Spare tire kit, brochure says one thing, dealer another
 

I'm picking up my new 04 RX-8 today. I want to get the spare tire kit but the dealer says the tire is sold seperately. It's an additional $107. In the sales brochure and on the web site it says "Spare tire kit (trunk mounted; includes wheel, tire and mounting hardware).

Before I spend the $$ I was just wondering of anyone had encountered this....

thx

There are two different prices for the spare tire mounting kit (with and without tire)... So, you are both right...

Check Rosenthal to see what I'm saying...
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...els_index.html

Back in the preorder days... when you asked for the spare tire kit the tire was included and priced accordingly..

Spare tire and mounting hardware are often sold on this site at prices way below dealership. Check the for sale section.

Has anyone here actually used the Spare tire kit ??

After talking with the dealer it seemed that I might be better off in the long run to simply not get it, and instead buy an extra standard wheel and tire. Cost is about the same or less if I remember.

The idea is that on trips around town.. I leave the tire at home in the garage (remembering to rotate it along with the others of course).. and should I get a flat.. have it towed (courtsey of Mazda) to my house.. and have them replace the tire there.

Then I can drive the 'flat' one to a shop at my leisure, and still have a fully operating RX8.

On long trips, I can either fill the trunk with the full tire (It will fit) or go without and rely on Mazda Emergency service.

If you get the spare tire , which is a donut btw, you can only use it on the front tires.. since the car needs fulls on the rear to operate properly.. and even then have to watch your speed and distance (it's only meant to get you to a repair facility)

The other downside is that it takes up quite a bit of the trunk (about half or more) all the time.

I've yet to buy my 5th wheel, saving up first for a few other goodies like PIE adapters , corners etc.. but that will be my next major purchase in all likelyhood.

If the spare was a full size, or didn't take up the trunk, I'd say go for it.. but at the price mazda is asking, it seems quite outrageous to me personally.

But as the others said.. it's available in two modes :D (Rambled a bit there didn't I ?)

Mine came with the spare tire kit...and I am considering taking it out because it does take up so much room. I'm thinking that I could remove it from the mounting bar, and place it in the recessed portion of the truck, and then have more room since it won't be positioned diagonally across the trunk. Or just ditch the whole thing for the towing option....

Has anyone used the tire inflation kit? I've read the owners manual but still bewildred by it.

It's just like using one of those fix a flat spray cans. It will get you out of a jam but I dont recomend it, especialy with our cars having the TPMS. The sealant will get into the TPMS sensor and it will need to be removed and cleaned. Also it will meke the tire not balanced after you use it (it will be heavier) because of the plastic sealant sticking to it's inside. This is not such a big deal for regular drivers, but if you drive your RX-8 hard (like most RX-8 owners) haveing a none track worthy tire on your car really sucks.

IMHO if you are in a REAL JAM go ahead and use it, (that's what it's there for) but if you can avoid it it is better.

The system is not bad (actually it's pretty good) but it's not thekind of thing you would have on race tires. Then again, you wouldn't have a spare en a rece car either.

Weird, mine came with the kit and tire. It does take up a whole bunch of space... and it also covers up the light, which is annoying... and wait... you can't use a spare in the rear?

FS

This is what he/she said: "since the car needs fulls on the rear to operate properly.. and even then have to watch your speed and distance (it's only meant to get you to a repair facility)"

I think his key word is "properly", meaning the car would not operate exactly like it would with a full-size wheel-tire installed. Well, DUH. The donut spare is not designed to fully replace the full-sized wheel, so what's the point? It will, as intended, get you to someplace where you can have the crippled tire repaired or replaced--hopefully repaired. With the gunk "repair" kit your choices are to replace the tire or to replace the tire.

Yeah...if you use the gunk repair kit for only a small puncture, that's the end of your tire. Better to have the spare tire kit and get yourself to a service outlet to have the original tire properly fixed.

Thanks for the responses.....

The spare does take space...but for some reason (I've had teh RE040 tires on a Type R Integra and Bridgestone S02s on an S2000) I seem to pick up debris in these sticky tires, especially when the tread is worn near the end of life. The piece of mind of the spare is quite a nice thing.

As for the spare on the rear.....I haven't read anything in the manual about NOT mounting the spare on the rear. Is it in there? On my S2000 the recommendation was to move a front wheel to the rear and install the spare on the front.

As for calling for a tow when you have a flat.....if you don't have a spare that you or the tow driver could put on, can you/is it safe to pull an RX onto a flatbed for a tow when it has a flat???? Seems to me that dragging it up on there might not be good on the wheel. I've never been towed with a flat so I'm just wondering on that one....???

So far I love the RX-8. Think it was the right choice over the G35.

OK, so I guess best way is to switch front tire to the rear and the put the spare in place of the front tire? Funny thing--my dealer/salesman said that the spare was a donut and I couldn't go fast or take hard turns with it on (dumb comment mr. salesman, although a nice guy, I was teaching him about the 8). I doubt my dealer/salesman has ever even taken a wheel off his car, phhh...

FS

Actually I was told by my dealer that the spare couldn't be used on the rear, and that I 'must' rotate a good tire to the rear and use the donut on the front. He mentioned something about the DSC not functioning properly...

But I honestly never looked it up in the manual since I didn't get the spare... even if it said it could be used on the rear, I'd highly recommoned moving it to the front should you really need to use it.

i took my spare tire kit off. Now it sits in my garage.

I never installed the mounting brackets. I just put the spare tire in the trunk when we go on long distance trips.

I thought that the price was pretty steep. I got cheezed off with mazda for them being so money hungry.

I had considered the full sized spare but then factored in th extra weight and space used and figured that it would be more practical in the long run to get the tire kit. I had also considered just using mazda's road side assistance and/or the tire repair kit but heard that you ruin your tire and have to replace it if you use the tire gunk.

Get a GOOD inflator (like the "Truck Air" compressor from Intedynamics) and you will be almost all set. Almost never will you get a hole in the tire these days that is a fast leak. Most of the times you get a nail and it is still in the tire and a slow leak. So you inflate to proper pressure and drive straight to a tire shop for a repair. This will get you through most any "flat tires" you have, anything else call roadside assistance.

Get a flat on the rear on an 8 and have the donut and you are going to be doing a double change.

The idea about a full size "spare" is OK too. I found that in my wife's car and my daughter's car a normal wheel would fit fine. So I picked up a steel wheel for $25 for one car and an alloy for the other for $50. Next time we got new tires I just got an extra so they have a full size spare. Then "just in case" no more donuts - and we rotate then on the road as well. I bet there are enough wrecked 8s around that a spare alloy could be had for a decent price. Leave it at home, get a flat and air it up with your Truck Air and either driver to a tire store or home for your spare, whichever is better.

Dennis

It's because of the Torsen LSD that you're not supposed to use different sized tires on the rear. I was told it "sees" the different sizes as loss of traction on one side and can overheat (this was told to me about my old Miata that also had an LSD). I think it would be fine for a short distance at low speeds, but not on the highway or long trips.

My car came with the spare, but i keep it in the garage. I throw it in the trunk if I'm going on a long road trip, but otherwise I have a tire plug kit in my trunk in case of emergency. The compressor we got works great, but I would never use the gunk they give to seal a hole - you basically have to get a new tire if you do.

I have the spare tire kit and will soon be removing it. I want my trunk space and my light back. I will throw the tire in for long trips. If I knew better I would of saved the $250.

In my opinion, the mounting bracket and temporary spare are the way to go. That way the spare is properly secured and makes decent use of the remaining space. If you drive enough miles you can and will get flats. Driving without a spare is a needless risk, imo. Tire goo and a telephone number aren't substitutes for a spare tire.

Loss of the trunk light is a dumb oversight by Mazda, but you can fix that. See my thread in the DIY section....

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-trunk-lighting-spare-tire-owners-24826/

That's what I was thinking. And I know that in 4x4s with a LSD setup, if one tire is smaller, thus rotating faster, then it will burn out the LSD.

FS

Mine has it too. It makes that rear deack trunk pass through hatch useless.