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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - S&M spare wheel holder

About 20 years ago when I was using my midget every day (bliss!) I knocked up a device to hold the spare on top of the boot lid.

The wheel could be locked securely in place with ones goods and chattels secure and locked in the boot.

Also, I hate boot racks!

The moulding follows the contours of the boot lid, spreading the load and, in theory, preventing damage. One hole was drilled in the centre of the bootlid, covered by the badge when the wheel holder was not fitted.

The prototype covered about ten thousand miles in normal use, on a trip to Italy and on quite a few historic rallies. It never cam off and never came loose.

Now, it was a prototype and it did rob the paint a little but overall the concept worked.

The question is, would anybody spend hard earned cash on one now?




Clive Berry

Another image, somewhere in Belgium. Two weeks camping gear in the boot.


Clive Berry

It's a good idea for touring, and I bolted my spare to the boot in the past. But that was on a spare boot lid.

My view is that it spoils the look, so personally I wouldn't want a permanent fixture on my boot lid. If you have a spare boot lid though, yup could be worth it.
Lawrence Slater

Laurence,

Clive wrote "One hole was drilled in the centre of the bootlid, covered by the badge when the wheel holder was not fitted" so it is removable.
G Lazarus

I don't like spare wheels let alone on a boot lid so I'm a bit bias but a couple of consumer/marketing points

as shown the wheel would possibly be appealing and easy to steal

being bare it looks ugly if you also made a cover for it (like on Rover P6) you could also make more profit on the cover and additional sales of both

having had a luggage rack on my B for a while I found anything loaded on the boot lid made it heavy to open and I wonder about the one stay and quite flimsy on the earlier cars

would other style wheels fit I wonder such as 5" minilite copies that are popular on the locating spike (whatever it's called)

finally, they wouldn't allow the fog light in the middle now :)
Nigel Atkins

1. I think it spoils the look... it looks silly
2. its useful for touring - but could be fitted to a luggage rack, which looks better
3. I wouldnt buy this so much as make my own if I wanted it
4. Lawrence's idea for a spare boot lid is probably better - especially if your hub damages the paintwork
5. I'm debating whether to go touring without a spare wheel. How many blowouts on normal roads has anyone had? I think tyreweld would suffice.
C L Carter

Assuming the price was right, I would be very interested.

-- Josh
Josh L

not everybody wants to make there own and this one has been tested and Clive said as a protype it rubbed so hopefully the sales product wont

as for blowouts I'd guess with cars most would be caused by driver/owner negelect/misuse/abuse - keep your tyres correct for vehicle, not very aged and under used, in good condition and checked, not over loaded, at the correct pressure for use, avoid large potholes and kerbs, then barring accident blowouts must be very rare

take a good manual footpump and seperate reliable gauge and you'll probably never even need the Tyre-Weld let alone a spare wheel, I haven't in 20 years and 200k+ miles
Nigel Atkins

I wouldn't go for one myself, however it smacks of a bit of arrogance regarding the need for a spare tyre and how often it can happen, I've had 2 punctures in the last year through nails or screws, both times I was glad I was carring a spare. Cars are fitted with a spare for a reason.
P Ottewell

Mr Otterwell, I'm not suggesting I might not get a puncture... but with a can of tyreweld I imagine your screws or nails punctures would have got you home/to a garage the next day... the only reason to carry a spare these days is if your tyre blows out and rips itself from the wheel.

Yes, spare wheels were fitted for a reason... the reason was that tyreweld didn't exist in the 70's... these days a lot of new cars are not fitted with spare wheels for that very reason.

C L Carter

Pete,
I've had 3 puntures that I can remember in 20 years and always easily made it home

during that time I've also travelled in many other cars, vans, buses, coaches etc. covering very many miles and only one punture in the 1961 Bristol single decker beer bus during that time

potentially I could get 3 puntures in a part of a day

not all cars have a spare wheel even from new

Tyre-Weld has it's downsides

and the number of brand new tyres that sit for years in the boot totally unused for many tyre changes on the car

on the other side the number of spare tyres in the boot that are below standard under inflated or flat so if they needed using they might be unsuitable, illegal or useless without an air pump

just a matter of your usual travel enviroment, chance, statistics and choice whether you need or want to carry a spare tyre
Nigel Atkins

Interesting feedback. I'll try and respond in order.

It was padlocked in place so not easily nicked.

It was sometimes hidden under a normal stretchy vinyl cover from Moss/Club etc.

Mine had the telescopic stay which was man enough but I do see the point. I considerd fitting 2x gas springs. Usually tightened by a round tuit.

It was tapered to allow fitment of alloys. It needs more taper as alloys are much, much thicker than steels. With a Rostyle it was very low. Need to re-size piccy to illustrate.

Morgan manage a centre light!

Wicker baskets are silly and it looks silly on a Rover P6 too :)

A wheel sat on a rack sits very high. This was designed to sit as low as possible and did not obscure rearward visibility in the mirror at all and only minimally when looking over the shoulder.

A GRP lid with the "pod" moulded in is a possibility I considered but it would end up quite hefty.

Would I drive to Italy and back without a spare? No. Hell, I took a water pump and a halfshaft with me! Didn't need the halfshaft....
Clive Berry

I was wondering if the spare wheel clamp would be long enough for the other types of wheels

if you find gas struts of the correct size I'll have a set I find the latch stays a real pain and on bonnet

personally if I think a part might need replacement it would make more sense to replace it a good while before you go away to test it works fully and to do it in reasonable comfort at home (or better still pay someone else to do it) and prevent a breakdown whilst on holiday, I don't go with this macho rodside repair stuff (mainly cos I don't know what I'm doing and not capable)

for middle light, I thought yours was a rear fog light that I thought now needed to be to the off-side and on a Morgan it's a middle brake light(?)

I didn't mean wicker baskets on P6 I meant this :)


Nigel Atkins

The blue car was a neighbours borrowed for photos and yes, that was a fog light. Mabe I misunderstood but Morgan do have a high level centre brake light.

I used the original steel wheel spare wheel clamp. It worked fine for the Rostyle and I think it was OK on the KN. I have tried a wire wheel with the longer clamp but cannot for the life of me remember of it all went together OK.

Couldn't agree more about roadside repairs.In the run up to the trip I had doubts about the pump but ran out of time to change it. Still, the side of the road in Belgium was satisfactory, when followed by a beer. My buddy, who was driving at the time was not so used to watching the dials and it all got a bit warm. Head gasket just about held together for the rest of the trip.

As for the halfshaft, we crammed in about a dozen Alpine passes, including the Stelvio, twice, and these can go at any time. Astonishingly they didn't and tens of thousands of sprited road miles not to mention several years of rallies and hillclimbs and they never broke.

This guy forgot to do the bolt up and the wheel slipped off!

Luckily there's a darn great chrome bucket in just the right place to catch it!


Clive Berry

lovely car but it does look a bit over the top

. . . over the top and slipped off the boot
Nigel Atkins

Do you not think the italians would have the right size tyres or something? What would you do if you got a puncture, and had to change the wheel... then you have no spare!

I'm going on tour of the UK and I'm travelling light so don't need to remove the spare wheel - but If I did need the space that would be the first thing to go... above my tools and other spares. I'd rather carry spare engine parts (hoses, electrics etc, than the wheel) Plus you'd probably save yourself £50 in petrol for the journey!
C L Carter

you might save yourself another £25 in petrol if you don't carry all those spares, oil, water, and al the heavy tools :)

your in the UK the only thing you might not be able to get is petrol :)

seriously if you need to carry spares like hoses then fit new well before you go away, if you lose your hose you could loose your gasket and head - and that'll probably happen as you struggle up some step pass in the middle of nowhere - and the reason the car strugggled was all the weight of spares in the boot :)

carry whatever keeps you happy so that you enjoy your holiday and not worry about the car

personally I have to keep my old, poor, eyes on the oad more than the dials so I like things sorted and tested well before I go away - not that it always works :)
Nigel Atkins

CLC my preference is to carry a spare, yours is not. I'm happy with that.

When I rallied the car, in the UK, I started out carrying various tools and spares. Fairly quickly this was reduced to minimal tools, galvanised fencing wire and one bungy.

If we couldn't fix anything within 30 mins, usually rather less as we were always behind time, then we wereout of the rally. Q AA.

Only stoppages were fubared exhaust and broken battery earth strap. Both fixed with galvy wire.

Piccy shows cause of last puncture, not in MG.


Clive Berry

If you wuz to have one of these, then it ought to be a two sided container so you could put a bunch of spares or tools inside.

FRM
FR Millmore

No Clive, you misunderstand. I do carry a spare. But I'm toying with the idea of not.

Agreed with 30mins... I've never spent longer than that at the side of the road. I'm not suggesting a full engine rebuild. I wouldn't go as far as half shafts and water pumps... unless your throwing the car around corners at silly speeds your halfshafts wont break! But electrics and hoses can go at any minute (however new Nigel) I've just fitted new hoses (old ones go in boot) incase a stone or bit of crap gets flung into the pipe by the fan (it has happened to me on other cars) - tis a pain to be recovered home when all you have to do is swap a hose.

I am planning on reducing my onboard toolset Nigel, but I don't have a garage to store them in at the mo so the car is the easiest place.

I'm still undecided as to whether I will take out my spare wheel altogether - but I'm convinced its unnecessary and will be the first to go if I need the space.

C L Carter

<the reason was that tyreweld didn't exist in the 70's>

Tyreweld did not exist but Dunlop Denovo did, never caught on...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/triggerscarstuff/6507398803/

The thing is if you use tyreweld a lot of tyre garages will not repair a puncture. It's really messy stuff.
P Ottewell

I'm pretty sure the technology has progressed somewhat in the last 40 years.

Still interesting to know that about the garages. I'm sure you could eventually get somewhere where there would be a garage who would repair it. Besides you could just not tell them... and once they've got it off - you could clean it up yourself (I also carry a small bottle of cellulose thinners and a bottle of Jizer in the car - the thinners would shift it off the rim)

That said, i can't see why a garage wouldn't change your tyre even if it was covered in messy crap... its not like it goes everywhere when you get the tyre off.
C L Carter

Clearly a hot topic with some folk. :)

Me I favour spare for all the given reasons, and esp the last that Peter pointed out. Garages are refusing to repair tyres full of tyre weld these days, unless you pay them extra. So in effect, using a can of tyre weld, also costs you a new tyre.

As regards the bolt hole being hidden by the badge.
Not on a Sprite it isn't, and that's why I had an old spare boot lid.
Lawrence Slater

Clive,
I think sharp edged coins should be banned if they cantear through a tyre just think what they do to your hands - and your trouser pocket

Christian,
you're carrying around a full set of hoses because of a one-off rare event, couldn't you carry some sort of wrap instead

I've never had to use Tyre-Weld just the foot pump
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed on 28/03/2012

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