My spare tyre solution. with photo's.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Though he doesn't mention the third important spec... offset. Possibly OK on the rear, but just a tad more vital to be wary of if fitted to the front, maybe?
Also important with a PHEV is the all-wheel-drive system which gets stroppy if an odd tyre of a different brand and/or state of wear is fitted. What kind of reaction will a tyre/wheel combination of different width as well as brand and effective diameter incur? Will the car simply refuse to continue and metaphorically sit at the roadside with its fingers in its ears humming la la la until you pander to its demands?
Another thing, if the 'spare' is a steel wheel and the OEM ones are alloys, the nuts/bolts retaining the wheels on the hubs are often different for each type. My last car had a steel skinny spare and alloy main wheels and the skinny spare was specially designed to be used with the nuts for an alloy. This is not always the case.
 
A couple of weeks ago, I lost a rear tyre to a major puncture that left it completely flat. The AA (=AAA for US readers) emergency recovery guy confirmed that I'd need a new tyre and as it was after 5pm, options were limited if I didn't want to wait an hour for a flatbed to tow me home. So I've now got 3 Michelins and a Dunlop. The AA guy told me that he'd been a top tier Mitsubishi mechanic and confirmed that you can get error messages with mixed tyres, but as the Michelins were pretty low mileage I should probably be OK. No problems so far!
 
My solution to carrying a spare tyre.
I originally liked the swing out solutions that mounted to the tow bar, but then I realised I would lose the camera, the birds eye view and probably the reversing sensors as well. Plus of course it adds length to the vehicle.
Underneath isn't big enough for the diameter even if I moved the muffler which I had considered.

So it came down to exploring the best solution in the load area and I came up with mounting it vertical over to the side.
https://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=809
https://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=810
https://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/download/file.php?mode=view&id=811

I welded the frame together and with tyre in place positioned it front/back to allow the back seat to still recline 2 positions. It fixes at the edge of the join to the solid panel immediately behind the rear seats and the hinged section to get to the charger compartment still opens to about 75 - 80 degrees. Plus being fixed to the take-out panel, it can all come out once the tyre is removed to get to jack and everything else.

I will drive for a while and check everything is okay and then remove it and paint it - probably in the POR15 black after the welds and ground areas etch themselves a bit first.

Its also surprising how little rear vision it obstructs. Its only the far left corner and hardly by much. Where the seat belt comes out of the roof is where the edge of the tyre is. I tried to add a photo of the rear view mirror view but despite being under 1mb the attachments won't allow it.
Nice job, Chris. Thanks for sharing it. Agree that having no spare can create significant problems.
 
Back
Top