Stock 14” spare tire question

[candyman]

So I recently upgraded to 16” bfg ko2 on my syncro. 215-65-16 tires. Additionally I upgraded to big brake kit by Burley up front. Now it seems silly to me to have to buy a $600 solution just to mount a 16” spare tire, in terms of a swing away etc... so my question is cant I still run a stock 14” size tire as a spare that will still fit in clam shell under van? I know I cant run 14” up front since I have the big brake kit. But in the event of a flat up front I could just swap a rear tire up front and run the small spare in the rear. Also I have a decoupler to keep the strain off the vc since the tires will be mix matched. This should get me down the road until I can get the flat tire fixed. Does this seem like a reasonable solution? Or am I missing something here? I looked into the the oversize clam shell hardware kit but my ko2 tires are 27” and 8” wide, so I dont think there is a way to get it to fit under the van
Thanks!

[MarkWard]

Yes you could do that decoupled. You’ll likely get a flat in the front. It will be raining and muddy. You’ll be rotating the rear to the front so you’ll be jacking both ends. I kid.

I have stock brakes and bent a front 16 rim leaving a camp ground on a Saturday am, 600 miles from home and needed to be home Sunday night. No buying a rim on a weekend. Luckily the tire was holding air. I ended up rotating the tires front to rear and continued on. I have a 14 inch spare.

Point is, you may need a spare for another reason than a flat. Especially on a Syncro. I also think VW intended to have the spare included in the tire rotation on a Syncro.

Van Cafe sells a spare carrier for larger tires in the stock location. There are also a few threads where folks have engineered their own mods. I wouldn’t mind spending the money, but I don’t like working on vans with all the crap hanging off the rear bumper. I can’t imagine owning that setup would be much more enjoyable.
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[Sodo]

Have you tried stuffing a 215/65-16 in the front yourself?

Pull the pins out of the clamshell & stuff it in there. My 215/75R15 is 27.8” and it has been there since 2007.

I like the clamshell because it protects the tire sidewall. Every once in a while I see a parking lot tire stop with rebar sticking up, and the Vanagon clamshell gives me comfort.

You can set the clamshell on a floor jack, set the tire on the clamshell, push it up there and note the simple mods it will take to use your clamshell.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
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[candyman]

[candyman]

[jimf909]

There are a number of factors that affect fittability of wheel/tire combos. 7.5" wide alloy wheels won't fit where the same tire/wheel size in a 7" wide steel wheel will...maybe.
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- Jim

[candyman]

[danfromsyr]

Rim size does not dictate tire size.
you can have a 16in that fits width and diameter in the (modified) clamshell.
maybe try a steel 16in spare, but note that a steel spare requires proper hardware. keep it in the glove box

[jimf909]

[candyman]

[markswagen]

i have the RMW over size spare carrier, under burni my syncro and lucy, 2wd
they both have 215/65/16 tires on them.
and i have fitted the same on a couple of customer vans, 2wd and syncro's
they work well
RMW clamshell
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markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310

[MarkWard]

I looked to copy the Rocky Mountain one and truth is I can’t make it for what they sell it if I consider my time. Good deal.

I just purchased 14” General Grabbers for my syncro on factory alloys. It fits the stock location with a spacer between the chassis and the clamshell bolt. It’s a tight fit. You need a jack to get it up into position laying on the ground. I believe it’s 27.5 inch tall.
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[candyman]

[Ahwahnee]