Spare tire....full size??

Just blew a new tire and busted my 19" wheel. The spare looks like full size.. Contiprocontact. But has max 50mph sticker on steelie. I was able to go 110+ without problem but wanted to make sure it is full size and that sticker doesn't mean anything. I have stock wheels but tires are old snow tires and pretty worn. Can I drive on spare for couple weeks or should I swap to stock fronts. Its my front drivers tire

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It's probably full size in size only, not a regular tire. What's the sidewall say? That's what you go by, not the dimensions. Why would you even think of going 110 on a wheel marked 50? Or 110 on a public road for any reason?

you see a sticker for 50 mph max and you go 110+????? Darwin award somebody please...

MKvUltra said:

you see a sticker for 50 mph max and you go 110+????? Darwin award somebody please...

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Hey, leave him alone! Where do you think most organ donations come from? "Ninja" bikes and race car drivers.

Probably the wheel is limited more than the tire. Rotate it to the back and you should be fine for awhile. Check the tire pressure too, most spares get low.

It's full size. It's safe to travel at SAFE speeds.

Thank you I thought so. I didn't want to use my stock wheel as tires are bad. Im hoping I can repair the crack in wheel.

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I have seen that sticker on mine too, like he said, tire looks like a regular 16" full size tire, i guess i will need to check the specs on it, never went that fast on it though.

mk5 GTi spare tire

The spare tire is regular 205/55-16 H rated no-season tire on a stock VW steel wheel.
The 205/55-16 tire has approximately the same overall diameter as the stock 17" or option 18" tires








The sticker is probably there for legal reasons because the tire and wheel are narrower
and will exhibit different traction than the wider stock tires supplied on the car,
so it is more a warning about changes in handling / braking from mismatched tires.

Thank you for clarification. My 19" wheel has small crack on back lip. Im hoping local wheelshop can repair as id rather not buy all new wheels and cannot find original company of wheels. Bought car with the wheels. Anyone ever had crack repaired in wheels? Looks to be about $200. Problem is my wheels are black with chrome lip and black middle is faded.

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Great post with the labels and specs. The tire is good to 130 MPH but if you need to take any kind of evasive action (even at much lower speeds), the spare, with it's narrower width (less grip) and completely different flexing capabilities (much softer sidewall) is likely to overwhelm the ESP and cause you to lose control.

The level of stupidity on this forum never fails to impress me. The straight line speed of a tire (130 on H rated) is only one of four quadrants a tire is responsible for, and the one least related to contact patch size.

A tire's capability is measured on a quadrant of acceleration/deceleration on one axis, and left/right lateral movement on the others. The points plotted on this quadrant represent friction (or grip, as we racecar drivers call it). Friction is very specific. Each tire has a maximum friction limit dictated by factors such as rubber compound, tread pattern, sidewall stiffness, and size of the contact patch of the tire.

As the tire has a maximum friction limit, it important to understand the uses of friction, as it pertains to car dynamics. Friction used for acceleration, turning, and braking all reduce the current available maximum friction of the car. Friction currently being used for braking cannot be used for turning, and so forth.

By reducing the width of one tire on the car, you are reducing the contact patch, thereby reducing the amount of friction available to that corner of the car. As speed increases, the amount of friction needed to keep the weight of the car on the road also increases. A smaller contact patch on one corner of the car upsets the grip dynamics of the car, and this effect compounds with speed.

So while you may be able to accelerate to 110mph relatively easily, should you need to utilize additional friction for turning or braking, you're going to get into trouble. Do you really think VW would pay to have 50mph stickers made and affixed to spares if there wasn't a compelling reason? Don't you think they'd advertise a full-size, full-speed spare if they could?

Stop doing stupid shit. You're driving up insurance rates on the rest of us.

It scares the hell out of me that these kids with no concept of very, very basic vehicle dynamics (which you'd have to know for even the most basic racing license) are out there driving at racing speeds on public roads which are not designed for those speeds, in cars with 3 worn out snow tires and a space-saver spare. Seriously, that's massively fucking stupid in every single way.

Please don't kill any smart people out there when you have the big one.

utekineir said:

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:clap: scumbag steve is always priceless