hold the tow point, tyre lever and jack underneath the spare wheel.

As for jacking the WS jack has a groove that slots over the welded ridge underneath the sill, the manual says to jack 10cm rearward from the front or 10cm forward from the back.

[trento]

double post (whoopsies)

[somers181]

I had to keep the original nuts as the new alloys use a different style and size nut.
The Ford dealer initially advised that it is not recommended to jack up the WT model as there is no jacking points........... who listens to dealers.

[Caydus]

Bleh, not that it matters anyway now, i have the wheel and damned if i'm going to forget about it and go back to the can of gunk.

[dannyhilton]

Originally Posted by Caydus

Bleh, not that it matters anyway now, i have the wheel and damned if i'm going to forget about it and go back to the can of gunk.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! AMEN!

[trento]

I'd actually be interested in the gunk and compressor coz it's a B@#$% to get my stereo install out, plus it handles like a dog with three 17's and one 14 :S

[Caydus]

haha, im pretty sure ford would be more than happy to sell it to you.

[somers181]

You do realise that once you have used the gunk your tyre needs to be replaced, you are only supposed to drive on it short term, max 80km/hr and have it replaced asap. So if you are driving on high performance tyres its going to cost you to replace them each time you have a flat........ sorry but thats not acceptable to me.................

[Caydus]

Ive heard people say it's a pain in the *** to clean out the gunk from a tyre, but it's doable and can still be repaired and reused.

[somers181]

I asked the guys at two different tyre places and they said the time and cost to clean if possible would be as much as new tyre and Ford have said this new stuff can't be cleaned out, not sure what its made of but the cleaning material would probably ruin the tyre if you could do it?!?!?!?

[trento]

Originally Posted by somers181

You do realise that once you have used the gunk your tyre needs to be replaced, you are only supposed to drive on it short term, max 80km/hr and have it replaced asap. So if you are driving on high performance tyres its going to cost you to replace them each time you have a flat........ sorry but thats not acceptable to me.................

hmmm...

maybe i'll just stick with the spare, my tyres are expensive lol

[Junkie]

Originally Posted by Caydus

...Bought a bottle jack and a wrench for the nuts, wonder if the nuts from the alloys would fit the steel rim. or do i need to buy some extra nuts too?

Usually the steel nuts have tapers on the wheel end, and the alloy nuts are square ended. Hence not a good idea to use the alloy nuts on the steel wheels.
Best thing I have found is to put 4 steel wheel nuts in a zip lock lunch bag, and ties it to the wheel through one of the stud holes.

Anyway, my first post here.
I have a MY10 WT LX Powershift 1.6 Chilli orange.
Only 20 Km's on it so far....
Picked up this week.

Will be looking for a spare, preferably the standard LX Alloy.
I hate the Gunk Stuff!
If anyone has one, and wants to get rid of it, PM me.

Junkie

[Fiestaman]

Hey Trento - would it be possible to post a photo of what your WS jack looks like?

I am looking for one and want to see if some other Fords might have the same jack.

[trento]

no worries, it'll have to be tomorrow as it's raining atm and I have to pull my stereo's false floor out to get to my spare.

[Caydus]

So during the service, I asked the technician to have a look and see if he could find me a bolt to attach the spare wheel to the car. He said he'd have a look.

He calls me up during the day to tell me it's done. That and he's flmodded up a custom bolt for the spare wheel. And for free
When I picked up the car he seems to have flipped the spare wheel over in the well and fitted up a bolt with a plastic washer in between. Doesn't look like a factory job but still. Love my dealer now

As for the jack, I picked up a bottle jack rated for 2 tones for $19.95. Got a rough plate where the jack is to touch the car and that fits to the ridge on the side of the car perfect with minimal chance of slippage. Tried jacking up the car tonight with it and it worked a treat. A few seconds on the jack without breaking a sweat and the wheel was off the ground with no damage to the jacking ridge.

As for the wheel, I got it at Bob Jane in Bankstown. They had all 4 steel rims and OEM continental tyres off a WT CL Fiesta, I took one but there should be three left if nobody's gotten to them first.

[Caydus]

And Junkie, yea thanks for the wheel nut advice, I'll prob swing round a wheels place and pick up a few along with probably a set of lock nuts for my alloys.

As for the alloy, why? Its only going to be a spare. The alloy won't be much lighter and Ford will probably charge you an arm and a leg for it.