SpareTire

[abizzle]

That’s a nice project log. I haven’t put my spare in the well yet, but I’ve previously installed a layer of CLD and another layer of CCF. That should add enough bulk to prevent the rocking and any noise. I’ll let you know soon.

 

[Jack GS]

That’s a nice project log. I haven’t put my spare in the well yet, but I’ve previously installed a layer of CLD and another layer of CCF. That should add enough bulk to prevent the rocking and any noise. I’ll let you know soon.

Looks like you FWD Sportback guys have a little more room to play with than the AWD Sportbacks. I would highly suggest finding one of these foam rings to place under the spare. Photo courtesy of @Wlepse's TourX in this thread:


And since we now have pics of all three variants of wheel well... here are shots of the FWD sportback and the AWD Sportback all in one place too. Maybe we should all get a shot of the wheel wells completely empty too.

FWD Sportback (Courtesy of @galdrago):

AWD Sportback (it's that upper slotted crossbar that's the most limiting):

 

[abizzle]

Looks like you FWD sportback guys have a little more room to play with than the AWD sportbacks. I would highly suggest finding one of these foam rings to place under the spare. Photo courtesy of @Wlepse's TourX in this thread:
View attachment 33833

Not sure if I’ll need it or not because my spare is going in right side up. I’m ditching the Bose sub and putting in three 10” Infinity subs. I guess I can check it, but I’m thinking only the tire rubber will be touching.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

Here's my spare tire setup for the GS (thanks to all the trailblazers in this forum and this thread specifically):
View attachment 33827

The spare is a T125/70R17. Absolutely nothing larger will fit without modification to the spare wheel well. To prevent the tire from rubbing/squeaking against the spare wheel well, I purchased a spare tire cover (meant for the spares on the back of an SUV or RV). Here's the link for the one I purchased: MOONET PVC Leather Spare Tire Wheel Cover - 13 Inch for Tire Diameter 22"-24"

The subwoofer fits just fine and is easily removed/replaced:
View attachment 33828

The cover also serves to eliminate the metal to metal contact between the wheel and spare wheel crossmember. It's also a lot slicker than the rubber so when removing and installing, it slides on the paint instead of gripping. I cut a hole in the cover to allow it to fit over the bolt:
View attachment 33829

I planned to use the foam ring from an older Cadillac under the spare but it was too thick and the spare could not be installed (with or without the cover on the tire). I even tried cutting it in half to only sit forward of the crossmember but that didn't work either. Instead, I just folded up a thick microfiber towel to provide more noise suppression and cushion between the wheel and crossmember.The inflator and goop are under the foam on the left. The jack and other tools are under the foam on the right (wrapped in a t-shirt). The microfiber and t-shirts are a temporary fix until I can come up with something a little more polished:
View attachment 33830

There is still a little bit of a rocking motion, but I think it is essential to easily removing the tire without screwing up the black plastic. The amount of free play and removal can be seen here. The tilting motion to remove the tire seems to work the best despite the rocking, it is greatly reduced once the sub and wing nut are reinstalled. I have heard no sounds from the spare since installing 5k miles ago:

Thanks for posting those photos and video.

There is no way my wheel will rock like that, it was snugged up tight. I very much doubt I'd be able to get the wheel in there with a cover fitted.

I can see why the foam ring wouldn't work. What ever goes there needs top be wedge shaped, I'm guessing about and inch and a half at the front of the well down to about 1/4 inch where the wheel sits on the cross member. Currently my wheel doesn't lie perpendicular to the spigot that the locking nut goes onto. I figure some packing is needed at the front to get the wheel perpendicular to the spigot.

 

[galdrago]

The suggestion by Jack GS for the foam ring is a thought, but for the FWD Sportback it may not work for those with the Bose subwoofer if the ring is too thick. Even without it, there is very little extra length to the center hold down bolt to secure the hold down spinner nut. I simply padded the center bar which is the only point of contact to the wheel with a thin layer of cloth to prevent scratching, and was still able to secure the spinner nut.

 

[visitor]

...if the ring is too thick.

That ring pictured us much thicker than the one i used. Our TourX is out of town till the end of the month, but when it gets home i'll try to get the part # off it for reference...

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

I had another play with fitting my space saver wheel into the wheel well tonight.

What did I learn?

The centre spigot is tilted forward.

It is impossible to get the wheel well spigot to be in the middle of the hole in the centre of the rim.

If I push on the rear most side of the wheel I can make it rock on the crossmember thats on the bottom of the wheel well, almost able to tilt it to the position that the wheel is perpendicular to the centre spigot. The lip on the cross brace above the front of the well stops the front of the wheel tilting up as far as I'd like but but it's not too bad once you've tilted it up at the front. When I tried the wheel in there the first time I didn't tilt it and there was a noticable difference from the perpendicular to the spigot.

No padding is needed at the front of the tyre. In fact if there was any thickness there at all it would be impossible to get the wheel into the well.

The sub woofer sits proud at the rear by about 3 to 5 mm and presses into the padding on the underside of the floor panel. Probably not a major problem.

My plan now is to glue a thin piece of rubber (about 1/8" or 3 mm thick) to the cross member in the bottom of the wheel well for the rim to rest against. The thinner the better so far as the sub woofer goes but has to be thick enough to be of use.

I have one other thing I will check out as is a support pad that sits in front of the crossmember that extends out in front of the cross member far enough to support the raised rib on the rim which sits outside of the lug holes. This is to stop the wheel rotating/wobbling on the crossmember. Even though it's bolted down I think it could flex up and down, front to rear when the car is being driven.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

View attachment 33828

The inflator and goop are under the foam on the left. The jack and other tools are under the foam on the right (wrapped in a t-shirt). The microfiber and t-shirts are a temporary fix until I can come up with something a little more polished:

That's something I have been exercising my mind on. I was going to try some of these as an experiment. Instapak Quick RT Foam Packaging Size 40 406x406x51mm

I was going to make up a box the right size using some cardboard, sit the bottle of goop and other such items inside and then use one of these expanding foam bags to fill the area around the goop bottle etc. Hey presto a moulded foam casing for these items. It could be trimmed to fit in the appropriate place.

 

[galdrago]

In looking at the posted pictures, who'd a thunk that the wheel well sheet metal and foam trim pieces were so different between the various drivetrains/models. It also affects what size items can be stored in and around the compact spare.

 

[ZB Commodore Owner]

What I learned today.

A small packer (support) about 16 mm or 0.6 inches thick placed under the rim in front of the crossmember supports the wheel nicely and stops any rocking. See photo. I used a piece of particle board to prove the theory. I will make the final packer out of a dense rubber or similar. The packer in the picture is wider than needed. It only needs to be about 30 mm or 1.2 inches wide and about 150 mm or 6 inches long. You can also see the piece of rubber I have been using to cushion the rim against the cross member. I think I'll use some heavy duty tape to keep it a thin as possible. This will reduce the height of the case of the sub woofer at the rear of the wheel bringing it almost level with the bottom of the floor panel.


Now for something interesting. I pulled the rear plastic trim off today and in doing so I could see the complete mechanism of the spring loaded buttons that pop the hatch up when the release button is pressed. I noticed there was a latch/detent at the base of the mechanism. It was possible to depress the button completely and by rotating the button about 20° anti clockwise the the button could be held in the depressed position. See photo, the button on the right is latched in the depressed position. The detent is easier to see on the left hand button, right at the bottom to the right of the slot in the button casing.

That's interesting I thought. Why would it be made like that? Thinking about it the trim was difficult to remove as it snagged on those buttons. With them both locked in the depressed position fitting/removing the trim was a cinch.

If you need to remove the rear trim push the buttons in/down as hard/far as you can and rotate the button anti clockwise.

 

[Battis]

Howdy. I've been reading this thread and there's alot of info. Anyways, I had a flat in my 2018 TourX Essence last week (the tire was destroyed). I had it towed to a local garage that sold me a tire that was not a brand match for the other three (but it was the correct size). I don't like the way it drives with this new tire (loud) so I thought maybe I could use the new tire as a spare and buy a tire from the dealer. I started looking for a wheel which brought me to this thread.
I've been calling around looking for a wheel (dealer - almost $500).
GM Parts Direct sells a wheel for $94.40 (Spare Tire - GM (84095141). This should fit...right?
I found a complete spare at a used parts place that will fit a Equinox/Terrain for $140, which, from this thread, should fit. Not too bad.
I feel like a housewife in the 50s. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

 

[Jack GS]

Any suggestions?

A full size spare will not fit in the spare wheel well if that's what you're going after. If you want to have a full size around just cause, I suppose you could. I'd just run the donut, myself.

The complete spare you found will work just fine if it's a T125/70R17 👍

 

[Battis]

Not sure what I was asking, but if that spare will fit, I'll probably go with that. I'm not concerned with storing the spare. If I did find a wheel that fit, at a reasonable cost, I could buy a tire from the dealer to match the others, and have a full size spare.
Thanks.

 

[visitor]

GM Parts Direct sells a wheel for $94.40 (Spare Tire - GM (84095141). This should fit...right?

Yes, but you can't mount a full size tire on it, it'd be too narrow. It's for use with a temporary spare tire, like Jack GS noted.

I found a complete spare at a used parts place that will fit a Equinox/Terrain for $140, which, from this thread, should fit.

What size is that used tire you got?

 

[Battis]

I ordered the small spare. The parts dealer ran my car's VIN and I sent him a pic of the wheels, and he said if will fit. The dealer is 2 hrs away, and I thought about driving out to save the $30 shipping, but, with my luck, I'd get a flat on the way. Now I need a jack.
I'd like to get a sign for the rear of the car that lights up and tells what the car is. Many times, people come right up on my rear just to see what it is.

 

[Battis]

According to the GM parts site, the jack listed in this forum Jack - GM (23455285) for the Tourx does not fit the vehicle.
Do they actually fit?

 

[saab93driver]

According to the GM parts site, the jack listed in this forum Jack - GM (23455285) for the Tourx does not fit the vehicle.
Do they actually fit?

It fits the '18-'20 Sportback so it should be useable for the TourX since it's essentially the same vehicle.

 

[Jack GS]

Also... a jack is a jack. I would know 😛

 

[visitor]

According to the GM parts site, the jack listed in this forum Jack - GM (23455285) for the Tourx does not fit the vehicle.
Do they actually fit?

This #13500358 fits, doesn't include the handle though...
GMpartsstore.com shows that jack @ $7.81 & the handle 25892315 @ $27.38 😱 + shipping, of course
🤔

 

[Battis]

I got the spare tire today - it looks brand new. I know, it was never used. I took out the subwoofer and the container that would have held the foam compressor if it had one (2nd pic), and the tire fits perfectly, with the subwoofer on top of it. Usually if something goes right, it means I missed something. I took the jack from my 1998 Chevy S10, and I think it might work.
I guess I could pretend that the tire fits, and hope I never have to use it, but I will test it out tomorrow.