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Spare wheel law


rimmie
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Hi all,

 

One for the car boffs, I have bought (not picked up yet) a used bmw. The previous owner had all the run flat tyres taken off and replaced with normal tyres. My question is this, a friend said by law the dealership must supply a spare wheel, as the car now doesn't have run flats fitted. Is this right ? The car doesn't have one at the minute, as apparently when you have run flats fitted, you don't need a spare wheel. The previous owner obviously never bothered getting one.

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Just got a new Ford Fiesta and paid £100 for a spare to be fitted as the standard is a bottle of sealant so no chance with a used car

Spare wheels have become optional extra's as a way of shedding weight for the co2 tests used to select road tax class or company car tax etc- if its standard equipment it needs to be on the car for the Co2 test

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Nip to the local scrap yards and pick up a second hand rim (for your vehicle) with a decent amount of tread on the tyre. As an emergency it will get you to a tyre shop and will probably cost you less than £20.

 

As for the original question, no a spare wheel is not a must have in your vehicle.

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Shaun has pointed out the most important part of this. If you replace run flat tyres with standard tyres, you are altering the driving characteristics of the vehicle. Your insurance company will not pay out in the event of an accident.

 

Cars fitted with run flats as standard have been tested using run flats by the manufacturer. This affects the suspension geometry setup and can lead to different materials being used for suspension and steering. As soon as you put standard tyres on a vehicle that was designed to run on run flats, the vehicle is deemed to be a risk by the insurance companies because of the potential variation in vehicle handling characteristics. Manufacturers and car dealers in most countries have zero obligation to provide spare wheels.

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Ask them nicely for the BMW specified run flats?

 

David.

no don't the reason they take them off is the tyres are too hard and crack the alloy wheels this is a big problem with bmw at the moment and they wont replace the wheels under warranty a mates 5 series has had 2 wheels in the last couple years both cracked £650 each

 

The bigger issue will be with insurance,

 

I'm sure if it had run flats as standard then unless you tell the insurance company and tell them otherwise then it's supposed to have them

 

(other advice is available)

 

I doubt they would be bothered as long as the tyres are e marked and have good tread..... its the same as having budgets or remoulds fitted they are made to do the job required

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Shaun has pointed out the most important part of this. If you replace run flat tyres with standard tyres, you are altering the driving characteristics of the vehicle. Your insurance company will not pay out in the event of an accident.

Cars fitted with run flats as standard have been tested using run flats by the manufacturer. This affects the suspension geometry setup and can lead to different materials being used for suspension and steering. As soon as you put standard tyres on a vehicle that was designed to run on run flats, the vehicle is deemed to be a risk by the insurance companies because of the potential variation in vehicle handling characteristics. Manufacturers and car dealers in most countries have zero obligation to provide spare wheels.

 

This is all sorts of wrong

 

Except the last sentence

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Run flat tyres are an optional fitment.

A vehicle manufacturer will specify the standard tyre fitment for a particular vehicle, This will likely include several different size options and possibly a run flat option.

So long as the tyres fitted are the same as one of these options and thus meet the vehicle manufacturers specified size and speed/load rating, Run flat has no relevance whatsoever.

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This is all sorts of wrong

 

Except the last sentence

It's wrong is it? Ok then, my bad. Though I think you'd have a hard time convincing your insurance company that replacing run flats with standard tyres is a modification that's unlikely to alter the handling of the vehicle from the oem specs.

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no don't the reason they take them off is the tyres are too hard and crack the alloy wheels this is a big problem with bmw at the moment and they wont replace the wheels under warranty a mates 5 series has had 2 wheels in the last couple years both cracked £650 each

Is that why my son's 3 series coupe has the ride quality of a Go Kart and tyres costing £200 plus that last about 5K miles?

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