Have you ever actually needed a spare tire?

[Grumpaw]

When I got my Ranger last March, it had one of those teeny tiny spares, and it still had the 2009 original tires with under 23.000 miles.
Got rid of the tiny spare and bought a regular steel rim,.
Bought a set of new tires and took the best original and mounted it for a spare. Check it every other month, so far no leaks, but did have some cracking from age.
But, it's only a spare and will only be used to get me to a tire shop.
Grumpaw

 

[fastpakr]

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...

If it's a matching spare, I have the best tire pulled from the set I'm replacing and get it installed onto the spare rim. Otherwise, I'll just keep an eye on it and make sure it holds air. As long as it does that, I won't lose any sleep worrying about it getting me off the highway and to a convenient spot. It's not like I'm planning to drive on the spare for weeks.

 

[97RangerXLT]

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...

My 97 still has the original factory spare underneath it. The last time I checked it was in 2012 when I had the bed off to replace the spring hangers...I even POR-15'd the rim as it was getting a bit rusty.

I got a good deal for a 31" spare a few months ago for 20 bucks, all I need to do is take the jeep rim off and mount the tire on my extra deer hoof rim and I got a true full size spare that matches my current tires.

Anyone need a Jeep rim? lol

AJ

 

[sgtsandman]

I do five tire rotations, so all five get changed when it’s time to change them. I get quite a fee years out of tires that way. I think I’m year 8 with my winter tires. Just replaced the OEM tires last year on the 2011.

 

[Ranger850]

I was the lathe/tire guy at a brake shop for a few years and have seen some crazy things inside tires. The nails and screws were very common. One time a lady came in and said her husband tried to plug her tire. I removed the plug to do a patch, and a wooden toothpick was the culprit. Another time, we removed a brake pad from a tire, it was literally rolling inside the tire, clunking against the rim, not a huge hole either, just a 2-3 inch slit in the tread. Glass from a champagne bottle, piece of a deer antler. We also kept the oddball stuff we found in tires. One mechanic was so intrigued by the way thing in the tread would ware down.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was the lathe/tire guy at a brake shop for a few years and have seen some crazy things inside tires. The nails and screws were very common. One time a lady came in and said her husband tried to plug her tire. I removed the plug to do a patch, and a wooden toothpick was the culprit. Another time, we removed a brake pad from a tire, it was literally rolling inside the tire, clunking against the rim, not a huge hole either, just a 2-3 inch slit in the tread. Glass from a champagne bottle, piece of a deer antler. We also kept the oddball stuff we found in tires. One mechanic was so intrigued by the way thing in the tread would ware down.

Deer antlers are really hard on tires.

My current spare is a 2007 model. I just got a "new" one that better matches the tread on the truck that is a 2009.

Figure they are probably as good or better as the little donuts that are only supposed to go 50 miles.

 

[Dirtman]

I'm getting bigger tires right after I get my gears installed and dont want a mis matched spare since I'll be running a locker. Technically if I got a rear flat I could swap a front tire and put the spare on the front but eh that's alot of work... I'm gonna suck it up and buy 5 tires.

And all this for a one in a billion shot I'll ever use the spare based on my track record.

 

[4.0blue98]

And all this for a one in a billion shot I'll ever use the spare based on my track record.

Now you did it... you'll probably get two flats at once now. ?

 

[sgtsandman]

Now you did it... you'll probably get two flats at once now. ?

Hope he has a plug kit...

 

[JoshT]

Now you did it... you'll probably get two flats at once now. ?

I was going to say I'm not sure when the last time I used "a" spare tire was. Probably around 2008 just before I totaled the 84 Ranger. A few too many times on my car I've needed 2 spare tires. Seems like that thing never gets a flat, it's always two and usually in the sidewall from a pothole. That was with the factory 17" wheels and low profile tires, since I moved down to a 16" wheel, haven't had another problem. Going to find some wood to knock on now...

 

[Bigghoss]

The only time I can recall needing a spare myself, it was because I'd just bought my Sonoma and the tires were cracked up pretty bad. I knew I should have replaced them first thing but I didn't and had a blow out.

Oh and twice I've had to bust out the spare on a truck at work when I found one of the tires had gone flat.

 

[adsm08]

I needed the spare in the Explorer last night.

I needed it out of my way so I could remove the diff.

 

[adsm08]

Deer antlers are really hard on tires.

So are paddle bits.

 

[Ramcharger90]

Normally when I had a tire goes kaboom or flat a hillbilly shows up in an hour or two and has to change it.

 

[Dirtman]

Normally when I had a tire goes kaboom or flat a hillbilly shows up in an hour or two and has to change it.

Ooooooh look at bill gates over here paying his servants to change his tires.