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No Spare . . . What to do . . .


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Hey guys, just bought my Spark a few days ago and I just realized that it comes with a tire sealant instead of a spare. I like pretty much everything about the car except for that fact. Just wanted to get some feedback on what other people have done about it. I am thinking about getting a donut and tire case and thowing it in the trunk with a jack and lug wrench. It would take some trunk space away but I feel like it might be worth it. Anyone else think of something better storage wise or just wingin it with the sealant?

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Good question, I'd just call roadside assistance, if the fix a flat doesn't seal it. This is what the owners manual recommends. I guess they would either bring a spare, or flatbed it to the dealer, where the tire would either be repaired or replaced. Just speculation on my part.

Edited by WaltK
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  • 2 months later...

A full size tire/wheel will not fit in the space provided, I tried to put one of my snow tires in there and it won't go. I did wedge the donut from my last car in, the breaker bar and socket to remove the wheel nuts, can of goo, air compressor, and stupid screwdriver into the space. need to find the hold down device or do something with the bolts sticking up and make a real cover to support any packages. I stuck my jack in the stupid non-functional cargo net thing to keep it from sliding around.

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Certainly can't blame you for that, thankfully I can toss a snow tire in the back if I need a full size. I did put a donut in the trunk this weekend, and then stuffed the compressor, can of goo, wrench, extra lug nuts, and stupid screw driver in around it. My jack had to go above the tire. Need to work on this stuff to make everything fit better, but for now it is all in there for normal commuting. Also need to make some kind of stiff cover to go over the top of everything and then throw the rubber cargo mat on top when it arrives.

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

No, chevy is just too cheap to throw it in anymore. Not sure how a donut is more expensive than roadside service???

It is interesting that they chose a 14 inch donut, my 13 inch might be a little small to work so I might be carrying it for nothing. I know it clears the brake drum, and I know you are not supposed to use them on the front end of the car, and I know the tires in my old car were approximately the same diameter, so in theory I should be fine. Thankfully I haven't had to use it yet.

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I'm actually happy with the compressor and "fix-a-flat" provided vs. the spare. Now... I say this while heavily knocking on wood but... the only time I've ever had a 'flat' that's all I've ever needed anyway. Sure there's a chance something really bad happens and the tire completely comes apart and you just can't fix it that way but I suppose that's what some sort of roadside assistance is for (if you want to pay someone). Would it be nice to have the spare? Sure! Is my husband thrilled because he can use the space back there to put in a subwoofer and have it flush with the back and not take away my grocery space? Yup! LOL! :)

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I am old school as well. I need a spare tire to feel comfortable driving any car. I bought a 14 inch donut tire from a local junkyard, and even found a scissor jack that fits the area that you place the jack to lift the car. Everything fits in the provided area, after I removed the foam material that holds the compressor and tire goo. Even the four way sits on top of the spare and allows the plastic mat to lay level in the back of my car. I would rather shop for the best prices for replacing or repairing a tire, than settle for paying what a service company would charge to drive out to me and repair on the road.

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I am old school as well. I need a spare tire to feel comfortable driving any car. I bought a 14 inch donut tire from a local junkyard, and even found a scissor jack that fits the area that you place the jack to lift the car. Everything fits in the provided area, after I removed the foam material that holds the compressor and tire goo. Even the four way sits on top of the spare and allows the plastic mat to lay level in the back of my car. I would rather shop for the best prices for replacing or repairing a tire, than settle for paying what a service company would charge to drive out to me and repair on the road.

since its a 14" spare, make sure to only put it on the rear.

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I'd like to see a picture of your spare compared to the stock tire just to see the size difference.

I will take a picture and post it here in a couple of weeks. I noticed it did lower the car at least two inches with the spare in place. I will definitately have to maintain a slower speed when using it.

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I'm interested in seeing it leaning up against the stock tire, no need to actually mount it for a picture. Just want to compare it to the wheel I salvaged from my old car when I traded it, pretty sure it is a 13 inch donut, but it will clear the rear brakes just fine, but never clear the front brakes!

The size difference is one reason why they say to mount it on a rear position only. Too worried about steering and breaking to allow them on the front

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

My wife and I just bought a 2014 Chevy Spark, we love it. We didn't love the fact that it didn't have a spare tire. We were not happy at all with that bottle of goo and the tiny compressor that Chevy supplied with the Spark. So we talked with the parts man at the Chevy garage and we were told that Chevy does not offer a spare tire kit for the Spark. We were not happy. The parts man offered to give us a 14 inch donut spare that he had laying around in the parts room. The bolt pattern was right so we took it for free. The bolt pattern is 4 holes spaced 100mm apart diagionally. This

donut spare was not from a Chevy, I don't remember what the parts man told me what car it was from. The next stop was to a auto junk yard. We asked about a 15 inch donut spare with our bolt pattern but there didn't seem to be such a tire. So we bought a jack that was never used for 5 dollars there. The next stop was to advance auto parts where we bought a four way tire wrench so my little wife would have some leverage if she ever had to change a tire by herself. The wrench was about 20 dollars. The stock Chevy chrome lug nuts seem to be a little under sized. If I remember right they take a 3/4 inch or 19 mm socket but no matter what socket we put on them it was a little sloppy. The four way tire wrench worked so we bought it after we tried it in front of the store. someone in this forum said that the stock chevy lug nuts would not work on a donut spare rim so we bought 4 old fashioned lug nut which were open ended which would fit the threads on the wheel. it turned out that we didn't need these lug nuts the stock Chevy chromed lug nuts tightened down just fine on our steel rim of the donut spare. the next thing to do was to try putting the spare on the back of the car. OOPS we had a problem. The hole in the center of the spare was too small by about 100 thousands. Luckily my neighbor has a small machine shop in his back yard. It took him about 20 minutes to set up his milling machine and remove the unwanted metal.

After this the wheel fit right on the Spark with no problems of any kind. So we took the Spark for a short drive at about 40 miles an hour on our old country back road. The car handled fine. I expected it to lean or act a little funny since the spare was a 14 inch and the rest of the wheels were 15 inch but there was no noticable problem. So we took the spare off and tried to fit everything back into the Chevy Spark wheel well. Everything fit pretty good, even the goo and the compressor. We have the spare in there, the jack, the goo, the compressor, a rag and four extra lug nuts. we might have been able to fit the four way wrench in there too but I didn't want it to rattle so it was placed in the regular top cargo area. We kept the tire goo and the compressor that Chevy supplied because we plan to try it if we ever do get a flat but I have more faith in my spare then that goo and compressor. My wife, my son and myself had a fun afternoon doing the spare tire project on the Spark. Thanks to my friendly parts man and my friendly neighbor this project only cost me about 30 dollars. Oh I was told to never put an undersized donut spare on the front of the Spark. If you have a flat in the front take a good inflated tire from the back, put it on the front and put the undersized donut spare on the back.

Larry

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