Holden VE Commodore doesn’t come with a spare
July 21, 2006 by Alborz Fallah
Drive put up an interesting post about why the Holden VE Commodore doesn’t come with a spare. Apparently the tyres for the Holden VE Commodore SS V cost around $947! Holy crap! I had a closer look at the features sheet of the holden ve commodore range and found out that the SS V uses 245/40 R19 94W tyres! Okay, so things are starting to make a little sense now. So in otherwords replacing four tyres for your SS V commodore is going to cost you around $4,000! Or with a little haggling probably around $3500. The Holden VE Commodore SS runs on 245/45 R18 96V tyres and they will cost you around $400 each.
Now you might be thinking, aw thats alright, its just the SS and SS V with their 18 and 19 inch mags (or the optional 20 inch mags which cost ~$1000 each), but even the base model Holden VE Commodore Omega, which runs on 225/60 R16 98V tyres is going to cost you around $230/tyre for replacements. Hmmm not much of a cheap car for Australian families ha?
Holden will give you a spare wheel (with tyre obviously) for $100 for the Omega or $250 for any other model, I wonder if the dealers are willing to give you four spares for $1000 for your SS V? Because if they are, it will seriously be worth your while, not only because they will have massive resell value (on eBay), but they will also be worth keeping as your next set of tyres!
You can read the full article from Drive here
Print it: 
0 
0 
Whom ever wrote this article regarding the cost of tyres is an ill informed knob. 16 inch tyres cost approximaterly 140 for a quility tyre and about 100 for a cheaper option not 230 dollars. If your going to inform peolpe do it with corrrect information. And if your spending 50 thousand on a ss or calais then dont be such a tight wad and buy a full size spare.
Hey Tim,
the prices are quoted as per the specifications provided by Holden. So prices are for the same tyres that come with your car,
there are always alternatives, but if you want good tyres, your paying for it!
thank god im a tyre guy! tyres are one of the only thing in this world of ours that what you pay for is what you get pay nothing you get nothing pay something you get something pay lots of money get lots of quality!
Rims and tyres, picked up my new Ford XR8 and asked if i purchase a matching spare. I was told only available when ording the car. To keep this short, i hit a gutter. Went back to the dealer who told me $840.00 for a new wheel. After a lot crying they gave me one for $705.00 (thank you Denmac Ford Darra)
Popped in to Bob Janes who told me a matching Tyre would cost $450.00. So $250.00 for a matching spare when you order the car is a good investment.
Decided to sell the car when the tyres wear out.
Anyone want a 18 X 8 hose reel. Still in the box.
In three years of owning a ZC Vectra CD hatch I have had to replace a tyre twice and patch two tyres twice. I’m thankful my car came with five full size alloys and tyres – once it took over a week to buy in a replacement Bridgestone valued at $340.
While it wasn’t a uni-directional tyre, it was fairly expensive to replace a tyre twice. Each time I had to leave the damaged tyre with a repairer – on the other occasions for at least one or two days.
The moral of the story is everyone should carry a full spare no matter what it costs – tyres do get damaged – four times under 45,000 kms of driving – three times in Sydney and once at Oberon NSW.
Thanks guys, why couldn’t I read this BEFORE I brought my VE 6.0L calais. I am not a tight wad as Tim mentioned, I brought a car I could just afford. It was ex-demo and my dream car. I am going to be very careful on the tyre wear from now on.
“HOLDEN YOU DON’T MEAN MUCH TO AUSTRALIA”
FORD AC COBRA, This is to you……….well ford doesnt MEAN MUCH TO AUSTRALIA!
And full size spares on the Commodore are now $100
^Oh! Sorry! Thats only on the Omega. The rest of the commodore range full size spare tyre will cost $250.
lol why do some people make running a car sound so expensive.
i got the most simple and easiest way to save money on tires under 18 or 19 inch only though. Ok whats the problems with re-treds. i mean u pay $230 for 16 inch tires for a omega. with re-treds u will easily save $80 per tire(without hagging). And with re-treds you are getting the same amount of tred that u get on normal new tires, the only difference is, when u decide to take it to the track u can notice the difference, & whats the chance ur gona take a omega or berlina or calais to the track. on the road re-treds are pretty much the same as normal tires.
Now think this through right save $80 a tire on re-treds, x times 4 tires, u easily save about $320.
and if u think of it tires arnt that expensive, tires are changed what between every 30 000 km to 70 or 80 000 km, and by 80 000 km of travel how much money of petrol would have been spent.
and ive read that some ppl change their tires once every like 6 yrs that how rarely they drive, so if ur scared or too cheap to cough up $4000 once every say 60 000 km, or about 2 yrs of average driving, for a car like a ssv, then thats ur problem not the tire companies or cars problem.
I mean surely if u can afford a beautiful car like a ssv, and u r able to keep it serviced and put fuel in its tank, then surely u should have no problem getting tires for it
buy an aurion full size spare is in the price
Holden VE Commodore doesn’t come with a spare…… neither do anumber of the latest european [performance]cars so what’s your point?
SCREW THE TYRES, I JUST HAD MY DUAL FUEL VE SERVICED, $530.00, IT MIGHT BE ONLY EVERY 15000 kms, THAT THEY ARE SERVICED BUT I DO AROUND 1000kMS PER WEEK, AND NO I DONT THINK THE VE IS THAT GOOD, I’D PREFER TO HAVE MY OLD VS BACK ANY DAY, DOES ANYONE ELSE WITH THE 2008 VE, FEEL THAT THE STEERING ISN’T QUITE RIGHT ?.
CHEERS SHANE
@Shane: My 2006 VE SSV didn’t feel right to me in the steering and my dealer reckoned it was because of the collapsable column. 2.5 years later and different dealership, I had the front strut bearings replaced and some rubber isolators or something fitted, all under warranty to fix a ‘clunking’ issue in the front-end. Turns out it totally fixed the steering feel too – it’s now tight and precise with no hint of play.
as to the rest – wish I’d thought of buying multiple spares. I’m paying around $500-$570 a tyre (depending on single or full set) and only getting around 20,000kms out of them due to the camber putting excess wear on the inners.
as to re-treads – wouldn’t touch ‘em with a barge pole. I had them on an old cortina when I was back-packing Oz many years ago before I moved over here permanantly – they essentially fell apart when we hit the higher temps, and weren’t safe beyond 80km/h.
considering all your steering, cornering and braking relies on 4 tiny postcard-sized contact points with the road, the tyre is the one component you shouldn’t scrimp upon – I’ll always buy high quality tyres; My life and the lives of my passengers are too valuable not to.
Why are these size 18″ & 19″ tyres so expensive. I just replaced the 16″-245-60 bridgestone Turanzas on my VT Calais and paid $130.00 each, on the car.
I then asked the tyre guy for a quote for a replacement price on my son’s VE SV6 of Potenza 18″-245-45, thinking Chrissy present and was told $372.00 each -FUG-ME
Now that I have looked at the tyres side by side any differences, apart from inside diametre and wall depth, are VERY hard to spot. In fact if you look at the two from the end they are identical, right down to the tread pattern.
Have I entered the wonderful world of aftermarketing ?