X-Trail Spare for Towing

[JohnGriffiths]

The supply of a space saver spare labelled by the X-Trail user manual as not suitable for towing has been covered in this forum before. It was also a hot topic on an X-Trail owners forum that I read occasionally. Recently someone on that forum stated they had a letter from Nissan Customer Services saying the Technical Department had said it was OK to tow with the spare regardless of what it says in the user manual. I asked Nissan CS for a similar letter a few weeks ago and was told most vehemently that the spare was NOT suitable for towing, they had never issued any such approval, but it was impossible to search the database for previous occurences and anyway, even if they could it would be against data protection laws for them to tell me if it had occured before.
I told them (as an ex-computer consultant) they must be wrong to suggest the database could not be searched, and that revealing that there had been previous occurences was not contrary to DP laws but they would not budge. Anyway, after the person on the X-trail forum revealed the case number and other info to me, I wrote another couple of e-mails and Nissan have finally replied saying it IS OK to use the spare for towing, using the same limitations as for solo driving, i.e. use only in an emergency to get to a garage, speed <50mph etc.
I'm sure a few people have been put off buying the X-Trail because of this apparent shortcoming, and I can't understand why Nissan don't want to advertise the fact that it doesn't apply now.

 

[xtrailman]

I have found Nissan customer services to be a bit of a joke, as you have found out.
Any way my 2009 T31 xtrail doesn't have a space saver, it a FULL SIZE spare steel wheel, fitted with a temporary tyre, with a low load rating.
All i have done is replace the tyre with a fully load rated one, in fact its load rating is higher than the alloy ones.

Or better still simply use a spare wheel from the T30 model.
The above applies to the T31 with 17" wheels, supplied with the 16" spare.

 

[ChrisUK]

I can not understand Nissan's attitude on this. I find the XT a great tow car and general estate car, perfect for medium sized vans. I went the T30 wheel route managing to get on ebay a new wheel and dunlop tyre for under £70. A bargin. I note however, the mating surface of a T30 wheel is very slightly less than that of a T31 wheel, so if I ever have to use it I will probibly still keep my speed down but would be confident to do as many miles as I had to.

 

[JohnGriffiths]

Ray, totally agree about NCS. I've heard Nissan have simply offloaded their customer services to an independant company of fob-off merchants but I don't know how true that is. Anyway, it is a surprise to hear the spare might not be correctly rated, I just assumed it was Ok. Surely that's illegal? What would you do with a full complement of passengers and luggage, irrespective of whether towing or not? I must check mine tomorrow.
When you replaced with a normal tyre did you go for a larger profile to compensate for the smaller diameter of the steel wheel because the letter I had specifically states the rolling diameter must be the same for the four wheel drive to operate correctly.

 

[xtrailman]

I fitted the same size as fitted to my 2004 xtrail, 65 ratio.
It works out about 6mm smaller in diameter, same as the supplied spare wheel, which is a 16" steel wheel.
Why Nissan couldn't supply a 17" wheel with a 60 ratio tyre is very strange.
I have used the spare when i had a puncture solo, did 30 miles to the tyre depot with no issues.
Spare was on the front nearside.

 

[otherclive]

I agree with John G as the car has a max load weight and provided the van does not lead to that being exceeded the car the space saver should be okay. I towed a van with a SAAB 9000 with its space saver fitted and the car's handling was okay and I kept the speed down to within the tyres stated limit. My present car (XC70) has a space saver and I can't accomodate a ful size spare as the wheel well is not deep enough wheras the equivalent V70 does have a deeper well.

 

[xtrailman]

As a matter of interest, Rotherham council wont allow taxi's to carry passengers with a space saver, it must be a fully rated tyre.

 

[RogerL]

As a matter of interest, Rotherham council wont allow taxi's to carry passengers with a space saver, it must be a fully rated tyre.

Many councils have the same restriction on taxis and private hire cars.
For me, an absolute requirement is a proper storage position for a full-sized spare - if the full-sized spare itself isn't included in the price I simply adjust the price upwards.
It's perverse that many cheap cars from Korea have full-size spare with an ALLOY wheel while expensive ones from Germany have no spare and nowhere to store one.

 

[Lutz]

It's perverse that many cheap cars from Korea have full-size spare with an ALLOY wheel while expensive ones from Germany have no spare and nowhere to store one.

The argument put forward here in Germany is that one doesn't expect the owner to carry other spare parts in case of a breakdown for other reasons so why should one be expected to carry a spare wheel in case of a puncture. The chances of having a puncture are apparently no more than other causes of breakdowns. That's why spare wheels have, in a number of cases, fallen victim to weight saving measures.

 

[xtrailman]

understood that a warning triangle had to be part of the spares kit abroad?
Also a spare bulb kit?
When i worked flat tyres we common, we averaged 3 a year.
In the last 8 years since retiring i have only had two punctures, but still insist on a suitable spare.
While i haven't had a car breakdown since i owned a mini metro in the 80's.
The worst car ever, and my last British car. Which by the way was fitted with French windows, and German calipers.
So not really British?

 

[WatsonJohnG]

I contacted Nissan 3 years ago when I realised that it stated in the handbook spare wheel not to be used for towing and they rang me just as I was hooking up the van to go to France
They conceded that it was Ok to use as far as a garage which is great on Sunday or Bank Holiday if you've a ferry to catch etc
They at the time didn't have a steel spare and wanted £500+ for an alloy rim
I obtained a wheel off a previous model XT Columbia the same size from a breakers at a cost of £150 including a good tyre the same size as the XT
In 2 years it never left the boot