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Spare Tire

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spare tire
31K views 62 replies 27 participants last post by  Hey_SoulSister 
#1 ·
I just purchased a new 2014 Kia Soul. I am looking for a spare tire kit that will fit in the well that currently houses tire repair kit. I searched on line and see a number of kits available but none of the information confirms that it will fit in the well and I don't want to assume that it will. Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
#2 ·
This is a topic that has been discussed to death. Problem of the unknown is what the 2014 will accept in the well. To begin with try a search of "spare tire" on the site and there are several topics that will show up. To start this off, try this one: "Spare Tire Kit (Which one)" There is one for a 16" wheel available now for the 2012/13, etc. I am assuming that you have a base model.
 
#3 ·
search is your friend (on this site) ;) We do not know the diameter of the wheel well for the 2014 model, so we need a measurement and can check it against our older models to see if it is still the same I would suspect so.

Details of your vehicle entered in the DRIVES profile on the left side would be a big help to us, rather us having to guess - thanks.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I just remembered the compact spare tire size is listed in the back of your owners manual - T215/80D16 with a wheel size of 4.0Tx16, its the same regardless of which exterior size tire you have (16,17 or 18).

It is not the same on the 2013 models where the compact spare tire size was T125/80D15 (wheel size 4.0Tx15) for the 15" and 16" full size tires and for the 18" full size, the compact spare tire size was T125/80D16 with a wheel size 4.0Tx16, so based on that info the wheel well size is no different than previous models.

so here is the T125/80D16 compact spare in my wheel well.

 
#5 ·
And a 15" , full size spare, that I got from my dealer.



With a spare tire, you'll also need a good Jack and a good Lug Wrench. Since there is a specific torque spec on your lug nuts, a 1/2" drive Torque Wrench makes a very good Lug Wrench.

My full road kit:



I know....we've done all this before, but since search seems forgotten, I'm doing it again. Eh?

:cool:
 
#36 · (Edited)
Requesting confirmation that no matter what size full size tire (15"-17"), the foam divider will not sit flat.

I was thinking that if the standard 205/60/16 or 215/55/17 are too wide (tall in the well) that I could use a 195/70/15 or 195/65/16 if I can get the wheels, and it clears the brakes. Would this work?
 
#10 ·
That's a great price....$30 cheaper than where I get my Kia stuff. :goodpost
 
#11 ·
I have a 2014 Exclaim, and I can confirm that the spare tire and jack from a 2010 Soul Sport (also with 18" wheels) fit nicely in there. If you want to carry around the stock air pump and can of fix-a-flat, then you will have to remove them from that foam thing and just place them in the cargo tray. It was no biggie for me since I also carry around a set of jumper cables and some basic tools as well.
 
#12 ·
With that KIT, the price is not so terribly bad, but I'd not want a "Space Saver Tire". They don't actually say so, but that's what it is.
(there's plenty of room in the Wheel Well on a Soul, for a real, full size, tire.)

Those 'Space Savers' should NEVER be put on the front, of a FWD car. It throws the front end out of kilter (balance) and steering and braking can suffer badly.
That's not opinion or hype, it's a hard cold fact.

With a Full Size spare tire, you can put it on any corner of the car and still drive safely.

:cool:
 
#13 ·
Those 'Space Savers' should NEVER be put on the front, of a FWD car. It throws the front end out of kilter (balance) and steering and braking can suffer badly.
That's not opinion or hype, it's a hard cold fact.
don't agree with that comment, that's why it says on the tire "Temporary Use Only", it has speed limitations (50-80 kmph or 30-50 mph) and you just use it so you can get to a garage and get your regular tire repair, not for driving all over the place with it. Granted you will certainly notice it much more on the front than the back.
I would have no hesitation in mounting my compact spare on the front if required, but would certainly take it easy and get the regular tire repaired as soon as possible. You can't be switching tires around when you are in this situation which would be extremely difficult with the standard jack (we don't all carry floor jacks in the back of our car), its bad enough just having to change one tire.

My compact spare is approximately 1-1.5" less in diameter than my standard 18", so not a real massive difference.
 
#15 · (Edited)
I stand by every word I said, whether you agree with me or not. That's actually of little or NO importance to me. Eh?
If your jack isn't up to the job required of it, then you need to get a better one. Again, making fun of me and my choice of a Good Reliable jack is of little or NO importance to me. I can change a tire anyplace and anytime, can you?


Shaggy and I agree that some dolts drive around for a week or more with those little donuts on their cars Oblivious to the dangers they present, both to themselves and other people on the road.
I too, try to give them a wide birth.

:cool:
 
#16 ·
I stand by every word I said, whether you agree with me or not. That's actually of little or NO importance to me. Eh?
If your jack isn't up to the job required of it, then you need to get a better one. Again, making fun of me and my choice of a Good Reliable jack is of little or NO importance to me. I can change a tire anyplace and anytime, can you?

Shaggy and I agree that some dolts drive around for a week or more with those little donuts on their cars Oblivious to the dangers they present, both to themselves and other people on the road.
I too, try to give them a wide birth.
sorry if you think I was making fun of you, I wasn't. I simply did not agree with your statement and stated my reasons why.
 
#22 ·
You know it's funny, because I've been reading on here that our souls don't come with a spare tire kit so I've always assumed I didn't have one. Well the other day will showing someone my car, I lifted up the under storage bin and what do you know ... there's a spare tire kit!

This was a nice little surprise and is nice to now know I have one just in case.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Last night I spent some time looking through local junkyard stock online. While it's not that bad to find vehicles with compatible rims (looks like accords and camrys have the same bolt pattern), there doesn't seem to be much information available on the size of the available spares for many models. I guess rifle through the trunks eh?

Went to one junkyard, hugely struck out. They only had 2 or 3 kias and 4 or 5 hyndais. I did notice that the subaru legacy has 16" spare tires but width 135 instead of 125. The bolt spacing is wrong on the legacy rims however. I'll probably visit another junkyard saturday that looks more promising. I may need to consider pulling the rim from a honda or camry and pulling the tire from another model to get the 16" tire.
 
#26 ·
I was criticized, for using a Torque Wrench as a part of my Spare Tire Kit.



It not only sets every lug nut to exactly the same torque, but it provides an 18" handle for ease of breaking loose reluctant lug nuts. With such a wrench, even a little lady could change her tire. In the past few years, I've changed tires for other people more than I have for myself, so I also carry a 24" Breaker Bar, for really tight lug nuts.
It hurts absolutely nothing to "be prepared".

For as many years as I can remember, the best tire shops have always tightened lug nuts with a torque wrench. I always insist on it myself. When I first got my Soul, the wheel lug nuts were not set to spec's. They were all over the place, with one so loose I could have removed it with a pair of mom's kitchen pliers. I fixed that post-haste.

When lug nuts are Not tightened to the correct torque spec's, the wheel can actually be warped out of shape and that can cause all sorts of problems.

But let the nay-sayers have their own way..... I'm just thankful that I don't have to ride in their cars.

It's spring and the sun is shining, so lets have a picnic!

:cool:
 
#28 · (Edited)
An old memory that still haunts me goes back to 1961. I had a Harley and a buddy of mine had a car and for one day we traded.

I was enjoying a nice ride in the country, when the left-rear tire went flat. CRAP!!!

The old rusty bumper jack would not lift the car high enough to get the tire off and Oooops, there was a cross-type lug wrench and when I stomped on the cross bar, to break a lug nut loose, the cross bar came off and went sailing high in the air.
So I was left with NO lug wrench. I had to walk about a mile to a farm house where I was able to borrow a lug wrench.

Since I couldn't get the car up high enough to properly change the tire, I had to dig out the dirt under the tire to make room for the spare. Thank goodness, it actually had air in it.

So whenever the subject of tire changing comes up, I get a Flash Back to that day, so many years ago now, and I've vowed to never get in a fix like that again.

On my last two cars, over seven+ years of driving I've not had one flat tire. (knocking on wood), but on my 2000 Grand Vitara, I had a flat about once a month. I became very adept at changing those big Goodyear Eagles, on Chrome rims.
The spare was bolted to a rack on the back of the car. I got to where I could change a tire in ten minutes flat and in most cases, it was raining when I'd get a flat.

Even though I've not had a flat tire on my own car, I have stopped to help two other drivers who had a flat and their little scissor jack had broken and jammed under the car. With my 2-ton floor jack and my breaker bar, I had the car up and the tire changed in no time at all. I rejected any payment for my effort, but I did get them both to promise me that they would go to a local Auto Parts store and get a small floor jack, and a better lug wrench.

I shudder every time I see this Subaru commercial on TV, where a dad is teaching his daughter how to change a tire.
It's a new car, so the lug nuts probably come off fairly easy, but the little gal is struggling with that little Mickey Mouse lug wrench that came with the car, pulling on it, jumping on it, etc. There's hardly any mechanical advantage at all with a little 12" long lug wrench.
Give that same girl, a 24" breaker bar or Torque Wrench and a deep-well socket and she'd have no trouble at all removing the lug nuts and getting them back on tight enough too.

On the Kia Soul, with 15" wheels, the torque spec on the lug nuts is around 65 ft/lbs.
When I first got my Soul, the lug nuts were not torqued to spec. They were all over the place.
That's one of the first things I'd check, on any new car. Having a wheel fall off, can really ruin your day. Eh?

Cheers Mates!
:cool:
 
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#30 ·
An old memory that still haunts me goes back to 1961. . Having a wheel fall off, can really ruin your day. Eh?

Cheers Mates!
:cool:
In 79 I had a brake job done on my Mazda 616 up in North Sacramento...Big O Tires on Watt Ave. Watt had 4 lanes going in one direction. About half a mile from Big O, I feel the vehicle shift and hear this horrid scraping noise...1st thing I pictorially thought was the transmission being dropped. Well I see the rear wheel roll past. I was right by another tire center store and they had to dial Big O as I was shaking. The Big O guy answers and I identify myself and he asked if I had a problem. I remember saying in a jokily voice, "Well...IF you call a tire fall off, then I Think so!" Poor kid was so upset and felt bad. They came down got the car put the wheel back on and said there was no damage. I said I was going to have a safety check done somewhere else and the manager was not pleased. Turned out the Backing plate got bent. Took them over a month to get another one, and I told them another inspection will be done. LOL Poor old Mazda..kept running pretty good, got rusted through where at the windshield which had been replaced. Other than that and a valve cover gasket that kept having to be replaced every year it was pretty reliable. The valve cover gaskets used were not OEM...and only cost me 20 bucks a timed. Figure the guy gave me a break cause he knew it would eventually fail.
 
#29 ·
Back in the early '70s, I was living in Colorado and driving a 1959 Thames van (English Ford, with a Cortina engine wedged between the two front seats).
I took it into a local gas station for an Annual Safety Inspection and the guy FAILED me -- 'cause he said the turn signals weren't Bright enough -- although they were actually fine. Anyway -- After arguing with him without result, I drove out of the station and started to turn right -- and the rear wheel FELL OFF. The VERY wheel he had removed to visually inspect the brakes -- as noted, on the Inspection form.

Guy came rushing out with a floor jack and re-installed the tire and wheel. As I was driving away, I noticed that he also 'slipped in' -- and replaced my Inspection Sticker with a NEW one!
 
#32 ·
Good luck with that!

Oh....and can you explain to our readers, how you're going to get 65 ft/lbs of torque on the lug nuts with that little Mickey Mouse lug wrench. ???

I just hope that you Never, Never, Never have to use that thing.

Good Luck!

:cool:
 
#34 ·
A little thing called ROAD SERVICE...let those folks change the tire then can limp into a place to get the real tire repaired. I probably couldn't get the freaking lug nuts off the wheels when they probably have been tightened with more than 65lb of torque.
 
#33 ·
I was surprised when buying our 2014 Kia ! that there was only the fix-a-flat for a spare. Then I considered the fact that over the last almost 20 years my wife and I have only had 2 flats, and in both cases we just called AAA rather than mucking about on the side of the highway with a crappy scissor jack and lug nuts tightened by king kong. In addition to my exisiting roadside service, the new Kia came with a year of add'l service for free. So I think just calling the roadside service guys will work for us ... even if the old tire blows a sidewall (making the fix-a-flat useless), you can generally get a tire from any shop to get you back on the road.
 
#40 · (Edited)
a month ago i grabbed an unused 16" spare from a 90s mitsubishi galant for 13usd including junk yard entry fee. sadly i had to stick in a 2 ton floor jack with a sliced hockey puck as a lift option. the pinch weld on the soul is unusually deep compared to other cars out there.

i'll double check the torque but i thought I remembered the honda chilton manual specifying 100psi on the lug nut torque. And that is still noticeably less torque than what the air tool happy tire store techs like to use.
 
#42 ·
My kit looks quite similar to Techno’s I have a very similar jack only mine the detachable handle doubles as a breaker bar and has a socket attachment. I still carry the compressor and flat fixer that came with the car. I have in addition I have my jumpers rolled up inside the tire and a lightweight nylon tow strap with hooks. I have a plug in magnetic light that has about a 20 foot cord. The light works great to stick on the fender and also has a flash setting. I don’t carry flairs any more I used to and they are not a bad idea. I plan on putting one of my military poncho’s back there they are good for dozen of things in a pinch. I have a couple little plastic tool boxes 4x6x10 size I got at the dollar store with a few small tools and zip ties etc. and never leave home without a small roll of gorilla tape and a roll of paper towels. Oh and don’t lose the tow hook that came with the car. I then lay a scrap of 2 inch thick scrap foam on top of the tire to make up the height for the cover to rest on. its light and keeps the cover from bending in when you set bags of groceries on it. The foam is handy also to kneel on changing that tire keeping your pants off the road.

Around here if you get stuck not so bad and you get out and screw in the hook and have your tow strap attached the very first 4WD truck that comes past will offer a tug.

My lug nuts were not too tight around 70 lb-ft I would guess and with an 18” breaker bar that’s not all that much pull. I always lube my lug nuts when replacing.
 
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