Have you ever actually needed a spare tire?

[wildbill23c]

I've used them several times, luckily I've had them, never get a flat or blowout in the tire shop parking lot, so having a spare is an absolute must. Change the tire, throw the bad one in the back drop it off at the tire shop the next day. Always seems my tire problems are on a weekend and away from home so no way to get them fixed till the next work-day. Holiday weekends are the worst it seems, which means 3 days at least before I can get a tire repaired. So having a full size spare is always a must, and having it properly inflated is also a must, people tend to forget about the inflation part, they don't do much good if the spare is flat too LOL. I'm somewhat happy my 87 Ranger's spare tire is under the truck bed, but at the same time wish it had dual tanks LOL. But at least it has a spare tire unlike many of today's new cars...sorry a can of fix a flat and an air compressor doesn't fix a blowout or a major leak/failure, a spare tire should be required not optional. I don't know about anyone else but I have never had a tire fail in front of the tire shop.

 

[don4331]

I think I'm averaging 1 every 13 years, give or take a few months:

Had flat on way down to meet girlfriend's, now wife's, parents for 1st time.

Had the infamous Firestone tires on Explorer do the tread ejection thing. Got 4 free replacement Goodyears out of that flat.

Driving out to Banff to go mtn biking had flat on Ranger. Co-worker couldn't believe how calmly/efficiently I took pulling over, removing the flat, dropping the spare, installing it, cranking flat up, packing up kit and getting back on road. We were at trail head before our friends had finished unpacking and setting up their bikes - score one for bikes in back of truck bed, being ready to ride upon rolling off.

Had center come out of u-haul wheel on one of their enclosed trailers. The 5x10 u-haul trailer had 5x4.5 pattern, so Ranger spare gets you to location where u-haul can properly fix it. Also, had flat on u-haul car hauler, and we used the spare from the Mustang on the trailer to limp us into a city where we could get a spare. Does flat on inside dual of u-haul truck count - drove another 200 km from Kenora, ON to Winnipeg, MB where they had a tire available on Thanksgiving long weekend.

And couple flats on my utility trailer that needed fixing on side of road - again same pattern as Ranger, so truck tire was pressed into service.

A few flats in morning where I used spare to take tire to get repaired; living in a neighborhood still being developed was bad for dropped screws and nails. Although spare didn't help went significant other ran over something with both right side tires on F-150. For all those, I had floor jack and power tools for the swap.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Ranger flats always have happened at home (knocking on wood) I didn't even have a spare for it until last summer. I did have a tire mounted in the shed that would bolt on the truck but it was way smaller and actually studded on an ugly blue rim though.

I have used the spare three times on my F-150, only once was the tire repairable. One was a gash in the sidewally, second time was a sharp piece of steel that put a inch long gash in the tread part of the tire and the third time I picked up a screw.

 

[Dirtman]

I've also found anytime I buy good expensive tires they seem like magnets to nails and are dead in a few years. When I buy the cheapest no-name crap tires on earth they last forever...

 

[gw33gp]

I have used spare trires several times during my nearly 60 years of driving (some of that was illegal pre-driver license driving).

One time was when I was driving my wife's 99 Cougar on the freeway. Something must have been kicked under the right rear tire. I heard this loud bang but was able to continue on. About a half mile later I could feel the tire going flat. I was able to pull over to access the situation. There was a perfect round hole about 1/2" in diameter all the way through the tire. It was like someone took a hole punch to it. I was surprised it held enough air for me to get pulled over without ruining the wheel. What ever hit it also took out most of the wheel well liner. Obviously, no amount of fix a flat was going to get that one to hold air.

Another time was off-road in the mountains near Death Valley. I was almost not able to use the spare tire. Sears had over torqued the lug nut when I had the wheels balance before the trip. I broke two wrenches while trying to get the lug nuts off. Fortunately, I carry many different tools when traveling off-road and was eventually able to get the nuts off. I was very pissed and took the vehicle to Sears when I got home and made them loosen every lug nut and hand torque to specification while I watched.

 

[Snoranger]

We towed in a sheriff’s Expedition one night for a flat tire. The tire had a 3-4” long gash in the tread. When we removed the tire, we found a pair of needle nose pliers inside.

 

[Curious Hound]

We towed in a sheriff’s Expedition one night for a flat tire. The tire had a 3-4” long gash in the tread. When we removed the tire, we found a pair of needle nose pliers inside.

So that's where I left those.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I've had a rim split along the perimeter where the bead seats. Pictures somewhere on site. It would slowly leak down to 10psi and hold there. I thought it might be rust originally but found the crack when I dismounted the tire to clean the bead seat. A crazy place to find a fault.

 

[Ranger850]

I've been driving since the early 90’s, been using spares the whole damn time. I've used the spare in old beaters and find out it's flat, lol, and I've used spares on brand new rides. I always keep a good spare and always scratch my head when i hear about ppl removing the spare to put horns there.

 

[JohnnyO]

Got my current truck new in 2008 and needed the spare once. Was on vacation in Florida and hit maybe a piece of rebar on the highway. Perfectly round hole in the middle of the tread about the size of my finger. I was changing the tire on the side of I-75 when the roadside assistance guy rolls up, he gave me a hand and said there's so many construction trucks dropping stuff that people hit rebar all the time. I did buy another tire there before we drove home in case it happened again.

 

[91stranger]

I've had plenty of flat tires and have had to use the spare about 5-6 times throughout my life. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it is how I see it.

I've had a rim split along the perimeter where the bead seats. Pictures somewhere on site. It would slowly leak down to 10psi and hold there. I thought it might be rust originally but found the crack when I dismounted the tire to clean the bead seat. A crazy place to find a fault.

This happened to me too. My driver front wheel on my ranger always leaked down after a few days and I sprayed the hell out of it trying to find the leak. Eventually pulled the wheel off and sprayed the back side and some of the excess soapy water made its way to the inner part of the rim where the bead is. The way the rim is designed it holds water along the backside of the wheel. I guess it got weak over time... Tried welding it but just made the pin hole into a hole then it turned into a bubblegum looking mess.... $18 dollar rim from Milliron and it's as good as new.

Walmart near me has a jar full of goodies they have pulled out of tires. There was chunks of wood, wrenches, a pencil lol. I wish I could find the picture (it might be on the site somewhere) but when I was at Sears Auto we had a bubble in the tire and it was the size of a basketball on the inside of the tire and then the other half of the bubble was about the size of a football on the outside of the tire.... He bought a new tire after that lol.

 

[mikkelstuff]

This is why I keep wrecker service with my auto insurance. Danged if I'm changing a spare on the side of these highways around Denver!

I did finally learn how to lower the spare tire under my 2002 4WD Ranger XLT when installing a Reese trailer hitch.

 

[Dirtman]

Isnt Denver like... a mile high?

 

[Shran]

Rarely have I used my spare but I was sure glad I had it. Let's see, I cut a tire on a rock, used it then... had a flat in my old Nova, actually couldn't feel it until I got back to town and had wrecked the tire. Also needed one on my Colorado trip in 2017. I tried to be cheap and run scab tires on a 2000 mile trip, my rears were a little weathered which was fine and the fronts looked good but both ended up having little micro bubbles all over the inside sidewalls and one of them got really serious. It always kinda shook at highway speed but then it got really bad, made a loud popping noise, and then stopped shaking so I pulled over. The dang tire was still holding air after losing a huge chunk of the sidewall. Fortunately I had two spares with me, I bought tires in New Mexico the next day and hauled three tires back to SD on my roof rack. Yes, I kept using them, lol... they ended up on my race truck... no problem using junk tires there, a lot of people do. I did throw this one away though.

 

[Dirtman]

Ok so on older trucks how often do you guys actually replace your spare? I take mine down, clean it, inspect it, and check the pressure once a year. But the one on my ranger is now 12 years old by the date code. The one on my mustang is almost 20 years old. Neither have any dry rot and have 100% tread life and don't loose any pressure though...