Looks well made. I like the fact that they use two struts to slow the descent when tilting it down.

 

It's pretty well bullet proof as a concept. Seems to have stood the test of time with off roaders and this design is version 3 so you'd hope the little things were evident and fixed by now. Best part is you don't have to hoist a 30+ Kg wheel / tyre combo onto a swing away or roof rack so that in itself is a huge bonus.

 

Looks good - but problem is I tow a caravan and the weight of the spare wheel and the rack would have to be added to the tow ball weight - which would put me over the weight limit.

 

but problem is I tow a caravan

On this side of the pond, many of us add a hitch to our RVs (read caravan) so that we can shift things like additional carriers\racks to the back for that very same reason.....

 

For sure. I have different requirements and I can tow up to 2 ton (the ADR limit with the carrier attached), which is over what I tow, but I also shift my car spare to the rear of the trailer when towing the trailer. Maybe 50% of my travel is without trailer so having the full size spare with me without taking up boot space is important.

 

Yep - it would be handy. What I have always been baffled about is how such a well engineered vehicle could have such a crappy idea for a spare wheel. Not only that - but even if you buy a full size spare - there is no where to put it! Go figure. The only place my spare fits is under the bed in the caravan. A real PITA!

 

I sit the full sized spare upright on the left side of the rear compartment. I tie it down with a ratchet strap from the original tie down points in front and behind it. It just fits between the rear seat and the hatch and you would have toI think VW designed this as a mounting option given the close clearances . Works for me.

 

Been a long standing location for a spare but does take up a fair bit of space if you need to carry a tent, supplies etc.

 

I have an earlier version and it survived up and down throughout the Victorian High Country. However, I'm think of switching to the swing away version coz I bought the Kaon sparewheel attachment for the maxtrax and an extra attachment to hold something else like a small diesel rotopax for my diesel heater.

 

Great to hear from a user. Good news. I think my prime decision point for this type was not having to hoist the tyre up to locate it on the swing away version.

 

I am skeptical about towing with a hitch carrier- the added leverage will add a lot of stress to the hitch and will at least require derating the tow capacity.

I’m a big fan of the swing down carrier I have though… I think it’s a better solution than the swing away one because they are lighter, cheaper, and stronger.

 

I am skeptical about towing with a hitch carrier- the added leverage will add a lot of stress to the hitch and will at least require derating the tow capacity.
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Our vehicle design rules (ADR) have assessed this product and limited it's tow weight to 2 tonnes. That suits me just fine as I'm not into towing large trailers.

 

Negative. That's a hitch Mount for the tubular bumper on the caravan

 

It's a simple way of shifting weight from the tow ball to the rear of the van. Correct?

 

Maybe this will explain it better than I have

 

Yeah it’s a bit of a no win situation, adding weight to either the tow vehicles rear end / caravans rear end is a compromise as mentioned, keeping any extra weight near the axles in both cases is best obviously

 

Yep - it would be handy. What I have always been baffled about is how such a well engineered vehicle could have such a crappy idea for a spare wheel. Not only that - but even if you buy a full size spare - there is no where to put it! Go figure. The only place my spare fits is under the bed in the caravan. A real PITA!

I sit the full sized spare upright on the left side of the rear compartment. I tie it down with a ratchet strap from the original tie down points in front and behind it. It just fits between the rear seat and the hatch and you would have toI think VW designed this as a mounting option given the close clearances . Works for me.

What is the max size spare tire that will fit upright behind the rear seat and still able to close rear door?

 

Has to be a variable size as the rear seat is adjustable - and will recline more if the load cover bar is removed.

 

29 inches is the OD for all OEM wheel/tyre combinations.

Are your wheel/tyres over size?

 

I have fitted a standard 20 inch oem rim upright. I detailed my changes in another thread about 18 months ago. I put the original floor section aside and fabricated a new split floor and support so that I could use all of the wheel well for accessible storage - tools, etc. I have left the jack, compressor, Tyre lever under the Tyre. It is a tight fit, but will careful measurement you have a few mm left and I haven’t had any issues. It does, however restrict your space a lot for the tent, fridge and everything else you’d like to carry. Of course with trios through western Queensland, Nsw, Victoria and the snowy I haven’t needed it, but I couldn’t see myself getting the inflatable spare out on the dirt, blowing it up (hopefully although I had tested it at home some years back), fitting it, driving the few k at low speed to then try to source a 20 inch replacement with different wear and of course needing to load a dirty stuffed full size somewhere anyway. What fun. I haven’t needed the repair kit either, but belt and braces as they say

 

Pretty much the same as I had in my previous Treg, but with 18" full size spare, strapped in above the jack compartment. I kept the space saver on board too as a 'just in case', and had a second battery under it. 70k klms later in all sorts of conditions and both never met the bitumen. I'm certain if I don't carry them, Murphy's Law will kick in.

 

I ended up removing the rear seats and strapping the full size spare into the rear-seat foot-well. (See Warning don't remove your back seats... )

I did this for multiple reasons:

1. Keeping the spare wheel under the caravan bed increased the towball weight and the weight of the caravan, so having it in the car was a better option,
2. Taking out the rear seats reduced the weight on the rear axle,
3. Moving the spare wheel (and tools et cetera) forwards distributed the weight between the front and rear axles,
4. I could put more volume and weight into the Treg because the rear seats are very heavy,
5. I could continue using the OEM hitch, which didn't increase the length from the rear axle to the towball. Thus, didn't increase the weight on the rear axle, and
6. It's reasonably easy to get the spare wheel in and out of the Treg.

The cons are:

1. Only room for two people in the front,
2. It looks a bit untidy,
3. I had to cancel the rear-seat, airbag and warning light using resistors (I think that made it legal).

I remove the full-size, spare wheel and install the rear-seats again if I'm not towing the caravan on a big trip. I'm trusting that the space-saver spare will work for short trips or that the motoring club membership will help somehow.

 

I have 18” wheels now but want to change to fallen wildpeak at3’s 265/60-65/18s. I should be able to do that without any mods to vehicle and be able to handle winter snow (Lake Tahoe) and towing 5500lb trailer in summer (with some take off road travel). The diameter on the wild peaks are about 30.5” for 60’s (recommended over 65’s to allow for some squat when hooked up to trailer) vs about 31.5” for the 65’s. Do you think they will fit upright in back? I guess I could always adapt the rear floor to have them sit in area to the left (or right) of the non full size spare).

 

For me the standard 275/40 x 21 on my R-Line just fits between the seat and rear hatch with the rear seat fully back. You could probably fit something a bit larger with the seat further forward but the the roof height would then become the limit, but this can be overcome by modifying the floor panel to drop the tyre down a bit