Compact spare wheel/tire solution

texasdoc wrote

I think I may go ahead and try to assemble a wheel/tire combination based on all the hard work of you guys. I appreciate the help! I visit my parents occasionally and have to drive a long distance through rural east Texas to get there. It would be just like the guy who got the flat in Montana--"What's that tire for? A John Deere?"

Regarding a jack.... I suppose I could always just call for roadside assistance to change the tire, but would prefer to change it myself. Obviously the new 3 series come with RFT and thus no jack or lug wrench. What would you guys recommend for something both cheap and compact that works with the M3?

Thanks!

texasdoc wrote

I think I may go ahead and try to assemble a wheel/tire combination based on all the hard work of you guys. I appreciate the help! I visit my parents occasionally and have to drive a long distance through rural east Texas to get there. It would be just like the guy who got the flat in Montana--"What's that tire for? A John Deere?"

Regarding a jack.... I suppose I could always just call for roadside assistance to change the tire, but would prefer to change it myself. Obviously the new 3 series come with RFT and thus no jack or lug wrench. What would you guys recommend for something both cheap and compact that works with the M3?

True Faith wrote

For what it's worth, I just got a chance to try out my spare and jack. Last week I discovered a good sized screw in my tire, and that the tire was flat when I came back to the car after a work function at 10:30 PM.

I jacked the car up, slapped on the spare, and was on my way in literally 5 minutes. Without the spare and the jack, I was looking at either a) flatbedding the car to the BMW dealer and hoofing it home, in the rain, at midnight, or b) using the tire slime and ruining the tire and the TPMS sensor--figure a $400 bill, minimum.

As far as I am concerned, the $250 spare just paid for itself a couple of times over.

The E46 jack that I carry worked fine on the flat and level concrete in the parking garage. I'd hate to try and use it on a hill, though.

Attached is a crappy camera phone pic (and please ignore the bumper scrapes).

The car actually drove reasonably well on the spare. You could feel it pulling a bit, and I was extra delicate with the throttle and stayed close to the 50 mph limit, but all in all there was little drama.

EDIT: Since I took the pics upthread of the spare in the trunk, I bought the BMW branded Tire Tote. This is a good addition to the setup, since it keeps the wheel from getting scratched but more importantly gives you something to put your dirty road wheel in after you change the tire.

linsm3 wrote

I have a question for you guys, what jack can I get that will fit under my car since its dropped. I had a flat the other day and couldn't get anything under the car. This spare set up sounds perfect because I'm worried getting stuck with a flat. Getting the car on a flatbed was hard enough.

E90076 wrote

It appears that there is a small threaded gold hole in under the trunk mat. My wife's old G35 used to have a screw attached to a plastic cap which would hold the spare in place using a similar threaded hole in the trunk floor. I understand that you would have to entirely take out the trunk cover (actually just pulls out) but has anyone tried securing the spare down? I have to think the inertia of the spare combined with an accident could cause problems that the cords may not hold.

GregW / Oregon wrote

Hmmm, my '08 has no such threaded hole. Can you provide a photo? Anyhow, unless you have the rear seats down, there really isn't anywhere for the spare to go in an accident, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it. And in normal driving, it pretty much stays put with the grip of the rubber against the mat.

E90076 wrote

It's gold, and halfway between the repair kit and the trunk opening. I'll snap a picture when I get a chance.

GregW / Oregon wrote

There was another thread running on this, but I thought I'd summarize here to make the info easy to find. Thanks to Tom Tarzian for a lot of the work on this. The goal was to come up with a compactg spare solution that would clear the stock brakes w/o a spacer and come as close as possible to the stock tire OD.

To clear the front brake requires an 18" wheel, or perhaps a heck of a spacer on a 17. The X6 has a 5" wide wheel that seemed to fit the bill. Only thing is its hub is slightly larger (74.1 vs. 72.6 mm), so a centering ring is the right way to go.

Finding a suitable tire was a challenge, because manufacturers don't seen to list info on compact spares, and most tire dealers are unclued. I eventually found a 135/70-18 as used on the Cadillac CTS, and was able to track down the manufacturer (Maxxis) and a local dealer (Les Schwab). I took about two weeks to order in.

I test fit the setup today, and it clears the front brake caliper by about 1/4", and seems just fine. The OD of the tire is just about 0.3" smaller than the stock fronts (a little more in the rear, of course), but seems well within tolerance, IMO. Tom had used a 125/70, but I thought that a little small.

Weight complete is 37 lbs. (47 bs. for OEM 19F). The stock lug bolts work fine.

So, here's what you need:

- BMW 36-11-6-768-861 black steel wheel; $155 list Edit 9/29/09: Kyoshi71 says this wheel is OEM, at about half the price: http://www.worldimpex.com/parts/bmw-black-steel-emergenc_1533872.html.
- BMW 36-12-1-116-326 rubber valve stem, $5.35 list
- Centering ring, 74.1-72.6 mm; 1010 tire (mis-labeled 74.1-72.56 http://www.1010tires.com/hubrings.asp?gclid=CPy2-rytg5kCFU0wpAodcQqcmw); $30 shipped for set of 4 (you can sell extras)
- Maxxis T135/70R18 104M M9500N (#TP10655100), $85 + $10 shipping + $12.50 mount & balance

All-in-all, not inexpensive, but a nice bit of security to have in the trunk for trips, and about half the size of a full-size spare.

garyrchan wrote

I am new at this and looking for a spare tire kit since I also hate the RFTs. Will the Bavarian kit work on the 2008 335xi sport package 18" staggered wheels (style 162)?

elp_jc wrote

Man, I thought an enterprising member would have these spare tire kits for sale by now . Guess until I get stranded without a spare will find the time to put all this crap together . Well, at least I carry the BMW jack kit and 2 different flat repair kits, so I have the next best thing . Good day gang.

True Faith wrote

I thought about it briefly, but the spare tire is a bit of a pain to source, and while I think this setup is well worth the trouble and expense, I'm not sure how many people would really be willing to pay $400+ for it (which is probably what it would have to cost to make any money on it, given shipping costs and whatnot).

Other that the tire (which at least in theory can be ordered from a Cadillac dealer--that's where I got mine), the rest of the stuff is pretty easy to get your hands on. Don't wait until you get stranded...

GregW / Oregon wrote

The Cadillac dealer here was not able to help me, but a dealer search at http://www.maxxis.com turned up local dealers.

WCH wrote

+1. I ordered mine directly from Maxxis

calintexas wrote

The Maxxis T135/70R18 tire arrived today ($86.83 delivered). It came from a warehouse that's about 30 miles from my house.

The Tire Rack (I PM'd ben@tirerack - thanks Ben) has the 74.1-72.6 mm hub centering rings. They are $3.00 each plus about $5.00 shipping. I ordered 2 bringing my total to about $11.00 delivered. They aren't listed online; so, you need to call Ben (877 533 8473 ext 660) to order them. This is quite a bit less cost than the current price on the site that was originally listed in the thread.