Yes, I had a space saver tyre too. I never used it. Actually I think the last time I had a puncture was about 20 years ago.
I insisted my wife had one for her Honda Civic estate and thank goodness I did. A short time later the car went down a water covered pothole in the road and ruined the tyre. She called out a rescue organisation and the first thing the man said when he got to her “do you have a spare wheel”. Yes she said my husband insisted and he got me a space saver . So the tyre was replaced there and then enableing her to get a new tyre straght away instead of having a tow. I now make sure both cars have a tyre pump in them as well.
My thinking is what if you see someone broken down and their spare tyre is flat, at least I can help
Hi realspeed,
Err?? realspeed you mention ‘HEX’ nuts then metric & Imperial.
“Hex” nuts normally AFAIK just means hexagonal ie normal 6 sided nuts which can be either Metric or Imperial.
Being a Nissan it will almost certainly be a Metric thread.
Re tightness - by far the worst offenders re over-tightening that I’ve encountered over many years are so called “rattle” guns ( compressor with hammer or rattle device. )
As you say some are just cowboys,
,
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Personally never worry about this torque thing, it is totally unnecessary to know.
Whenever my car returns from a service or a tyre change I get my wheel brace and try loosening a nut on each wheel to see if I can undo it. If I can’t I get the appropriate socket on the end of my metre long bar, loosen each nut and then re-tighten with the wheel brace as tight as I can.
No need to even jack the car up if you do it one nut at a time…
Never striped a thread or had a wheel loosen using this method. It is no point tightening a nut to a certain torque if you can’t get the damn thing off if/when you get a puncture.
My car has a proper spare wheel, I am not driving 200km to the nearest town on a space saver wheel.
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Cowboys seem to outnumber genuine trades people around my neck of the woods, so it’s not uncommon to see horse hitching rails outside some establishments 
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I hate those space saver spares and always have a car with a proper spare wheel. Garages are few and far between up here and it can be many miles more than those wee things can do (50 mls?) before you can get the flat repaired.
Actually do they even make them for big 4x4s?
That’s all well and good providing the car’s manufacturer has provided sufficient space for a full size wheel and tyre. Most cars these days only have room for a space-saver.
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Yes I know, my cars have always carried their spare on the back door.
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I cant speak about all 4x 4’s, but I do know the Suzuki has a space saving spare to order. Space savers are made up to 19" so I expect most makes could order one.
My last car was a Suzuki 4X4, and the one before that was a Freelander. Both had the spares on the back. I have a Yeti now and the full size spare is in the tailgate in a built space for it.
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Yes, I was wondering about that… 
I’ve never heard of a thread called a ‘HEX’ before…
I’ve got a Nissan Qashqai and the wheel nuts are 20mm AF. Any 20mm socket will do if it’s up to the job.
I’ve been messing with cars for over 50 years and I’ve never torqued up the wheel nuts in my life. I’ve changed more wheels (for one thing or another) than most people have had hot dinners and never had a problem. I think with the invention of air tools and other nut removing devices it was necessary to set a torque otherwise there was the possibility of over tightening. With manual tightening, I just tighten the thing as tight as is humanly possible. This human anyway! And the nuts won’t be as tight now as they were when I was in my younger days…Fortunately, the wheels have remained secure…
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over tightening could strip the thread and too loose and the nut may come off. Then there is the question of "is each nut tightened up equally? " uneven tightening could eventually also cause issues.
Sorry Bruce but I would rather do it the proper way with a torque wrench set at the correct pressure’
I have never heard of a HEX nut being used to hold a wheel, but on his 2016 Nissan Quashqai+2 Diesel that is what they used
I can guarantee that you will not strip a wheel nut by hand realspeed. If you can, then the thread was faulty already. Tightening a wheel nut using a wrench, and as tight as you can would produce a very even pressure on all nuts. You are your own torque wrench…And unless you are a wimp, or use a short fiddly spanner/wrench, the tightness of the nuts will be more than sufficient.
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as they say if you have the tools to do the job then use them, and I have the tool for the job.
It does make me thing about those wheels falling of on motorways etc, were they tightened properly or by guesswork?
Probably by faulty wheel guns…
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Do you use copper-slip or equivalent on the threads? I have done so since I first found the grease.
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I would pay money to see you strip the thread on a wheel stud with a wheel brace.
I have used copper grease when I used to get it from work but any ordinary grease is good enough.
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Hi OGF, I too have noticed that my nuts aren’t as tight now as they were when I was in my younger years. 
Might have something to do with the fact that we have a lot of ‘miles’ on our clocks?? 
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Knee knockers?
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Yep, been round the block a few times OldBloke, big end is in need of a re-grind also…
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