Help With Spare Wheel Please

[HistoryBob]

TOO LATE. TOO LATE. TOO LATE

Further update on my spare wheel security bolt. I contacted Breeze this morning as I hadn't yet received the replacement security bolt for the one I had returned to them as it was too short. They rang me back and apologised for the delay and said they had arranged for the replacement to be sent by special currier for delivery tomorrow.
Just went out to the Cali and the spare wheel has gone

Thanks Breeze for an excellent service.

Need to get a spare quickly as I'm off to France next week. Any ideas anyone?

 

[malc]

...... New Cali 1week old and my spare wheel has been taken, nicked, purloined, borrowed, and the funny thing is that they put the nuts back on and torqued them up?
My new wheel with locking nut (thanks to the site and this subject and history Bob) hopefully will arrive to morrow.

I would like to suggest that anyone new to the Cali or picking one up new or second hand put the spare inside the van till you get a locking nut. Seems someone is cornering the market in Cali wheels.

 

[frigorifix]

TOO LATE. TOO LATE. TOO LATE

Further update on my spare wheel security bolt. I contacted Breeze this morning as I hadn't yet received the replacement security bolt for the one I had returned to them as it was too short. They rang me back and apologised for the delay and said they had arranged for the replacement to be sent by special currier for delivery tomorrow.
Just went out to the Cali and the spare wheel has gone

Thanks Breeze for an excellent service.

Need to get a spare quickly as I'm off to France next week. Any ideas anyone?

No way ! Talk about bad luck !

 

[choplee]

TOO LATE. TOO LATE. TOO LATE

Further update on my spare wheel security bolt. I contacted Breeze this morning as I hadn't yet received the replacement security bolt for the one I had returned to them as it was too short. They rang me back and apologised for the delay and said they had arranged for the replacement to be sent by special currier for delivery tomorrow.
Just went out to the Cali and the spare wheel has gone

Thanks Breeze for an excellent service.

Need to get a spare quickly as I'm off to France next week. Any ideas anyone?

looks like a quick vw purchase history bob for the spare wheel .......if you get stuck your more than welcome to borrow mine from my berghaus ,but i don't think it would be an easy collection for you ....maybe order and collect on route from a smg to france ????

 

[HistoryBob]

TOO LATE. TOO LATE. TOO LATE

Further update on my spare wheel security bolt. I contacted Breeze this morning as I hadn't yet received the replacement security bolt for the one I had returned to them as it was too short. They rang me back and apologised for the delay and said they had arranged for the replacement to be sent by special currier for delivery tomorrow.
Just went out to the Cali and the spare wheel has gone

Thanks Breeze for an excellent service.

Need to get a spare quickly as I'm off to France next week. Any ideas anyone?

looks like a quick vw purchase history bob for the spare wheel .......if you get stuck your more than welcome to borrow mine from my berghaus ,but i don't think it would be an easy collection for you ....maybe order and collect on route from a smg to france ????

Thanks Choplee for a most generous offer. I've manages to get a spare at a cost of £340 which I now intend to keep on the floor inside the van whilst I'm running around locally. I'll put it on the carrier when I need the boot space for camping stuff.
Has anyone tried to install the spare wheel on the carrier? You need tobe a muscle man to do it. The wheel won't simply slide onto the cradle as the rubber grips like mad. I found the easy way was to put a piece of cloth (duster size) onto the cradle and then drop the front edge of the tyre onto this. The cloth then slides up the cradle as you push the tyre onto it.
The design of this cradle, it's security and ease of use is very poor. On the Sharan, VW use a wire which is attached to the spare wheel whilst it is on the ground and then the wire is wound up using wheel brace from within the van. Security and ease of use cured in one. VW please take note for any updates or redesigns you might be considering.
One further point. The security locking bolt that VW supply is very simple to get round. It consist of a bolt the head of which has a unique configuration of holes for which you need the appropriate socket before you can turn the bolt. The head of the bolt has a thin metal shroud around it which is free to rotate and thus supposedly thwarting anyone trying to turn the bolt. It took me just seconds to work out a couple of ways of removing the bolt without the appropriate socket. For security reasons I won't detail them here. Just to say don't rely on this VW bolt as the security for your spare wheel.

 

[Pineweasel]

Sadly the spare from my 2 month old Cali was stolen sometime over the last week. I already had the VW security bolt fitted, so it's clearly not a deterrent. There was no trace of the nut or any sign of its remains at any of the places I'd parked the van, and the remaining captive nut had been retightened, presumably so I'd not notice the loss until later.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do now. Can't help feeling that they might pass by again to see if I've replaced it, so it might be tyre weld for a while.

 

[HistoryBob]

Sorry to hear you've joined the missing wheel club Pineweasel. Interested to hear you had the VW security bolt fitted which I didn't feel was up to the job. My new spare now sits inside the van until I can come up with a satisfactory solution. Incidentally where abouts are you located? Is it a problem in a particular area?

 

[Meoncoast]

How about getting the cheapest tyre avalible on a steel rim Paint the whole lot (tyre and rim)PINK and Paint the Registration number on it just use it as aget you home wheel :smile

 

[HistoryBob]

Or Orange :lol: although I can't see me painting a £320 wheel. I'm trying to work out a way of securing it using a wire cable or something similar.

 

[choplee]

Or Orange :lol: although I can't see me painting a £320 wheel. I'm trying to work out a way of securing it using a wire cable or something similar.

You not got a locking bolt back yet bob ???

 

[HistoryBob]

Choplee, I do have the VW locking bolt. However, I don't have any faith in it. Fifty odd years in engineering tells me it's not up to much. My barber has just given me a device they use on motorbikes. It consist of a length of steel hawser covered in plastic with a lock which joins both ends of the cable. The hawser has a natural coil to it much like a spring. My intention is to thread this through the wheel and then over the top of the wheel carrier. The coil will take up any slack and hopefully there won't be any noise or chaffing of the wheel.
Am I getting paranoid or what?

 

[frigorifix]

I received my locking bolt today : it's pretty short indeed. Barely fits but hopefully it will help avoiding crimes of opportunity. Obviously if someone really wants to steal the wheel it's always possible but a little bit less easy than with the classic bolts.
I'm also wondering about a cable thingy...

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

I received my locking bolt today : it's pretty short indeed. Barely fits but hopefully it will help avoiding crimes of opportunity. Obviously if someone really wants to steal the wheel it's always possible but a little bit less easy than with the classic bolts.
I'm also wondering about a cable thingy...

There are two types of bolt, if you have an alloy wheel as a spare then you will need a longer bolt than the one for a steel spare wheel.

Thanks

 

[frigorifix]

Nope, I have a steel spare and still the bolt is pretty short...

 

[HistoryBob]

Nope, I have a steel spare and still the bolt is pretty short...

The deciding factor for the length of the bolt is not steel versus alloy. It is the width of the tyre.

 

[frigorifix]

Nope, I have a steel spare and still the bolt is pretty short...

The deciding factor for the length of the bolt is not steel versus alloy. It is the width of the tyre.

well, it's not specified on the eBay ad. It states that it's for T5 (first and second edition) and that it's suitable for a steel wheel only. (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRAND-NEW-GEN ... 460ec98f3e).

 

[BerndRos]

Got mine.

It's much shorter than the one you remove...but does tighten up.

 

[malc]

Hey Bob ..wots this about a barber?

 

[Custardtart]

I agree - I've got 17" thunder alloys (235/55 17 tyres) but steel spare.

The bolt from Breeze is short - I counted only 3 rotations before it locked up tight.

I decided that was enough as it's one of two bolts but really would have been happier if the bolt had gone through all the threads available in the threaded hole.

 

[HistoryBob]

Hey Bob ..wots this about a barber?

Sorry Malc I forgot you came from the posh end of Cheshire. For your information it was my hairdresser. Not that I have much hair to dress. :lol:

 

[malc]

Well I have my new red anti theft device to save the VW anti theft bolt! This is not for the engineers of this world (Bob) .....but I had a job to fit this device using the VW wheel brace. So I bought a ratchet and dedicated socket to do the job from Halfords.it works treat. It now lies under the rear seat and if I need to get the wheel off I do not have to empty the boot and mess with those two little screws. I cannot claim this was all my own idea, simple as it is, but hey.

I hope this deters those little --------s. the frustrating thing is that I do not know when or where my wheel was stolen. I keep wracking my brain ...the only answer was ...motorway services. I made 2 stops on my way from Scotland that is why they bolted back up the wheel carrier so I would not notice the wheel had gone. Otherwise CCTV could have helped. Back up to a wall or as someone has said ..park over a kerb.

 

[Calincolnshire]

Just swapped my wheels back to front and used the spare as I have no axle stands or a second jack ( don't like using 2 jacks anyway) however I took the opportunity to fit the locking wheel bolt for the spare. Using silicon spray to slide the wheel on the carrier makes life much easier to replace.
I also noticed that the bolt that is in the keyhole slot is captive and has a barbed end so does not come all the way out even when fully slacked. So it occurred to me that a dirty great padlock threaded through the keyhole make it very difficult to slide the carrier to the side to free it. The padlock can be positioned so that the body can be zipstrapped upwards and so won't hang down.
I'm sure this will only delay the determined low life but may well be enough.