Ruesselsheimer2001
Sustaining Member
Thanks to all on the Forums for advice, especially EDM56.
I searched www.car-part.com for a 2018, 2019, 2020 Chevrolet Equinox T125/70R17 donut spare tire. There was a redesign of the Equinox in 2018 – and it’s one of the top selling Chevys – so I focused on 2018-19 and they were available at local yards. This was the first time I used the car-part.com site and it saved a lot of time tracking the available tires – amazing! I still called to verify availability, but I had a number to choose from, and could haggle a bit. I ended up with one from a 2019 Equinox.
I paid about $100. A little high, but it was new and unused. I was surprised that jack kits were hard to find. I stopped at Harbor Freight on the way back home and picked up their scissor jack (not in the car section, but in the trailer section of the store), a 18in breaker bar, and 19mm long socket. Spent a little over $50 at HF.
At home, I had a little clean up and topped up the air in the spare before I got started.
One issue everyone has mentioned was how to handle the gap under the spare. I used some pieces of high-density foam (recycled from some old packing material) as leveling blocks. I used 6 pieces. One to be a spacer at the top of the tire. And then I gorilla glued 5 pieces together in a little stack: four pieces as a base, and a longer piece across the top as a bridge. I put his contraption at the deepest spot that needed to be “built up” and where a lot of the weight of the spare would be. I used 2-sided carpet tape to stick the foam pieces to the car.
Truthfully, I had to take the spare in and out a number of times to make sure these leveling blocks were positioned where they needed to be – some eyeballing, some jiggling – I just wanted this locked down tight with no rattles.
I also put some soft foam under the subwoofer to prevent any car rattles OR weird subwoofer vibrations, so I put some sticky-backed memory foam along the bottom. I’m sure everyone has some of this lying around ;-) but some weatherproofing foam tape would work just fine, too.
Everything fit fine, that spare tire well is huge (I guess it could fit a larger tire). The subwoofer fit right back in nicely.
I wrapped the breaker bar and socket and put all my crap back on top. The breaker bar went on the left side, you can see the jack in the box (ha ha) and how it fits in there. I jammed the inflator and tire goop around the tire (why not?) you can see the bubble wrap in the lower left. And there's my towel, picnic blanket, tarp, ice scraper, etc. I wanted to show how much stuff could fit in there.
The total job took about an hour. Been driving it for a few weeks now. No rattles. The subwoofer is still booming. I have more peace of mind now knowing I won’t have to deal with (or “help” Roadside Assistance use) that fix a flat stuff.
I haven’t checked front wheel brake caliper clearance with the spare – most folks on this board says its fine. If it’s not, I’ll be moving tires twice. But that’s OK.
Thanks again to the Buick Forums Community for the help and inspiration to get this done (finally).
I searched www.car-part.com for a 2018, 2019, 2020 Chevrolet Equinox T125/70R17 donut spare tire. There was a redesign of the Equinox in 2018 – and it’s one of the top selling Chevys – so I focused on 2018-19 and they were available at local yards. This was the first time I used the car-part.com site and it saved a lot of time tracking the available tires – amazing! I still called to verify availability, but I had a number to choose from, and could haggle a bit. I ended up with one from a 2019 Equinox.
I paid about $100. A little high, but it was new and unused. I was surprised that jack kits were hard to find. I stopped at Harbor Freight on the way back home and picked up their scissor jack (not in the car section, but in the trailer section of the store), a 18in breaker bar, and 19mm long socket. Spent a little over $50 at HF.
At home, I had a little clean up and topped up the air in the spare before I got started.
One issue everyone has mentioned was how to handle the gap under the spare. I used some pieces of high-density foam (recycled from some old packing material) as leveling blocks. I used 6 pieces. One to be a spacer at the top of the tire. And then I gorilla glued 5 pieces together in a little stack: four pieces as a base, and a longer piece across the top as a bridge. I put his contraption at the deepest spot that needed to be “built up” and where a lot of the weight of the spare would be. I used 2-sided carpet tape to stick the foam pieces to the car.
Truthfully, I had to take the spare in and out a number of times to make sure these leveling blocks were positioned where they needed to be – some eyeballing, some jiggling – I just wanted this locked down tight with no rattles.
I also put some soft foam under the subwoofer to prevent any car rattles OR weird subwoofer vibrations, so I put some sticky-backed memory foam along the bottom. I’m sure everyone has some of this lying around ;-) but some weatherproofing foam tape would work just fine, too.
Everything fit fine, that spare tire well is huge (I guess it could fit a larger tire). The subwoofer fit right back in nicely.
I wrapped the breaker bar and socket and put all my crap back on top. The breaker bar went on the left side, you can see the jack in the box (ha ha) and how it fits in there. I jammed the inflator and tire goop around the tire (why not?) you can see the bubble wrap in the lower left. And there's my towel, picnic blanket, tarp, ice scraper, etc. I wanted to show how much stuff could fit in there.
The total job took about an hour. Been driving it for a few weeks now. No rattles. The subwoofer is still booming. I have more peace of mind now knowing I won’t have to deal with (or “help” Roadside Assistance use) that fix a flat stuff.
I haven’t checked front wheel brake caliper clearance with the spare – most folks on this board says its fine. If it’s not, I’ll be moving tires twice. But that’s OK.
Thanks again to the Buick Forums Community for the help and inspiration to get this done (finally).
