Have you ever actually needed a spare tire?

[Grumpaw]

Damn, I wish someone would pay me like that to change a tire.
I just got done changing out 8 snow/ice tires/rims back to stock stuff on our two Subaru's. Took about 2 hours. Silly thing is we didn't get but one 4 inch snow this entire season.
Bummer.
Grumpaw

 

[Dirtman]

I didn't think it ever snowed enough in VA to be worth switching to snow tires in the winter. I didn't even bother putting mine on this year. All we got was a few dustings.

 

[1986RangerXL]

I've had to use the same spare several times (totally safe). It might have had something to do with buying cheap used tires and going sideways/doing donuts in rough gravel. Who knows?

My Ranger has KOs on it, the version before KO2s. But they are dry rotted bad

 

[Grumpaw]

I didn't think it ever snowed enough in VA to be worth switching to snow tires in the winter. I didn't even bother putting mine on this year. All we got was a few dustings.

It's hit n miss. This year, none. Last year, meah .
4 years ago, had two storms back to back, one dumped 28 inches, 4 days later 18 inches.
Wife is an RN, semi retired, part time now, but when she gets a shift, no matter the weather, she HAS to get there, even if snow/ice on roadways.
Bought the snow/ice/rims from Discount Tire 6 years ago, and so far still good.
Only run them cause of her job.
Grumpaw

 

[cbxer55]

I've had the flat-tire-in-the-morning scenario that I used the spare for. No other options at the time

No different than the flat tire getting off work. Put a can of Fix-A-Flat in it, used my cig. lighter air pump to fully inflate them, drove home. Next day took it to a friend's shop and had it plugged properly.

 

[Dirtman]

No different than the flat tire getting off work. Put a can of Fix-A-Flat in it, used my cig. lighter air pump to fully inflate them, drove home. Next day took it to a friend's shop and had it plugged properly.

Your friend must hate you...

 

[cbxer55]

Your friend must hate you...

Didn't say a word. I had taken the tire off the Ranger and put it in the back of my Lightning and hauled it over there. He dismounted it, cleaned it, patched it, put it back on, re-aired it, and I was on my way back home in less than ten minutes. I buy a lot of tires from him, and I send people there all the time with flats to fix. Sent a woman there the other day (Tuesday) with a flat and all four tires needing to be replaced as they were near bald. He gets a lot of business from me. So he's cool.

He has a Sinclair station and does tires there as well. Batteries also. His tire prices are the best around here. And he's close, three miles away. Also the only station in this area that has 93 octane. I mean for miles around, the only one. He can't keep that 93 octane tank filled. Has to refill it three times a week. So I know it's always fresh.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Ill I can say is drive a truck and dont give a fuc and you too can be paid to get your tire changed

 

[Dirtman]

Fix a flat is corrosive as hell. It'll eat through aluminum rims and tpms sensors and is a horrible mess to clean. At some point without my knowledge someone used fix a flat on one of the rims on my MKX and it was never cleaned out properly. That rim never sealed properly again and always had a slow leak because the bead seat was so corroded. Alot of tire shops wont even attempt to patch a tire thats had fix a flat in it, buy a new one or get lost. That stuff is just absolute garbage in my opinion. A plug kit is just as quick to use and no mess. And if the tire can't be temporarily fixed with a plug, fix a flat isnt going to work anyway.

Eff this nonsense.

 

[racsan]

ive needed a spare a couple of times, once was a rotten valve stem and I was losing air on the way home from work, had only 7 more miles to go and tire was flat. 2nd time was quite dangerous. I was in the 92 longbed 2wd passing a semi on a major 4 lane highway. left front came apart, I completed the pass (at 70 mph) and got off the road to change the tire. there was still tire on the rim but I had trouble getting the lugnuts loose as the rim was slipping and turning inside the tire casing. I ended up sticking a long screwdriver through the rim to jam against the caliper. The other front tire was identical so I checked the date code later. It was made in 1986. this was just 3 years ago.