Towing in Europe with a spacesaver wheel fitted to

winter tyres are a whole other topic .... 🙄

having driven on a space saver wheel i would never tow with one. madness. i drove our focus solo for about two miles it scared the life out of me. they are there just for an emergency not for towing . madness madness 

"they are there just for an emergency not for towing". But emergencies also happen when towing. Towing shouldn't make things worse than they already are. As it's only designed to be used in an emergency, one can be expected to have to take extra care when a space saver is fitted and if necessary, to limit one's speed even below what is permitted for space savers.

Besides, for those who are still dubious about the use of a space saver when towing one still has the option of fitting it on the front axle.

Thanks for all those who have taken the time to respond to my query. In light of the various views, I think that when I next venture into Europe towing my caravan I will carry a full size spare, especially as we often have driven long trips on motorways. This would minimise any delays and diversions.

 Thanks again 

that is a brilliant idea dougCulross.   i will try and get a full sizes spare for my touareg. happy  happy holidays

 As you know, because of the Adblue tank in the boot-space, you won't get a full size wheel in there.  I have a Frontrunner roof rack and I bought the wheel from an on-line breaker - not cheap though. With mine being the off-road Escape version, it doesn't look out of place but it does affect fuel consumption ( but not as much as the van)

My 2015 Mondeo only has a space saver spare but I don't fancy towing 'over there' with a space saver fitted following a puncture. A trip to the local car scrappers got me an identical full size wheel alloy complete with an almost unworn (balanced) tyre for the princely sum of £35.00!

The wheel is too big for the space saver storage in the boot so it has to travel loose. I leave the space saver at home but found that I can get the caravan spare wheel in the storage area in the car. When going to France I always take the caravan spare out of the Alko rack as I don't fancy trying to get it out from the 'wrong' side of the road should the need arise.

In the UK I just carry the space saver and risk it. So far, and this is very much tempting fate, I haven't had cause to use any of the spare wheels whether here or 'over there'.

I'm a bit surprised at all this concern regarding spare wheels. I have been motoring for over 50 years, covering well over 600,000 miles in total, and in all that time I can only recall three incidents of a flat tyre. My current car has neither a space saver nor a can of gunge, but tyres of the run flat variety. It suffered a flat tyre once, not due a puncture but a faulty valve so it only needed a new valve and to be reinflated.

I threw the gunge which had exceeded the date expiry anyway, replaced the polystyrene molded thingy under the boot floor and purchased a skinny wheel and tyre. It has the the same overall diameter and used once while towing in France, the covered breakdown service attended and I went away happily to a site where next day I purchased a replacement tyre. At the lower speed it felt perfectly safe towing.

The thing to be aware of with run flats is tyre bulge. The side walls are designed to 'give' and this happens even if you go over a pothole. I had a BMW with run flats, and when this happened was advised to replace the tyre as the bulge was now a weak point...and they ain't cheap!

They're fine for nice flat roads (although I found they give a very firm ride) but not for rough side roads.

I certainly wouldn't put my faith in them when towing without a plan B