M. Ivy

Will a full size spare fit the in the trunk well of the A4. I am interested in replacing the donught(sp?) with a full size spare. The car is a 98.5 2.8 Quattro.

vertigo

not sure bur rumour has it that the 2000 will have a full spare--wait n see how they do it. nt.

Ray Calvo

Check the archives for details; several have done it (inc. me on my 98.5 Avant)

stanj

I have a 98.5 and a fullsize 7-spoker OEM as spare. It kinda fits: into a 96/97 it fits like a charm, because you can put it with the spokes down. The 98.5 has this ugly hump in the well which forces you to put it with the spokes up, and that's where the trouble starts.<p>You then have two options: Let it sit in there and have an even trunk floor. Because neither of the supplied bolts fit such a setup, your spare will bounce a bit when you go over speed bumps. You can go and buy a 10cm/8mm screw (the original one is 8cm/8mm) and replace the original bolt; then you will have teh spare nicely secured, but there bolt will make the floor stick up a bit.<p>I have the bolt in place and things are ducky. Note that your problems may not be as severe / may be even worse if you have a different rim than the 7-spoker; as long as it's 205/55/16, though, it will fit.<p>All A4s come with a fullsize spare in Europe, and there is no hump in the well, even on the 98.5 model for that matter. Simply smarter :-)<p>- Stan<br>

imants

While you're at this the removal of the wheel off the hub is one pain in the ***. Apparantly the hub-centric female end is a very tight fitment and any corrsion or foreign debris makes it very hard to take off. I end up pounding the rim /tire with a mallet and wood to work it off the hub. I used some anti seize high temp lubricant hoping this will make it easier next time I change the tires. No wonder they have roadside assistance when you buy this car!<br>Imants 98.5 Qspt-tip

Ray Calvo

Anti-seize should do the trick; it din on my summer/winter tire/wheel switchover

Roger f.

It's just the thing for persuading those stuck wheels to come off. Haven't had to use it with my Audi, but it saved me several times with my old Nissan. <p>-Roger<br>-98 1.8tqms

Gino

nt.<br>

Drew S.

If you ever get a flat and have to change tires yourself, you'll need a place to put the full size flat tire.<p>If you remove your donut spare, you'll notice that it's sitting on a styrofoam ring that makes it roughly the same width as a full size wheel. When you put a full size tire in the spare well, you simply remove this foam insert to make room for the full size wheel.<p>I have a full size OEM 5-spoke wheel as a spare and it fits fine. Someone else mentioned a slight problem securing an OEM 7-spoke wheel, but it still fits. However, if you try to place something larger than OEM size, you might have a problem. My spare is a 16" and the tire is 205mm tread width. I have 225's on the car but never tried to put one in the spare wheel well. Hmmm....<br>

Andrew C.

Yeah, full size spare fits, but the plastic handle in the floor sticks up.