My '02 V70 T5 came with a "space saver" spare tire (aka donut). I've noticed that there are some blocks of styrofoam in the well where the donut is stored, that keep it from rattling around. Does anyone know whether removing that foam will permit storage of a full-size spare? Not too long ago, we had a sidewall failure (Pirelli into a pothole) about 250 miles from home and had to stay overnight in a local motel and spend most of the next day hunting up a replacement tire.

I bought a steel wheel from Tire Rack (at the time $36) then went to a used tire dealer who mounted and balanced a still legal Goodyear Eagle for $20. It just fit in the well of the 1995 850 wagon. I have now moved it to the 1999 V70 XC and it fits just as snugly. These wagons do have a flat floor in the rear, I am not familiar with the shelf that was mentioned in another post.

I believe weight reduction and manufacturers average fuel mileage requirements have as much to do with space savers as cost does.

Oh well, Corvettes have gone to "run flats" and have no spare on board.

Ken,
With your early model XC, I would be very careful about running any spare that is not a very close tread depth with your viscous coupling. In fact, if I owned your car, I would be tempted the next time I bought new tires to buy a new one for the spare wheel well too and when I rotated my tires (rotating early, and often), rotate in and out the spare. This would assure very close depth of tread in the case you needed to use your spare like we did when we were on a pretty long trip away from home. Anyway, just my $.02. A donut spare on an early model XC spells sure disaster for the AWD transmission if used for any length of time at all, so why did Volvo do this?
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.

Thanks,

All of these posts about the bevel gear have certainly made me wary. I had the opportunity to move my full size spare to the XC, so I replaced the "donut". But I consider this to be only marginally better. The spare will only be used for a very short trip to get the flat tire repaired, or more likely, to buy 4 new tires. I hope I never need it, but in an emergency the full size spare might be helpful, while the "donut" would likely ruin the bevel gear very quickly.

But, back to the original post, it does fit in the well, barely.

It's easy enough to find a "mag" wheel on Ebay or one of your local junk yards, rather than spend $80 at the dealer. I found 4 R wheels at Strandberg's in Wis, one was $130 and the others were $150 and they gave me a 10% discount for buying all 4. the expensive ones were reconditioned and look new, the cheaper one had an almost not noticable scratch. Beat the heck out of the dealer price of $650 for one!

Klaus
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(V♂LV♂s 1975 164, 1995 854T, 1998 V70R)

We took all of the styrofoam out of our '04 V70 and have a full size spare in there, but it a very very tight squeeze. My suggestion is to mount a half-way worn tire on a good steel wheel or like we did, buy a matching aluminum alloy wheel. I must warn you though that if you have the black plastic tray that dips down on the side where the tire is (grocery tray?) then you'll have to replace it with one that is flat all the way across for things to close up right. They are about $90 from the dealer, but well worth all the effort to have a "real" tire in the well. I decided when we bought our V70 that I would do this because in our old 850 wagon with a donut spare, we had a blow out, one Sunday evening on the interstate coming back from the beach and were over 200 miles from our home with no place to deal with a replacement.

For Volvo to be a saftey minded company, I personally feel that there is no excuse to put a donut tire in these cars....I understand that in Europe, everyone runs with a real tire in the spare well...the car comes standard that way (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Anyway, hope I answered some of your questions.

Now I have an extra tray for a P2 series V70...anyone need one?
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.

Detroit first inflicted space saver tires on us in the 1980s (maybe even late 1970s). They said it was to make more space in the trunk. That's dodo - the damn space saver tires were cheaper, plain and simple, so the companies made more profit. But, we Americans were stupid enough to put up with them without a whimper or complaint. Obviously, just about every other car company followed suit. I can imagine the executives in session, "Sure, put a space saver in the cars we ship to USA, the Americans won't complain. Most of them are too ignorant to even know what kind of spare is in their car, if they even know where to find the thing." We got what we deserved....

I am in the UK. Just to let you know that Volvo also supply donut spares here, I have one in my 2000 V70. I have not yet had the need to use it. I did not realise that they are liable to damage AWD transmission systems. Are they also bad for front wheel drives if fitted on the front? Presumably not too bad on the rear? I believe that a limit of 30 miles is recommended?
Graham
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Graham

Thanks. I have a slightly-dinged steel wheel that I can use and I'll look into getting the flat tray. The steel wheels are about $80 from the dealer; the alloy one must have set you back several hundred.

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2002 V70 T5 Cosmos Blue Metallic, 1997 V90 White, 1991 Saab 900 SETurboConv Monte Carlo Yellow

The alum alloy (Mimas) only cost me about $125 (with shipping)...so I got lucky! I found one on eBay and bid during the last few seconds of the auction...seemed like a "sleeper" auction so I didn't want to get in early and stir-up the attention. If you're patient you can find a good deal on a wheel that matches yours, or at least is a close match...but the steely is good enough.
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1998 S70 T5 Emarald Green Metallic, 2004 V70 2.5T Ruby Red, Previous Owner of Black '94 850 Turbo Wagon. My cars have been running so well lately they've got me worried.