What genius mounted the spare face-down?
 

Ok, I'll start off by applauding that Honda provided a spare, albeit a compact spare, on the Fit. No way that a driver in the western US would want to go on the road with a can of fix-a-flat like other manufacturers want us to do.

That said, why did they have to mount the spare face-down? You have to unscrew the retaining bolt and remove the spare from the car to check the tire pressure! You can't use a dual-wheel extension hose either because the rim is solid with no slots for the hose.

And no, you can't just put the tire in right-side up. The retaining bolt is too short and the Styrofoam protrusion from the load floor support is too long.

Now, I could get a longer retaining bolt and cut the styrofoam, but eyeing the spare tire well makes me think that there may just be room for a full-size spare in the space! That would be sweet and I will be checking it for fit at the first tire rotation.

You are right, Honda could have done better. To get around the issue, I use an air line extension like . One end is attached to the tire the other conveniently exits the finger-hole near the bumper. The air line passes under the tire next to a section of raised sheet metal. I check the pressure on all five tires every month. The extension line maintains the spare tire pressure as well as the other tires maintain theirs.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...57f159ea78.jpg

That is awesome. You should send this to Honda.

When taking the extender off if you needed to use the spare, will air escape leaving the tire with less PSI?

wow, super simple and super smart! well done.

Only one "pfft" of air, like when you remove the air chock from the valve when you fill your tires with air.

Bravo! Ordered!

Thanks for the idea then!!!! I'm in

I didn't know this existed. I'm getting one of these too!


Now I just need to find a good 0/100 psi tire gauge. Ever notice that most tire gauges are 0/60 psi? Since the spare needs 60 psi, you don't really know if it's at 60 or more.

I've been using because it got good accuracy reviews. It comes as too. The needle will go beyond 60psi (I fill my bike tires to 60psi too). I like 0-60 so that the Fit's 33psi tire pressure is in the middle.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...48cfaf5579.jpg

This is the very reason I joined this forum, to get ideas and workarounds. I lack both the talent and money to utilize most of them, but it stirs the old (and I mean OLD) grey matter. Some of them I can get my son (skills) to use or my ex-wife's husband (great guy) who's an old time hot rodder (skills and experience).

That's good for car tires, but the spare is at the 60 psi limit. What I've been doing is setting the regulator on my air compressor at 60 psi and inflating the spare until I don't hear any more air entering the tire. I figure that's close enough for a spare. I do the same for my bicycle tires, except I set the compressor at 120 psi.

Truck-style dual head air gauges usually go up to 120 psi or so.

Longacre has a lot of different pressure gauges including one that glows in the dark.. Handier than I would have thought.. :)

Nice idea, I'll go with it.

I use an dial-type Accu-Gage that reads up to 60. It'll actual go a bit further so I put it a bit over 60 and give myself a little wiggle room.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...40b6cf0e0c.jpg

By the way, the air extension hoses can be found at truck supply shops too , the places that sell accessories for commercial trucks.. Its a really common need on them.

meh, the spare is light in this car i just pull it out and measure it 3 times a yr. its really the fall/winter you need to watch out for, for low psi.

I like to check mine every time I check the other tires. The main failure point is the valve and valve stem and failures tend to be age-dependent, not use-dependent. No way I want to be sitting at the edge of the road minus a spare.

The weight of the spare isn't the issue, it's the hassle of spinning the retaining bolt out. That thread is long and not terribly straight, so you have to twist, twist, twist, twist.....

Yes, it's tempting to leave the bolt off, but that is a safety issue.

Why make things so difficult folks? Check your spare once a year; I do it when I use the spare as a temp when I rotate my tires. And always carry your tire inflator with you just in case. Seriously, when was the last time you let the spare on a new car go for a year without checking and it was severely underinflated? Once a year is good enough if you have some way to reinflate to proper pressure, even in a flat situation. Am I missing something?

I've had a spare hold air for years and then mysteriously go to zero within a month. The valve stem is the usual culprit.

Yes, you can check the spare once per year or, for that matter, not at all. That increases the chance that when you need the spare it will not be usable.

An inflater is a good idea and of course a lot of cars are simply putting a can of fix-a-flat and an inflater in the car and deleting the spare entirely. This works well if you are are close to civilization if a tire is damaged beyond repair, but I can't depend upon that.