C4 (Grand) Picasso Spare Wheel Carrier

[Old-Guy]

As standard, neither the C4 Picasso nor its 7-seat sister, the Grand Picasso, have a spare wheel or the tools to change a wheel; just a compresssor and a can of sealer (that goes solid in a few years). However, having discovered that a spare wheel carrier kit is available, I went ahead and bought a 2011 VTR+ Grand C4 Picasso. This kit seems to have been produced to enable dealers to fit a space-saver spare slung under the boot. In addition to the kit, the missing tools and a wheel are also needed.
The arrangement is fairly common today, the spare is carried under the rear floor, but instead of in a carrier, is lifted and held in place by a stout wire cable through the wheel centre. The cable is wound on a drum in turn rotated by a long,detachable shaft. The cable is long enough for the spare to be dragged out from under the car before being detached and replaced by the flat tyre/wheel; the latter can then be dragged back under the car and up into the carrying position simply by winding in the cable. In reality, stowing the flat is easier with two people, one to wind, the other to guide the wheel into place.

The parts required are:

• 9810677780 1 SPARE WHEEL OPENING MECHANISM (SPARE WHEEL WINCH)
  6935 A6 4 NUT WITH BASE (M6 = 10 mm socket)
  6717 50 1 EXTENSION WRENCH LONG 376MM (i.e. a extension shaft for winding the 'winch' with the wheel brace

To my surprise, and delight, I discovered that our car already had the mounting studs in place.

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Installation was simply a matter of cleaning off the paint and underseal from the first 30-40mm of thread and fastening the mechanism in place with the 4 nuts in the kit. It pays to wind a plain M6 nut up and down the threads with a generous amount of penetrating fluid until it can be turned with the
fingers otherwise the nuts provided can easily be cross-threaded!

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I had to bend the rear-box heat-shield for easy access to one nut, but it bends back into shape easily enough - this may keep some of the crud off the 'winch'.
The extension won't fit in the foam 'tool-box' under the O/S middle footwell, but I discovered storage clips for it in the O/S row 3 seat stowage well.

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Now all you have to do is source the following:-

• 6725 94 JACK £28
  6717 39 WHEEL BRACE £8
  Spare wheel

JACK is specific to the C4, 6725 99 is commonly listed for the C4 on eBay sites but is the wrong jack. I don't (yet) know what the difference is.
WHEELBRACE - this should be the correct 17mm one to fit in the foam 'box', but the one supplied to me under this part number doesn't fit!

As a temporary measure I have a Xantia spare (185/65R15 on 5.5J steel rim) slung underneath - its rolling diameter is a little smaller than the Picasso's 215/55R16 with a spare Xantia Jack in a bag in the boot. The Xantia jack fits the jacking points perfectly, but I suspect it wouldn't go under the car if a tyre is completely flat. As the 'correct' jack is so expensive (the prices above are typical eBay) and there's no guarantee it will fit the storage, I'll look for a 'universal' jack that fits the jacking points without damaging the under-seal or paint.
The Xantia spare hangs no lower than the rear suspension cross-piece, but does slightly compromise the ramp-angle so a little care is need with monster speed bumps, car-park and ferry ramps. This composite picture shows (top) the Xantia spare on the O/S/R (still jacked on that side) with the standard wheel stowed in the spare position, and (below) my 'normal' arrangement with Xantia spare stowed. Without any wheel stowed in the spare position, the tailpipe is the lowest point at the rear.
The Xantia tyre is 185/65R15 and the standard Picasso 215/55R16 so the standard wheel further reduces the ground clearance by 30mm.

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