Ginger gets a spare tire! Clears roller skate brakes.
 

So I finally got another mod out of the way. This one is not an appearance or performance mod, but a safety mod. I fitted my convertible with a compact spare tire. I saw the threads about the Ebay kit, but if you haven't realized already I am super cheap and $430 plus shipping would be dangerously close to $500. So I got to sniffing around trying to find some good deals. I ended up putting together my own kit for about $181.52. Here is the price break down.
$80 a pair of 2.5" spacers
$70 machine shop making the center bore 67.1mm
$41 155/80 18 tire
$65.52 brand new GM spare rim 92230888

Now that ads up to $256.52 but that is because I have two 2.5" spacers and I am going to put one up for sale just so someone can split the cost of both spacers with me. I could not find a 5x120mm spacer in the size I needed and machine shops wanted over $120 to make just one. I lucked out and found a set that needed minimal work to fit our cars. The lug wrench, spare tire jack and lugs I had laying around but I saw you could pick all that up for about $20-$40 on Ebay.

This is NOT the size tire that comes in Camaros that do have spares or even the size that the guy on Ebay sells. The ones that come in the V6 as an option are 155/70 18 which are about 26.5" tall. The one the guy on Ebay sells is 145/80 18 which is about 27.1" tall. The one I used is 155/80 18 which is supposed to be 27.8" tall. I actually measured the circumference of my stock 20" and my 18" spare and got 28.8" and 28.2" tall (respectively). With only .6" of a difference I could probably be safe using it on the rear, but I would probably still put it on the front. I wanted to get a 28" tall spare because once I get my 18" Forgestar F14 I will be running 28" tall tires all the way around and I won't have to swap a front tire to the rear if I get a flat on the rear of the car, I can just put the spare on the rear to get me home.

Throughout this whole thing I only ran into two problems. One was that since the spare is so tall, it would not sit all the way in the spare tire well. So I had to deflate it from 60 psi to 35 psi. I put the jack, spacer and lug wrench in a little tool back I had and it had a little room left over so i threw in my stock fix a flat can and compressor. So I have the best of both worlds, a 28" tall spare if i have a blow out and the stock slime and compressor in case it is just a small nail or something. I also threw my full size rear tire in the trunk to make sure it could fit and it fit just fine, so obviously the front would fit also. The second problem was that the flat tire would not fit in the trunk with the top up. So a flat would end my top down fun :cry:

Since the front hub would free spin when tightening or loosening the spacer I also threw in a screwdriver to lock the rotor in place.

Good informative post! Maybe you should sell these modified spacers or kits, people always seem to ask about them.

You could always just deflate the other rear tire some, maybe down to 28-30 psi. That might even them up.

Tony

Damn....i thought that the 1.750" spacer i had made for my spare was wide:confused0068:

Good job :thumbsup:

I didn't make our have the spacers made, I lucked out and found a used set. I tried my hand at making custom parts for Camaros with my SUX2BU ram air plates. Wasn't really worth my time.

How much did you pay for that, if you don't mind me asking? I couldn't find a decent price to have one made.

you're going to want to inflate the spare before you use it on the car... having it it at 30-35PSI is way under inflated for a space saver tire, and under inflated is never a good idea.... excessive heat buildup and, if it's on the steering end, will steer even worse than the space saver is meant to. Good job elsewise!

I paid aprox. $115 for one hub-centric wheel spacer/adapter.I had it made before the Ebay kit was available and although i measured everything i had to take a chance on the 1.750" but it worked perfect.Im running all GM parts....tire,rim,jack,etc.

BTW....I do not have the "roller skates"

Great Work!

I know, that's why I threw in the stock compressor so I could air it up when I need it.

Nice job. Always nice to have alternatives.

I have the EBay kit. I believe that the spare that comes with it is the largest diameter that will fit in the wheel well - it fits snugly.

btw, the spacer I have is only 1.75" thick, so you can probably shave 3/4" off yours and be a little safer. Not sure if it would still fit over the roller skate weights though ( I replaced mine with Hawk ceramics so not an issue). You could try it on your 2nd one if you wanted...

And yeah, the factory compressor is so small, I just threw mine in the trunk as well. It'll come in handy if I just have a tire running low, but I won't use the sealer.

Yeah, mine is a bit bigger than the Ebay one so I had to let some air out for it to fit. Either tire would be a good fit. These spacers don't work like that. If you shave material off the bottom you will lose your lug pads to be able to bolt it to your car. Of you shave off the top, you would first have to press out the studs and after machining you would lose the pressure fit are where the studs were pressed in.

I ordered mine from Joe for my SS.... The fellow the sells them on e-bay. I dealt with him directly. If you follow his link it will take you to his site and e-mail address. The kit I received is exactly as advertised and fits well. It will work well in an emergency and get me off the road to get a tire fixed or replaced. The idea of leaving "Ruby" on the interstate or having some "roadside assistance" guy bugger her up loading on a trailer was not attractive.

I put a kit together for my LT but for that a spacer wasn't needed.

Joe's response and service was stellar so if you want a spare contact him.

Magic

Congrats on the spare(I also have a spare) Now you can have peace of mind and options. I hope we never have to use them though.

so where would I get one of these?