Hi! I have bought new 15" alloys from Ebay for my Ford Mondeo and did not want to buy a 15" spare. If I did temporarily fit the 14" what would be the effect when driving? Thks for the advice. Mike
2006-10-25 05:55:33 · 14 answers · asked by Mike W 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
It is legal, but only for short periods.
The tyres should have the same overall diameter (if not, then you have the wrong tyres on your 15" wheels).
The slight difference in wheel width and profile will affect handling, but this will not be noticeable if you drive gently.
Of course, you'll be aware that one of the wheels is different, so you will drive gently.
However, you may not be able to use the same bolts with both sets of wheels (alloy wheels and steel wheel often need different bolts, and different wheels may need different head shapes) - if this is the case, carry a spare set of bolts for the steel spare.
Many cars come with spare wheels that are a different size from the normal wheels.
2006-10-25 06:15:02 · answer #1 · answered by Neil 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Plenty of cars have a 14" spare and 15s on the road, or space saver spares, this is a bit of a grey area because space savers are lethal no grip yet sort of legal whilst your 14" probably has the same rolling radius as the 15", 165/13 185/60 14 and 185/55 15 for instance all have the same diameter and rolling radius.
Assuming the rolling radius is the same you should be hard put to notice the difference, to be safe put it on the back.
It is always a good idea to get 5 (or 6) wheels as it is so easy to damage an alloy and so hard to match them up once they are obsolete.
Actually 6 alloys is a good number, you can have a spare and if you get a puncture you can use the other spare and get the tyre fixed when you can be bothered
2006-10-25 06:32:20 · answer #2 · answered by "Call me Dave" 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
What matters is not the rim size (14" or 15") but the rolling radius - the distance from the centre of the rim to the rubber edge (which touches the ground). 14" refers to alloy size only - you can fit all sorts of rubber on the same 14" alloy and change the rolling radius. Your car can probably take 13", 14" or 15" wheels so long as the tyre is compensatingly changed in "height". Each revolution of the [wheel + tyre] should cover the same distance (the circumference is the same, so the rolling radius must be too). In other words, there would be little noticable effect in having 1/4 wheels 14" rather than 15" because the rolling radius of all 4 wheels should be identical.
Unless the 14" is a "spare" and not a "proper" wheel, (a donut) in which case it is only designed to get you to the next tyre centre. You're not supposed to get precision handling from it.
2006-10-25 06:13:51 · answer #3 · answered by Ivy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As long as the two tires have the same overall diameter you will be fine. If you keep one of your stock wheels and tires as a spare you will not be in any danger, you will simply have mismatched wheels until you have a new tire fitted to your alloy wheel. There may be a slight difference in unsprung weight, as well as contact patch size (if you are using different size tires), but it will not be anything you notice, unless you look at your morning commute as a time trial. If you think about emergency donuts, they are often quite smaller than the tire it replaces, but still can be used as an emergency spare.
2006-10-25 06:17:09 · answer #4 · answered by Harry 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You could do it in a pinch, but drive slow and fix the flat right away. Could c ause you to lose control if you go to fast, depends where you put the tire front or back, If I were you Just get the spare rim in the right size.
2006-10-25 06:06:57 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you would have great dificulty in keeping the car in a straight line not to mention putting strain on your suspention. i got 16" fox rims on my renault clio and the spare doesnt fit so a solution was to get a second spare for the car and keep it in the boot. so if you needed to change a tyre you change 2 so you got 2 of the same size on the same axel. (front or back)
hope this helps.
2006-10-25 06:09:13 · answer #6 · answered by liqidluvz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's why it's called a spare. Use it to get home or to a garage.
It won't hurt anything, just keep down the speed.
If it was all wheel drive, then it would be a problem.
2006-10-25 07:28:41 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
A very bad idea to have mismatched wheels . Handling and braking will be compromised and some differentials object.
2006-10-25 12:48:36 · answer #8 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, i have the same in a peugeot and the dealer says no problem, once it used as a spare only for a short time
2006-10-25 06:03:31 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
as long as you get the 15 repaired as soon as possible a lot of new cars espicially italian cars run space savers so if you take it staight to tyre depot u might be ok
2006-10-25 09:58:31 · answer #10 · answered by barrin 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋