luggage compartment spare tyre setup
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49 Posts
This is interesting, does it work ?
I test fitted a full size wheel/tyre (21")in my R-line last week.
Strapped it in place using the tie down luggage hooks.
Even with the rear seat in the most upright position and the wheel hard up behind the seat the rear hatch can't be closed.
The rear seat backrest has to be unlatched and pushed forward to allow the wheel to be moved to the front of the car meaning you lose 1 seating position.
Seems the wheel will have to lay flat on the floor luggage area.
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428 Posts
Singh, are these parts readily available as a retrofit? Cheers Paul.
From what i see it does, the floor board is split in to two parts, where the wheel sits that section is curved, dipped.
See you manual, there is a picture illustrating that
hey Paul, dont know, but a call to the dealer quizzing these part numbers should reveal that.
Why vw designed all this and dont offer as an option to us remains confounding
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80 Posts
From what I can see it would make the 12V, seat release and rear "squat" buttons hard to access, plus a lot of wasted space too.
I normally just lay the wheel outside face down, and fill it with crap. There's still enough room for a 18", plus my 60l waeco and a bunch of bags, with the rear bench pushed forward.
Cheers
DS
I normally just lay the wheel outside face down, and fill it with crap. There's still enough room for a 18", plus my 60l waeco and a bunch of bags, with the rear bench pushed forward.
Cheers
DS
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483 Posts
My spare fits in the back with a 20" Pikes Peak and a 265/50R20 tire. If you have it too close to the side of the hatch it won't close but if you make the tire sit a little inboard it fits and closes. I also had to tie a knot in the end of the tie down to allow the hatch to close without contacting the latch.
whats the light you got on the side there? Is that a custom install philthyphil?
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483 Posts
My 2008 (T2) has the cargo lights closer to the floor and closer to the tailgate opening.
Good method of securing the tire. I like it! My oversize (265/65 R17) spare fits in the back in the same manner. Not right up against the side, but a little inboard.
Good method of securing the tire. I like it! My oversize (265/65 R17) spare fits in the back in the same manner. Not right up against the side, but a little inboard.
Led making that different
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20,262 Posts
It's how the original SUV, the Range Rover, stored its full sized spare back in 1972!
Much easier - it used 205/80 x16 wheels/tyres - somewhat smaller than Touareg!
I liked the idea of inside tire storage so much, that I did it myself. No bracket, but I did cut the load floor in half to allow access to the storage below without having to remove the tire.
Here is the tire loaded in position with the original floor:
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Here it is with the floor cut.
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I cut the floor with a cut off wheel, because I didn't want to snag the carpet. The cutoff wheel will simply heat up and melt the carpet instead. The wheel wasn't large enough to cut all the way through, so I had to finish it off with a saw. But the carpet is glued to the load floor, so it was not an issue. Be careful when cutting towards the back of the floor. Lift up the "hinged" part so you don't cut any of that plastic.
Here is the load floor opened to allow access to the former spare tire compartment. Now you have useful storage and it is accessible without having to remove the huge (and heavy) tire.
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Since you are cutting the floor (it appears to be a wooden shell surrounding foam), you are altering the structural integrity of the floor.
Here is the support I put in to hold the load floor and support the weight of the tire:
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It is secured in place with a small "L" bracket (from Ikea!) and bolted to the same bolt that holds the air tank (for those who have air suspension.)
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One thing to note, which hopefully will save some folks some time:
As you can see, the tire is strapped to the load floor in the rear of the cargo area. In the FRONT, however, the ratchet strap is attached to the LATCH system on the back of the rear seat. This was done so that the ratchet mechanism wouldn't interfere with the back seat. With my ratchet strap, if I hooked it to the load floor on either end, the ratchet would get in the way of either the rear seatback or the tailgate.
And yes, I realize this post is in the "Australia & New Zealand" area. I am in the US. That is why my tire placement probably looks "wrong"!
But for me, it is directly behind the driver's seat, to minimize rear view blockage. :- )
Here is the tire loaded in position with the original floor:
Here it is with the floor cut.
I cut the floor with a cut off wheel, because I didn't want to snag the carpet. The cutoff wheel will simply heat up and melt the carpet instead. The wheel wasn't large enough to cut all the way through, so I had to finish it off with a saw. But the carpet is glued to the load floor, so it was not an issue. Be careful when cutting towards the back of the floor. Lift up the "hinged" part so you don't cut any of that plastic.
Here is the load floor opened to allow access to the former spare tire compartment. Now you have useful storage and it is accessible without having to remove the huge (and heavy) tire.
Since you are cutting the floor (it appears to be a wooden shell surrounding foam), you are altering the structural integrity of the floor.
Here is the support I put in to hold the load floor and support the weight of the tire:
It is secured in place with a small "L" bracket (from Ikea!) and bolted to the same bolt that holds the air tank (for those who have air suspension.)
One thing to note, which hopefully will save some folks some time:
As you can see, the tire is strapped to the load floor in the rear of the cargo area. In the FRONT, however, the ratchet strap is attached to the LATCH system on the back of the rear seat. This was done so that the ratchet mechanism wouldn't interfere with the back seat. With my ratchet strap, if I hooked it to the load floor on either end, the ratchet would get in the way of either the rear seatback or the tailgate.
And yes, I realize this post is in the "Australia & New Zealand" area. I am in the US. That is why my tire placement probably looks "wrong"!
But for me, it is directly behind the driver's seat, to minimize rear view blockage. :- )
FSJGuy,
I did almost exactly the same as you ... although I felt somewhat guilty about cutting the floor on my vehicle within weeks of buying it brand new.
I use aluminium 'U' channel frame to brace the floor; and I put some padding between the tire and the pillar to stop it rubbing against the lining.
Removing the space saver gives a whole lot of room under the floor for offroad gear and tools.
I did almost exactly the same as you ... although I felt somewhat guilty about cutting the floor on my vehicle within weeks of buying it brand new.
I use aluminium 'U' channel frame to brace the floor; and I put some padding between the tire and the pillar to stop it rubbing against the lining.
Removing the space saver gives a whole lot of room under the floor for offroad gear and tools.
Wow. You were brave. I'm not sure I would be cutting the floor of my brand new vehicle. Yikes!
I may brace the larger part of the floor with some U or L channel. It's not super flimsy, but it's not as strong as it was before, either. I'll either brace it or extend my existing support out a little further.
Well, apparently, you can get the cut out sections and associated parts from vw.
Does take space though, would have been perfect to have the external spare, under the rear or on the back.. Oh well, nothing's perfect
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1,889 Posts
Having a spare was part of my RRS decision. Although pulling it out from under the rear cargo area is quite hard. RR supply a little winch which does work a treat although the wheel still needs to be lifted to floor level. One can understand why spare wheels are becoming redundant when I posted on the RR web about the effort required all answers were why did I not call road side assist< this seems to be the expectation these days, all flats will be close to civilization ??
I can remember when we used to change spark plugs, remove heads to do a valve grind and de-coke.
Other than the external spare carrier, I like the idea of carrying a full size spare in the boot.
Before cutting the floor, one would have decide on the pros and cons of carrying the spare on the driver's side or the pax side (RHD).
If carrying it on the driver's (RHD) side, you would not be able to easily access the tool kit, fuel door release and CD stacker. Having no spare in the well opens up a lot of possibilities for me like an an aux battery for the Engel.
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