Have a favor to ask - can anybody confirm that the way I've put the spare tire latch back looks correct? I have it on the second notch and wanted to make sure the latch was "flush" enough.

I had a flat tire last week and used the spare tire to get home. In my haste I didn't really focus on how it looked before I unlatched it.

Tire place couldn't repair so I had to order a new tire. For the 21" Michelin Latitude Cross my options were the dealer in 2 days or Tire Rack in a week. Left the tire/rim at the dealer and swapped it back today after buying a torque wrench.

Thanks in advance!

 

the latch shouldn’t be in center, it should be little left upper so your camera have full view, other wise you won’t get full vision

 

The second notch in the ladder clasp is where mine was on a Continental 265/50R20 (don't know what the other 5 or 6 notches are for - maybe a donut tire?). Did your flat fit under the cover or did you toss it in the boot for the drive home?

 

Thanks for the feedback--good call on moving it off center.

Yeah I'm not sure why there are so many notches. I have the same Continentals on black 20" rims. I only had to drive a few miles locally so I kept it under 50 mph as the bright yellow sticker on the spare tells me to.

I didn't bother trying to put the flat under the cover - I put it all in the boot for the drive home.

 

This is purely my own opinion. This was how it looked since I took delivery and how I mounted it back after ceramic coating the vehicle including the spare and the rear door having it off to complete the job. The notches to me act as nice place for water that can get in from the exposed back of the mount to drain. I noticed and longed up the extra notches at the 6 o’clock position which keeps the locking mechanism off to the left side and out of the camera view as well as any water and bentos being able to drain out and not sit in the tire wrap or locking mechanism. Here is what it looks like.

 

Also wheel sizes shouldn’t matter as I have the 22’’ rims on the car and the original smaller 20” spare. The width of the tire sidewall on the spare is wider and matches the overall circumference of the tires with with 22” wheels. So I suspect all spares on the different options will likely use that same 2nd notch considering the circumference is the same. If mounting an older more tread warn tires as a spare there is room to be able to close it so that it’s also sit tight as opposed to a perfect and new unused full tread depth spare.

 

My 2019 G550 came with four 275/50R20 tires mounted and a 265/50R20 spare. The spare tire size is about 0.4" less wide, 0.4" smaller diameter and 1.2" smaller circumference, and the tire cover fits this size. Wheel size doesn't matter as long as tire width is 10.4" and tire diameter is 30.5". If you have a flat tire, mount the flat on the spare tire bracket and drive home with the tire cover in your lap, if there's no other place to put it.