Wheel studs on a steel spare

[watsone91]

Just got back from an 800 mile round trip in my c220d and have a tale of woe to tell .
Got a puncture at high speed on the M6 just outside Stafford called the AA to help and the man arrived promptly he removed the wheel (alloy) and put the spare on (steel wheel) i gave him the studs that were with the spare and he fitted the wheel .
It was at this point that the wheels came off the trolly you see the studs that came with the spare were too long and when fitted they locked up against the rear disc .the AA man then called for a relay truck and i had to be taken with my passengers to Stafford to have a new tyre fitted to my puntured alloy expensive .

Trawling through a scrappie in Gloucester i found a poor c180 that was written off i opened the boot and found it had a brand new steel wheel and five studs to match it they cost me a fiver and peace of mind for the journey home.

The moral of this story is if you have alloys and a steel wheel spare then check it will actually fits the car and the studs will secure it to the car before setting out on a long motorway journey .

 

[landover]

You should always have five wheels the same.It must have been a rear wheel that you changed.If the studs are too long they hit off the retaining springs for the rear parking brake shoes. :lol:

 

[numbnuts]

Agree with landover all the wheels should be the same if you buy a car with alloys make sure you have an alloy spare or the correct bolts to suit the steel wheel.
I don?t understand people who buy cars and don?t go that little bit extra to get a spare to match with the other wheels I call it penny pinching.

 

[watsone91]

It was a rear wheel and before leaving i checked that the tyre was ok and the studs were with it .

I made a silly mistake and this post is to stop my friends in this forum making the same mistake ,thanks for the sympathetic ear guys.....

 

[jberks]

Bit confused here guys. Are you saying that the kit supplied with the car was wrong?.
Merc supply new cars with alloys and sometimes include a steel spare. Surely the studs are factory supplied and if so, should fit the car. I know Merc have let things slip these days but I can't see them supplying a spare kit that doesn't fit the car! Even they aren't that daft!

 

[watsone91]

Sorry to confuse but what had happened before i bought the car someone had put the spare on the front and probably drove to a tyre place to have it fixed the fitter changed the tyre and put the steel wheel studs on the front alloy not knowing they were the wrong studs

easy mistake i suppose but worth pointing out as it could happen to anyone hope this clears the confusion

 

[landover]

Sorry to confuse but what had happened before i bought the car someone had put the spare on the front and probably drove to a tyre place to have it fixed the fitter changed the tyre and put the steel wheel studs on the front alloy not knowing they were the wrong studs

easy mistake i suppose but worth pointing out as it could happen to anyone hope this clears the confusion

As i said in previous post The bolts will fit the front wheels but not the back.
The back need to be the right lenth.

 

[georigg]

Most MB's that have alloys, also have a steel spare in the boot and should have a set of studs to go with the spare.

Have a look in your car manual under "spare tyre".

It shows the long studs that go with alloys and shorter studs that should be in the boot for the steel spare.

If you do not have a set of "short" studs, try a breaker yard and look for a VW Golf, Vento etc. The studs are the same thread pitch and are short enough to fit the back wheels.

For info, as a rule you want at least the diameter of the stud to become "threaded" into the back plate on the whell carrier. Too short and the stud can break!!!

E-Class E230 1997 First MB(perversely I like it!) following a number of BMW's Service from MB dealers absolutely CRAP.

Rgds
Georigg

 

[OlafMaxwell]

Some day Merc will be sued over this when an accident occurs. Health and Safety would kill us if we tried something similar with the plant and heavy machinery on our building sites, we would be taken to the cleaners. My Peugeot also has alloys and a steel spare....steel spare is fitted with the same studs as the alloys. The Merc came brand new with no warning whatever about the studs...unless you read in the small print inside the handbook.....not much good if you got a puncture on the way home from the dealers.....Best and safest bet is buy a secondhand alloy spare off Ebay....problem cured.

 

[City_Knight]

Bolt answers

Hi Guys!
For alloy wheels for W202/203/208/209/210 you should have M12x1.5x40
ie 40mm long

The steel spare should have M12x1.5x20
ie 20mm long. They should be kept in a packet with the spare.

It makes sense, doesn't it, that a pressed steel wheel won't have as much thickness as an alloy???

The W211, R230, W220, W215 all use M14x1.5x25mm
All Mercedes wheels require radiused seat bolts
The R129 shouldered bolt is no longer available from MB. The M12x1.5x40 is used instead.

Happy New Year!

 

[mlc]

none matching spare

Their are two reasons why the spare is different to the other four wheels - cost and space.

Lots of cars have four flash alloys and a steel wheel in the boot. BMW have done that for years and it was always a cost saving exercise. The tyre in the boot was the same size as the rest but the steel wheel was worth a lot less. This was penny pinching and I always objected for two reasons. One you pay top dollar for the car and its all top show, the second is that I would always bring the spare into use when I needed the first change of tyres, you dont need a new tyre on the spare just a good legal tyre to put you on whilst a puncture is repaired. This means that the first time you need to replace two tyres you only had to buy one and bring the spare into use for the second - but not if you have a none matching spare. Worse still tyres have a limited life even without use. So if you keep a car for many years the new spare tyre may need to be replaced due to age.

The second reason is space saving tyres - I can never understand how they get away with them! You cant mix tyre sizes on an axle - you would fail an MOT if you presented your car with a space saver in use - the tyre makers advise against them - but we have them because thats what we are given, I suspect that the spare is outside the scope of type approval. Lots of cars have to have them becasue thats all that fits, our SLK has a tiny space saver that sits in the boot flat becasue tis doesnt fit if inflated, so whilst the idea of 5 matching wheels is best we have to live with what we are given.

Mark.

 

[OlafMaxwell]

What do you do if you have filled your boot with gear and get a puncture....where do you put the big fat alloy that you take off, it clearly does not fit in the spare wheel's position?.

 

[MB partsman]

exactly olaf, id rather not have a spare than a spacesaver....
btw, every puncture ive ever had, its been raining! so not only is there no space for the proper wheel, but its also dirty and wet!

 

[mlc]

I also have to agree with Olaf - not sure what to do with the puctured tyre when the boot is already full.
The other problem is that space savers are normally limited to 50 mph. I had a puncture in a pool car from work - an Alfa - whilst 125 miles from home, nearly all motorway driving. 50mph in lane one whilst the trucks plough past is not fun.

I suppose the solution is to just go back to the good old days, 30 years ago my Morris 1100 was on 155x 12 tyres, no problem fitting the spare in the boot!

Mark.

 

[landover]

What do you do if you have filled your boot with gear and get a puncture....where do you put the big fat alloy that you take off, it clearly does not fit in the spare wheel's position?.

You want to try this with a rear wheel off a porche 911 when you fit the spacesaver ...It won't fit in the front boot even when empty.It barely fits on the passenger seat.