I found a 15" 4x100 97 VW Spare Tire will that work on the Mini Cooper? Is there anything else I need to look for like?

 

What kind of VW is the spare from? I don't know if all VWs are front-wheel drive, and if the spare is meant for a RWD car, there may be offset issues.

Also, what year is your MINI? The later cars (post-July 2006) come with 14mm wheel bolts that might not fit through the bolt holes on the VW wheel.

 

test it to make sure it fits and the lug bolts seat right too.

 

The Jetta, like all watercooled VWs, have 57.1mm centerbores and the OEM wheels use ball seat lugs. MINI has a 56.1mm centerbore and use conical or tapered lugs. The VW spare isn't fully hubcentric but the difference is so slight, it may not be an issue for temporary use.

Also, 4-bolt VWs use 12mm diameter lugs.

 

I'd be less concerned with the difference in hub size than I would the fact that the VW wheel is designed for ball-seat lug bolts rather than tapered bolts.

And it's not like you can pick up a separate set of bolts to put on when you need to use the spare, because I don't think you can find 14mm X 1.25mm lug bolts with a ball-head on them.

 

Thanks for the info, I will keep an eye out for Miata, Cobalt, Taurus spare tire for 2009 Clubman S.

 

How about a 2001-2005 Civic spare 15" 4x100? I remember reading somewhere that 15" Civic spare would work.

From a little bit of Googling it looks like the Civic has a Centerbore of 56.1mm and 14mm, does this sound right?

 

I think you can scratch Miata rims off of your list as well. They have a centerbore diameter of 54.1 mm and therefore won't fit over the MINI's 56.1 mm hubs.

 

I will have to do further research on the Civic 2001-2005 15" wheels to verify the 56.1mm centerbore and 14mm lug bolts.

 

Looks like the Civic 15" spare will be the right Centerbore but takes 12mm lug bolts. Can I just drill them out to 14mm?

 

No steel wheel's lug holes are pressed. Redrilling them is not a good idea.

 

You might not have to re-drill the Civic wheels. Even though they use 12mm bolts, the bolt holes themselves may be large enough to work with 14mm bolts. That's how it is with MINI wheels - even though the first-gen cars used 12mm bolts, all of the factory wheels from the first-gen cars will work with the newer 14mm bolts.

One more potential wrinkle - don't you have a Clubman 'S' (or at least, have one on order)? I don't think there are any 15" wheels that will fit over the R56 'S' brakes without clearance issues.

 

I have a few, just call me

Alex

 

Thanks for chiming in, Alex - Now that I think about it, I remember you saying in another thread that you had some 15" rims that would work with the R56/R55 'S' brakes. I was thinking about OEM rims, since that's what the OP seemed to be looking for. I didn't even think about aftermarket.