[Nitrous Power]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

How do we remove the spare tyre from the underbody ? The nuts also should be inside the tyre right ? So first we need to lift the car up with the jack and then get under the car [lying on your back] and then remove the nuts which bind the tyre in place?

Isnt it even more tedious ?? How could you keep the tyre in place when to keep the stepny in place since it is facing downwards and will slip downwards everytime you try to bolt the nuts? On the otherside for tail gate mounted tyres, you probably can place the tyre on the slots designed and then take your hands off and bolt the nuts.

I am not sure how these are mounted on both the type of cars [under body / tail gate]. So tips will be highly appreciated.

One does not have to go under the car in order to remove the spare tire from the under body. The spare tire is lifted or dropped to ground by a cable which can be done through a small hole in rear bumper. But in now way one has to go under the car while car is jacked up, it is a suicide.

[richie4u]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

How do we remove the spare tyre from the underbody ? The nuts also should be inside the tyre right ? So first we need to lift the car up with the jack and then get under the car [lying on your back] and then remove the nuts which bind the tyre in place?

Well for one, wheels that are mounted on the under body do not have to be physically removed by going underneath the car, there is a chain or a cable that has to be lowered which holds the wheel and lowers it to the ground.

Well there is a plus point and a minus point in this system, where the plus being that you do not have to hold the wheel/lift it like in wheels mounted on the tailgate, when you are trying to remove it so there is less stress involved.

Regarding the minus point, I had a bitter experience regarding the same where I had to help out a guy who has the spare placed on the underbody of his SUV, unfortunate for me this guy works for some mining company and uses the ride for his trips to the mines everyday, The result the wheel had dirt, mud, and a lot of unmentionable stuff stuck to it.

Well for the wheels that are mounted on the tailgate of the suv, they remain clean but you got to have strength to lift them and lower them from the mount.

[YaeJay]

IMHO there has to be a purpose in everything. Apart from the purpose of showing off. It would be a pity if an SUV (now this is getting to be a very broad term these days) has to get a life showing off its spare wheel up its butt. Voted no. I think it landed there to save space and to make our lives easy when we have a flat. We can have a roof top or a bonnet mount. But, I guess they do serve a purpose to educate our friendly tailgaters.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by Nitrous Power

One does not have to go under the car in order to remove the spare tire from the under body. The spare tire is lifted or dropped to ground by a cable which can be done through a small hole in rear bumper. But in now way one has to go under the car while car is jacked up, it is a suicide.

Originally Posted by richie4u

Well for one, wheels that are mounted on the under body do not have to be physically removed by going underneath the car, there is a chain or a cable that has to be lowered which holds the wheel and lowers it to the ground.

Well there is a plus point and a minus point in this system, where the plus being that you do not have to hold the wheel/lift it like in wheels mounted on the tailgate, when you are trying to remove it so there is less stress involved.

Regarding the minus point, I had a bitter experience regarding the same where I had to help out a guy who has the spare placed on the underbody of his SUV, unfortunate for me this guy works for some mining company and uses the ride for his trips to the mines everyday, The result the wheel had dirt, mud, and a lot of unmentionable stuff stuck to it.

Well for the wheels that are mounted on the tailgate of the suv, they remain clean but you got to have strength to lift them and lower them from the mount.

Thanks guys !! So now I understand whats the chain hanging from the middle of the spare tyre under the car which I have seen in multiple Innovas and Scorps. I used to wonder what is this!

[thedreamcatcher]

Having the spare wheel displayed or hidden is more to do with space options, convenience, aesthetics and so on. On some SUVs it looks good, while it may not on others.

Try to imagine a Cayenne, Q7 or several others having the spare visible. It also depends on how the rear shape has taken form. On the contrary, one is now used to the Safari with the wheel mounted on the rear and looks odd without it

When it comes to placing it or not, the primary two reasons are aesthetics and space. Mounting the spare on the rear door, liberates more space in the rear area. Deeper boot and so on. While other times, it is mounted in the rear under carriage.

All in all. Whats a hummer without displaying its massive dirt-zillas behind and what a fine rear the Cayenne has

[justwheels]

Voted with a big "Yes".

That spare adds a lot of character to the macho'ness of the SUV. Surely thats not the only character enhancing element but its too big to ignore. For sure it is 'to each his own', but its like the Mr. Universe muscles aren't to be hidden under the shirt. Ok you don't need to go naked for sure. The spare tyre on the tail gate was surely there to save space and for the ease when you go flat, but thats grown to be a mark of SUV's. And someway I feel "I like it".
I have been praying that TML doesn't put the spare at the bottom for the new safari/merlin. I might not buy one soon, but I wish not to see it in that form.

[absoluteyogi]

That santro does look stupid!

However, I have voted "Confused". I would have voted "Yes" if the question was whether SUV's should have a spare wheel stuck on their behind. But more than show-off, it is the utilitarian approach that has devised the place of spare wheel on rear door. (One of the fundamental reasons why such vehicles are called Sports UTILITY Vehicles ).

So, Yes for spare wheels on the rear.
No for show-off.
Confused for mixing up the question .

[mdsaab]

If the real SUV is meant to be used more offroad than the average user does.
Than YES i think it's better to have the wheel on the tail, as this would give better clearance when tackling off road situations. So therefore real rugged SUV's should have them on the tail.

If going by just looks, not looking at the utility value, then YES it is again. I like it when the spare wheel is shown off. especially with a good set of Alloys.

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Thanks guys !! So now I understand whats the chain hanging from the middle of the spare tyre under the car which I have seen in multiple Innovas and Scorps. I used to wonder what is this!

What I've found that removing of the spare wheel in Scorpio is probably the easiest way of removing/installing a spare among any vehicles (the vehicle's I've seen/driven, not a big list though), even compared to a sedan. All you need to do is to turn the nut using the wheel spanner and the stepny would be lowered to the ground. To fix it back you just need to turn the nut in opposite direction till you hear the click of the lock and that's about it. But yes, one thing for sure is that if I buy alloys then I guess I won't prefer buy the 5th wheel, will keep the steel rim itself for stepney.

[4x4addict]

The santro is missing the huge 4x4 sticker prevalent on many Maruthi 800s, Santros and Altos.

[TaurusAl]

Bolero is a classic example, love the way it flaunts its rear wheel. It surely makes it more masculine and elegant. The new ones come with a good spare wheel cover too. Don't know if it rattles as it just plastic.

I have seen huge rattles in tata safari's spare wheel cover though.

[asr245]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Two of my cars proudly carry their spare tyres on the back.

Your jeep looks great with the spare. Your Vitara - not so much. The slanted pillars of the Vitara gives it an image of a soft off-roader and with the spare, it gives a feeling as if it's trying to be 'macho'. Just my opinion though.

Originally Posted by ACM

Voted Yes BUT

Spare on rear door though the most macho leads to

1) Unnecessary increase in lenght of vehicle and hence parking and moving around issues.
2) Rattling rear door.
3) Centre of Gravity moves upwards and hence this unsettles the ride on highways as well as over bumps (speed breakers) to a greater extent.
4) Though it seems otherwise one can get really messy trying to raise a tyre to the rear door for mounting it vs raising it up below the rear.
5) Also this impacts rear visibility.
6) It is a back breaking effort to raise the wheel to the mounts up on the door.

Exactly why I voted 'No'.

Originally Posted by ACM

Yet have voted yes as it simply looks better up there.

Depends. I don't find it appealing on the Vitara. Don't find it appealing on the Safari (with that plastic cover). And probably wouldn't find it appealing unless there's nice fat tyres with nice alloys hanging as a spare.

As for macho-ness, I think with Scorpio's and Safari's, fatter tyres (rather than stocks) would make them more macho and safer (improved braking & probably handling) as compared to a rear mounted spare.

[pjbiju]

Tailgate mounted spare tyres looks nice on SUVs but as SS-Traveller mentioned, it would be a big problem if you actually had to use it. (I was wondering why nobody had said anything about it till I came to SS-T's post - perhaps people have not used the spare tyres at all)

The underbody mounted tyres usually use a chain/ratchet mechanism to unmount and mount the tyre. So it would be much easier to remove and use them.

For looks one could get a lightweight dummy kind of thing (if available) which should be very light weight and mount it on the tailgate. So you can have your cake and eat it too.

[sumathindra]

Yes thought the original intent was to save space, it has become more of a decorative intent now. Moreover it adds on extra weight towards the end of the SUV which at times appear to tilt. This is more seen in the ford endavour.

[ACM]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

How do we remove the spare tyre from the underbody ? The nuts also should be inside the tyre right ? So first we need to lift the car up with the jack and then get under the car [lying on your back] and then remove the nuts which bind the tyre in place?

Isnt it even more tedious ?? How could you keep the tyre in place when to keep the stepny in place since it is facing downwards and will slip downwards everytime you try to bolt the nuts? On the otherside for tail gate mounted tyres, you probably can place the tyre on the slots designed and then take your hands off and bolt the nuts.

I am not sure how these are mounted on both the type of cars so tips will be highly appreciated.

Not Exactly

In a rear door mount 3 of the 4/5/6 holes have nuts that need to be placed on the fixed bolts that are welded to the door/door mount. Yes one does first place the tyre on the bolts and then fixes the nut, but the tyre does not stay on if one takes off both hands, one needs to manage either with the body or one hand to keep the wheel mounted while one fixes the first nut. It is quite hard physically and the shirt invariably gets dirty.

In case of spare wheel mounted below the rear there is a disk that fits on to the centre of the wheel and we does not have to fix any bolts / nuts at all.

Do remember the bolts for the wheel being mounted on the car for actual use are already present on the 4 primary rims that are in use.