I had to do it, just had to. Finally I had pushed, pulled and played with everything else on my new Cooper that I had to try using the spare tool kit and removing the space saver spare. I followed the Owners Manual instructions to the letter. Once I lowered the spare with the extension handle, it dropped to the garage floor. I poked around for a while then wanted to put the spare back in its place.

My question: Is the spare and it's hard plastic shield held to the car with just that one bolt that you tighten from above? Is there also some kind of hinge on this shield, forward of the spare tire?

The spare seems to be held firmly with this one bolt but it seems almost too simple and small to do the whole job.

Also, what is this white plastic sheet in the spare's tool kit supposed to be?