I've had Vibes for 16 years, the first being a 2003 and presently a 2009. For the first time ever I decided to take out the spare tire of my 2009. For the life of me, I can't get the darn thing out! Even though I push it as far back (toward the front of the Vibe) as it will go, there isn't enough clearance for it to be lifted out. I searched here, but if there are instructions on how to do it I couldn't find them. The manual simply says to remove the tire/wheel retainer holding it in place and lift it out. Wish it were so simple! What are the tricks? For those of you who haven't tried this yet, you'll see what I mean the first time you try to remove your spare. Unless, of course, you're smarter than me. There's a good chance of that.
Houston ... the king of LOW mileage There's a good chance that you have a "chemical bond" thing going on. That is where the rubber material (tire) is "fused" to the metal base pan where the tire sits in the well. This is common with dissimilar materials, especially after sitting uninterrupted for many years, and could be your problem. It may just take a hell of a lot of force to "break" the seal that has formed from sitting in there for almost ten years! Good luck
Thanks for responding, tpollauf, but the tire being immovable isn't the problem. It moves just fine, but when I push it in (towards the front of the vehicle) as far as it will go there still isn't enough clearance at the other side (closest to rear of the car) to lift it out. Any other ideas?
Houston: I take mine out at least every 6 months to ensure there is 60 psi. I encourage everyone to do this, lest they find out the hard way on a cold night that their spare is 25 psi and unable to be used in an emergency.
There are two grey floor sections that must be removed. Turn the locking screws on each side of the large floor panel and remove it. While it looks like you can now remove the spare, you cannot. You must also turn the locking screws on the smaller grey floor panel right behind the rear seats and adjacent to the larger floor panel. Once you have removed both grey floor panels, then and only then can you take out the spare tire by shimmying it up and away from the floor lip your spare is hitting.
Many thanks, Caretaker! I just now followed your directions and got the spare out. The Owner's Manual certainly doesn't make this very clear. What a pita! Thanks, again! By the way, it registers only 12 psi.