Spare Tire - Storage

Storage

Spare tires in automobiles are often stored in a spare tire well – a recessed area in the trunk of a vehicle, usually in the center, where the spare tire is stored while not in use. In most cars, the spare tire is secured with a bolt and wing-nut style fastener. Usually a stiff sheet of cardboard lies on top of the spare tire well with the trunk carpet on top of it to hide the spare tire and provide a pleasant look to and a flat surface for the trunk space.

Other storage solutions include storing the spare in a cradle underneath the rear of the vehicle. This cradle is usually secured by a bolt that is accessible from inside the trunk, for security. This arrangement has advantages over storing the tire inside the trunk, including not having to empty the contents of the trunk to access the wheel and this arrangement may also save space in some applications. However it has disadvantages because that tire gets dirty, making the act of changing the tire more unpleasant and the mechanism may also rust on older cars, making it difficult to free the spare. The cradle arrangement is usually only practical on front wheel drive cars, as the cradle would get in the way of the rear axle on most rear or four wheel drive cars. A similar arrangement is also often found on trucks where the spare is often stored beneath the truck bed.

Many SUVs and off-road vehicles have the spare wheel mounted externally – usually on the rear door, but others may mount them on the roof, the side, or even on the bonnet.

In mid-engined and rear-engined cars the spare tire is generally stored in the front boot.

Some vehicles stored the spare tire in the engine bay, such as the Renault 14 and older Subaru vehicles, such as the Subaru Leone.

Vehicles like the Volkswagen Beetle used spare tires for ancillary purposes such as supplying air pressure the windscreen washer system.

In the Bristol Blenheim 3G, the spare tire was located in the front left quarter panel to maximize trunk space and still equip a full size spare.

Read more about this topic:  Spare Tire

Famous quotes containing the word storage:

    Many of our houses, both public and private, with their almost innumerable apartments, their huge halls and their cellars for the storage of wines and other munitions of peace, appear to me extravagantly large for their inhabitants. They are so vast and magnificent that the latter seem to be only vermin which infest them.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)