Ask Phoebe: 'Space-saver' tyres save room and weight - and they're only for temporary use

Sprint specialists Sam Webster and Eddie Dawkins with their gold and bronze medals quaiches. Photo / Greg Bowker

Recently I bought a car that was equipped with a space-saver tyre. On inquiry at my local testing station I was told that if I brought the car in for a warrant of fitness fitted with the tyre on one of the running wheels, it would fail for the following reasons:
1. Incorrect rolling diameter.
2. Non-matching compound to other tyres.
3. Non-matching pressures.
My question is - why are cars allowed to be sold with this type of tyre if it does not meet WoF standards?
I know the claim is to allow you to get home after damage to a fitted tyre, but I do question the logic of allowing the tyre to be used as a spare, especially as my car has a fitting to hold down a standard tyre in the spare wheel well. Bill Lehmann, Auckland.

The AA website has this to say:

Temporary-use spare wheels - non-standard spare or skinny tyre - are increasingly being supplied as standard by car manufacturers to save space and weight. Generally these will be narrower than the standard-size car tyres.

You can find details of any operating restrictions in the handbook, and the spare tyre itself should be clearly marked too. Maximum speed is usually restricted to 50 km/h for safety reasons. If your car is provided with a temporary-use spare wheel it is essential to check the handbook for advice before fitting the spare in place of a road-wheel.

On some cars, use of the temporary spare is restricted to "front only" or "back only" for safety reasons, to avoid interference with braking components or to prevent the possibility of transmission damage.

Space-saver wheels are designed for temporary use only to enable the vehicle to be driven to a place of repair. There is no maximum distance but because of the speed restriction, limited tread depth (only 3mm from new) and the fact that the tyre compound is often softer, the distance covered before repair should not be excessive. You should aim to get the original car tyre repaired or replaced as soon as possible.

Handling will be different with a skinny spare fitted. Information contained in the Road Code concurs with this information.

Can you please tell us what the bowl-shaped object is that all the Commonwealth Games medal-winning athletes were presented with at the award ceremonies? Lyn Brown, Meadowbank.

While suggestions have been made that this is an ashtray, it is in fact a quaich, a shallow two-handed bowl, a traditional Scottish symbol of friendship.

Made of wood (mainly elm) from fallen trees found around Glasgow, the cups allow each successful athlete to take a little piece of Glasgow home with them. They were intended as a more enduring and perhaps economical alternative to flower posies. Quaiches were traditionally used in Scotland from the 17th century as drinking cups.

The bowls were designed by Glasgow-based Paul Hodgkiss, who also designed the winners' podiums.