Space Saving Spare Wheel, Jack and Tool Kit

AndyC567

Full Member
Feb 28, 2006
277
1
Hi All,

Finally pick up our Ibiza Xcellence tomorrow, 1st Sept.

Our dealer has told us that a Space Saving Spare Wheel, Jack and Tool Kit can only be had as a Factory Option at time of order and is not available as a dealer add on. They are saying that a full sized spare with all the bits is the only dealer available part that can be added after delivery.

Jury is out on Space saver vs full size wheel, but I wondered if anyone could please post photos of how either sits in place of the compressor kit under the boot floor ?

Also, any part numbers found on the actual wheel, jack, tool kit and foam insert that holds it all would be gratefully received. I may try and source one myself.

Thanks guy's
 

vc-10

Active Member
Mar 29, 2016
330
112
I would expect it's the exact same bunch of bits as in any other MQB A0 car. The Polo is the same car, has a full size steel spare as standard. I'd see if you can find the parts at a scrap yard.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Ok, my car is a 2016 Ibiza ST so don't know how similar to yours that is? It comes on 185/60 section tyres on 15" rims. Which I like because I find often the ride on "skinny" (low profile) tyres is a bit harsh. She came without a spare, just a can of "gunge" and a fancy inflator pump. We do yearly trips down to Devon and Salisbury (live in Edinburgh) and I wouldn't dream of doing this without a spare. I bought the car as a pre-reg with 50 miles on the clock so didn't have the option of specifying a spare in the original order. I quickly found out that the Base version runs on the same size tyre but on a steel rim. I found a Seat dealer who sold me one for an acceptable price and my local tyre people fitted it with a Barum tyre for me (my preferred brand. When the Bridgestones, which I don't like, are done I'll be fitting these all round). Luckily I had a VW jack lying in my garage which fitted and I've carried a power bar for shifting wheel nuts for years so that just went to live in the boot too. When I received the steel wheel, before having the tyre fitted, I checked it for dimension, especially offset and whether the existing bolts would fit (same length and taper etc) and after the tyre was fitted I checked for clearance when on lock. I'm glad to report it's an exact match for the alloy. The only thing I had to do was buy a length of threaded stud to make a longer bolt for the hold down screw. The pump and bottle of gunge have gone to live in my "emergency spares" box which lives in the boot. By the way, anybody know what the funny wee bit of bent wire is for?

Now I'll try to upload some images for you - don't really know what I'm doing here so anything might happen. What do you do with the thumbnail/full image
P1080756.JPG
P1080744.JPG
P1080754.JPG
P1080751.JPG
P1080750.JPG
thingy?
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
AH, so that's what you do with the thumbnail/full image thingy!

By the way, another thing I've carried for a few years now is a strobe flasher. It's magnetic and you can sit it on the top of the car roof if you have a motorway breakdown. Draws a lot of attention to your car and hopefully helps avoid someone running into the back of you - I'm thinking especially on these new "smart" motorway sections where there is no hard shoulder. Not so "smart" in my opinion!
P1080760.JPG
P1080757.JPG
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Oh, by the way. Searched scrappys for weeks but all to no avail. Plenty of jacks, and wheel braces but no sigh of a suitable wheel. It was over 3 years ago now that I did this so memory is dimming but I think the new wheel and new tyre fitted and balanced was well under £100. The full dealer price for a wheel is just silly but there's a lot of stuff on ebay (including new ones) if you can't find an obliging main dealer.
 

AndyC567

Full Member
Feb 28, 2006
277
1
By the way, anybody know what the funny wee bit of bent wire is for?

I think it is for removing the covers off the wheel nuts.

If you look closely there is a hole in the covers, and you stick the bent wire in and pull them off with your finger through the loop.

Much better than levering them off with a screw driver, as that can damage the wheels.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Thanks for the reply Andy. Yes they do look as if they are for something like that but my wheel nut covers don't have a hole in the top they have a groove just under the "head" into which a tool that looks a bit like a pair of tweezers grip. Pulling on the tweezers removes the cap. I've just ordered the new Haynes Ibiza Manual (Haynes 6451) maybe it'll be able to throw some light on it.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
That bent wire thing is for removing the bolt covers where bolt covers with a hole are fitted to a car, also, I think they are needed to remove the front foglight surrounds if you need to replace a bulb, there is normally a hole in the trims so that you can pull them off. Next clever thing to carry will be a hollow plastic threaded bar to act as a wheel locator when changing a flat tyre on a wet dark evening! Though I think that I've mentioned that before in the past.
Jump leads, hum, maybe best to leave them at home, jumping any cars with basic jump leads can lead to you suffering controller(s) failure due to sparking, either get a suitable expensive set of jump leads, or do what I have done and retired my basic jump leads and only ever use a portable battery pack - ideally one that has a built in spark suppression as well as a switch.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Hi RUM4MO. Just had a look at the fog lamps. There seems to be a wee screw, craftily hiding up a hole, which lets you take off the plastic trim so exposing the lamp fixings which, once undone allows removal of the lamp to access the bulb holder. So still puzzled about this bit of wire. Read the manual cover to cover too and saw no reference to it! Ah well.

Regarding jump leads. I've gone from being supremely confident in their use, through being "careful" when alternators and basic electronic control units were introduced, to being a "basket case" just thinking about putting them anywhere near a modern car! I'm quite surprised that my 2016 Ibiza owner's manual gives specific instruction on jump starting? It details cars without stop/start should be connected as I've always done it. All ignitions off and cars not touching. Then positive (charged) to positive (discharged) and negative (charged) to engine block (discharged) This was historically to avoid any spark igniting battery gasses and seems to still hold true. If you have stop/start the Positive to positive remains the same but the black lead goes engine block on one to engine block on 'tother. I've been thinking about this and I'll bet it's because this way the battery condition monitoring ecu will be part of the circuit? I believe that if this monitor, which is seeing a partially discharged battery, suddenly sees a battery at full charge there is a risk of it going "phut"! I may have got the detail of this wrong but I know there is an issue around these units. I've spoken to a number of people I know (mechanics) and they all say not to jump one vehicle to another - damage to either vehicle can occur. They do seem to think that a jump from a slave battery or one of these little power packs involve much less risk and they jump from a slave only. Also, and this is something I've done for years, when you connect up the slave let it sit for a few minutes - maybe 5 or so - before trying to turn it over. This allows a surface charge to build up on the plates of the flat battery so it will behave much more like a charged battery. In fact there is a case to be made for allowing the "flat" battery to gain charge in this way and then disconnecting the slave before turning that key. Unless the "flat" battery is very deeply discharged you'll find it will usually kick it into life.

A final wee thought. Before connecting up to the "flat" battery try the headlights. Do they come on reasonably bright? Of course they will not be as bright as usual, but they shouldn't look like candles. If the battery is that discharged I would remove the battery and charge off the vehicle (or with the leads disconnected) When a battery is that "flat" if you succeed in starting the car there is a risk that when you disconnect the slave battery, because the alternator very suddenly sees a large voltage drop it will spike a maximum output which just might damage multiple ECUs on the vehicle and, if connected to another vehicle may damage it too. Of course if you disconnect the battery leads on many modern vehicles you'll loose some saved settings (radio etc) but also on the very newest vehicles the car has to be taught to "speak" to the battery when a new battery is fitted - I don't know, but removing a partially discharged battery and then putting it back in fully charged may require some sort of aligning process to be initiated (out of my depth now) Of course there are "oddities" like my daughter in law's Jazz which must not have the keys anywhere near the ignition when connecting or disconnecting it's battery. It scrambles the key codes and means an expensive visit to the main dealers computer to sort it out. We had to jump it twice last year after my granddaughter found out how to switch on the interior light! I didn't take any chances, making sure the key was well out of the way when connecting my slave and leaving the slave connected for ten minutes after starting for the batterys to more or less equalize voltages before disconnecting.

Here's the page in the manual showing the connections for my Ibiza P1080763.JPG
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I'd be very wary about messing with any visible screws near front fog lights, they tend to be for adjustment only, the trims typically need pulled off to reveal the fog light assembly fixing screws, which is why lots of people, including me, tend to approach this from under the wheel arch liners and so avoid cracking/breaking these trims.

It is for concerns about the battery monitoring unit that the requirement is to connect to the body near the battery earth point, there is normally a large flat lug or a domed nut for fixing to.

I'm "lucky" for my S4, its battery is in the boot so a pair of jumping posts re provided under the bonnet.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Thanks for the warning. Should be picking up the new Ibiza Manual (haynes) tomorrow, maybe it'll clarify things a bit.
Cheers.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Hum, I doubt it, but maybe I'm wrong there, an "older gentleman" in the Polo forum had fun with that sort of screw, maybe even trying to prove my warning unfounded - too late he knows better now!

Normally that sort of detail can be found in the handbook if you can suffer a long boring read.
 
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RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
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South Scotland
The trouble is a lot of us desire to know a lot about things and having that to maybe fall back on is better than nothing, normally the torque figures is correct as I challenged them once!

Edit:- they no doubt a diluted version of what they once were.
 

Crossthreaded

Active Member
Apr 16, 2019
536
145
Oh yes you're right! - Sudden blinding stab of revelation flashed through this old brain when I linked to that add. I wasn't able to find anything on it in my Ibiza owner's manual because it doesn't belong to the Ibiza! It's from my old trusty friend the Cordoba Vario tdi which I had from 2000 to 2015. A wonderful car which finally succumbed to old age. I know now how he (we called him Tony) was feeling!
 
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RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Well my daughter's 2019 Leon Cupra has both styles of wheel bolt cover remover as that car has the closed wheel bolt covers that have a groove around them to aid removal, so I'd think the wire version is for removing the fog light trims.
 
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