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Re-attaching your spare tire

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  #1  
Old 09-13-2012 | 11:47 AM
Slave to Felines's Avatar
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Re-attaching your spare tire

If you have an S, and are curious what is involved with changing a non-run flat tire, or if you haven't had a flat and are curious what is involved, read on.

I had a flat, and was going to change the tire for the spare. I wound up not needing the spare after I had already taken it out of the car. I decided it would be nice to show you guys (and gals!) some pictures of putting the spare back into its place under the car. Pulling it out is a similar operation, but in reverse.


First, we have the plastic "tire caddy". (I don't know what it is actually called, but it holds the tire up against the body.) You'll notice there is an air hose in the lower-left of the caddy; this is so you can check the pressure of the spare tire periodically. It should be 60 PSI. .... You do check the pressure in the spare, right? Yeah, I'll start doing it from now on...





Here is the tire sitting in the caddy. The cap on the air valve gets removed so you can put it on the end of the air-check hose. That hose then gets screwed onto the air valve of the tire. Yes, you will lose a little bit of pressure from the tire when you do that.

Note that the tire only goes on one way. There is a plastic peg sticking up from the caddy that goes through an offset hole in the wheel.




Here's a closeup of the peg through the hole; that's how you know the wheel is not spun around to a different orientation.




Here is the well in the back where the tool kit lives. You have to remove the styrofoam insert that holds the tools, and then remove the metal cover (not shown here) over the hole in the lower-left.




A view from under the car: This is where the wheel lives. You can see the long plastic handle from the tool kit sticking down through the hole in the tool well.




This is the handle screwed onto the stud in the middle of the tire caddy. Once it is threaded on fully, you go back up to the tool well and pull up on the handle to lift the tire up into its cradle.




Here is the tire caddy locked in place. Those two wire spring clips hold the tire caddy up temporarily. It took quite a bit of effort to get the spare up far enough for those clips to click into the slots in the caddy. Note that the hole and the projection at the top of the caddy are asymmetrical; the caddy only goes on one way!

Once the caddy is in place, you unscrew the handle and put the metal cover back over the hole. Then you screw a nut onto the stud in the middle of the caddy (where the handle was) that also goes through the cover. That holds the cover in place, as well as being the main support for the tire and caddy.





If you want a full-size spare, and you have a Justa, you may be able to remove or modify the plastic cradle that sits under the floor. You will also need to replace or modify the tire caddy as well. But it looks like there might be room under there for a full-size spare if you get a little creative.

The S and JCW cars may have extra "stuff" in that area; I am not sure.

I hope this helps someone, or at least is interesting!
 
  #2  
Old 09-13-2012 | 03:17 PM
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Originally Posted by Slave to Felines
The S and JCW cars may have extra "stuff" in that area
The exhaust pipes run straight down the middle in the S, and that location isn't available for a spare (except Clubman S with its split exhaust).

Was your car on a lift or stands for those photos? I've had to reattach the spare a couple of times on my Justa convertible. With the car on the ground, the procedure has to be done completely from inside the luggage compartment, and it is tricky to keep everything aligned while lifting the spare into place.
 
  #3  
Old 09-13-2012 | 09:03 PM
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The car was on the ground--it is at stock ride height, though. I reached under with the camera to take the photos.

I put the handle through the hole, then shoved the tire under and lined it up so I could thread the handle onto the stud. Then I screwed it the rest of the way in from the top.

To get the tire back up in place, you pull up on the end of the handle. It takes a good bit of "grunt" to get it the last couple of millimeters, though, as I said.
 
  #4  
Old 09-15-2012 | 04:30 PM
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Can you take a picture of the spare after it's been locked into place underneath the car?

As someone mentioned above, I thought that the exhaust prevented mounting a spare in an S hardtop.

Also, do you know if spare fits over the front brakes on the S? Of course, I'm assuming that this is for an S hardtop.
 
  #5  
Old 09-15-2012 | 10:39 PM
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Sorry, I don't have any idea about the S cars. I don't have a pic of the underside with the spare in place; I'll see if I can take one tomorrow.
 
  #6  
Old 09-17-2012 | 12:14 PM
Blind Dog Daddy
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Keep in mind that the spare supplied w/Justas will not fit the over the brakes of the Cooper S due to larger diameter brake discs.
Those S owners that do carry spares will have to do a roadside wheel swap if flatted on front.
 
  #7  
Old 09-17-2012 | 05:05 PM
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Here are the pics from under the car of the spare in place.



First, a shot from the (US) driver's side, the left side of the car:





Next, a shot from the other side--the passenger's side in the US. Note that the muffler is right next to the spare, and it would be difficult to fit a spare with a larger diameter unless you first swap for a narrower muffler.






Finally, a shot of the empty space next to the spare tire on the driver's side.





I hope this helps visualize what is hanging under the car.
 
  #8  
Old 09-17-2012 | 09:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Blind Dog Daddy
Keep in mind that the spare supplied w/Justas will not fit the over the brakes of the Cooper S due to larger diameter brake discs.
Those S owners that do carry spares will have to do a roadside wheel swap if flatted on front.

Good thinking. And I assume that the spare will not mount underneath the car in the S - similar to what we see in the excellent photos provided by StoF. So, you have to stick (lay) the spare behind one of the front seats or in the 'trunk'. By that, I mean there is no way to permanently mount and hide away the spare in the S.
 
  #9  
Old 09-20-2012 | 03:54 PM
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I had a loaner from when Stevens Creek MINI was fixing the damage and doing some other things. It was an MCSa, so I took the opportunity to take pictures of the area under the rear deck. Here they are.



This is from the right side, where the Justa's muffler is. You can see that the muffler is in the middle, so there is empty space on the side here.





This one is from the left side. Similarly, there's space here next to the muffler.





Hopefully people can see what the differences are now.
 
  #10  
Old 11-29-2012 | 09:39 AM
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Does anyone know the size of the three nuts that are used to secure the spare under the car? I lost one when reattaching my spare on my 2004 MC.
 
  #11  
Old 11-29-2012 | 10:24 AM
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If my Mini is loaded for a trip and I need to put the spare on the car, what do you do with the damaged tire? I'm guessing it will not fit back under the car.
 
  #12  
Old 11-29-2012 | 03:57 PM
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Hm, the pics aren't showing up at the moment. Hopefully they're still there.

Gob15, check the pictures for what secures the spare under the car. (In a Hardtop Justa, at least.) There's a clip and a nut, not three nuts.

Krusen, it is very unlikely that a full-size wheel will fit under the car where the spare mounts. So you'll have to find a spot to put it inside or on the car.
 
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