Does anyone else drive there vette with out the spare tire and the spare tire cover. and is it safe to drive with out the spare tire cover? just kinda wondering

 

Is it safe? Yes. Is it smart? No. Goldcylon

 

Mine doesn't have a spare. It had run flats on it. Rode like HELL!!!! I'm now running standard tires. I carry an air pump, tire patch kit, and a can of fix-a-flat. I also have road side from my insurance.

 

I took the spare out this year (to save weight racing) . I cleaned it up , added air, checked it and left it in the garage, not in the car.

1 month later I had my first flat tire. Having the spare that sat 16 years would probably have been no good anyway because the pressure was down really far.

Having it with me after I cleaned it all up would have been a plus.

hindsight is everything.

I now think having it _and_ making sure it's usable is the best idea. But I'm driving m newer C4 and I haven't looked at the spare yet - but now that I read this post. I think I'll check it out.

thanks for reminding me.

 

run flats.

 

my car didnt have a spare when i got it so i just took the carrier off...and i personally think the looks of the complex rearend is alot better anyway!!!

 

The spare tire assembly was the first thing I took off for weight reduction. It structurally changes the car a bit; c4's that came factory without the spare tire assembly had a metal frame member welded front to back where the spare tire went. You can buy one of these frame members aftermarket I think, if it makes you feel safer. Personally I'm not worried about getting rearended because I'm always going faster than the cars behind me.

As far as advantages go, the spare and assembly combined weigh 35 pounds, the removal of which considerably improves how the car drives, though the difference in feel is minimal. Moreover, the back of the car looks a lot nicer without the spare tire blocking your rear suspension, and you can get at all that stuff a lot easier if you ever need to work back there.

Removing the assembly is fairly simple; there are four bolts holding on the brackets on either side of the assembly to the rear frame, and in the front, there's a really long screw that you need to take the liscence plate off to get at. You have to unscrew it all the way in order to make the tube it was screwed into able to come through a slot, and then you can unseat it from the frame and take it out. Take off the liscence plate and look around at it, you'll figure it out.

If I ever get a flat, I'll just call AAA. No point in carrying around unneccessary weight penalty in my racecar.

 

The spare tire is part of the rear end collision absorbing system. The spare tire sits at an angle so that forces from a rear end collision are pushed forward and down to the differential. It will also help absorb some of the impact away from the fuel tank.

When runflats became available, the H-frame was designed to take the place of the tire/wheel and do the transferring of the collision forces.

Unfortunately, the position of the spare tire tends to make people ignore the spare tire. After a period of time the spare will lose air and that won't help if you have a flat. In some cases, the tire can separate from the wheel and the aluminum wheel will eventually corrode.

My 87 was that way, the spare had never been down and I had to have the tire removed so that I could clean the corrosion along the rim so that the tire would seat properly and seal so it would hold air. Now I check the tire twice a year

 

A can of fix flat, cell phone and a AAA card.

 

I just have the cell phone and AAA card. One of these days I'm going to look and see what exactly is under my spare tire covers. Over 4 years and my curiosity hasn't got the best of me yet.

 

.......

Only it's 5 years for me.

Gary

 

Picked up my car a month ago and honestly didn't even think about!!!

Thanks for the nudge and first thing on my to do list for Saturday morning



Lauri

 

My 95 can with the spare tire delete option and run-flats. The above statement is what I do. The run-flats are fairly expensive and not worth the extra for me. My 86 has the spare tire and cover. It is not needed to drive the car, though.

 

 

I run with no spare nor jack and a cell phone. However I have left the carrier in place just so that it "looks" to be bone stock...

When I race I run with 1/2 tank of fuel or less; the combined weight reduction is worth 0.1 sec in the 1/4 mile...

 

Hasn't been 4 years since I looked in the empty carrier but I haven't hauled a spare for 6 years.

 

[QUOTE=65Z01;1558190307]I run with no spare nor jack and a cell phone. However I have left the carrier in place just so that it "looks" to be bone stock... QUOTE]

i had done this, but even after bolting it up as high as it will go, the tray (carrier) still rides fractionally below the bumper exposing it as empty.
so i took the whole thing off

 

this is the only post in this thread that spells it all out for folks. A can of "fix a flat", AAA, or a credit card will not replace any of what is lost by removing the spare. Have fun guys, mine is staying right where the general put it.

 

I keep the above three that you have, but two years ago, I shreded a rear tire on the highway. The spare came in handy.

 

I have heard this a million times and while I agree to some degree, it is my belief that if you get hit hard enough where you would need absorption, you might have bigger problems.