EnviroLink Forum

When is the last time you checked the air pressure in your vehicle's spare tire?

What is the average life span of a temporary donut-type spare tire?

How do you determine when a tire is too old to be used?

Is your spare tire the same size as the other tires on your vehicle, and why is this important?

I just don't trust those dang donut tires. I do need to check the pressure on my spare, though.

Right now I have two vehicles: a 30 foot long school bus and a moped-class scooter

The bus has three types of hubs, front, inside rear and outside rear (duel tires) and a new tire with a hub will cost about $400 so that would be $1200 to acquire a set of spares for it.

The scooter has absolutely no cargo space and the front and back wheels are different tires and the back tire requires major dismantling of the drive train parts of the scooter to remove the wheel.

When I had normal vehicles, I always had spares because I was rather hard on tires and replaced tires often so the spare was always a new normal tire and rim from the last time I destroyed a sidewall or got a bulge. I could see no sense in those doughnut tires because they are unsafe to use at normal speed and you had to change your tire as soon as you got the flat repaired... I would rather stick the new tire in the spare storage and leave the old spare in use as a regular tire.

Also, being a Canadian in the prairies, you NEED winter tires which wear out fast if used in the summer. I looked at the cost of buying a set of all-season tires for the few months of summer driving and figured it was not worth it so just used my winter tires all year in spite of how fast the tread wore down... I still never had a tire run out of tread before having some other problem that required a tire replacement.

Actually, the newer donut-type spare tires have a lot longer life span than do those just a few years old. In most cases, the temporary spare has a lifetime to up to 3,000 miles, and can withstand a maximum speed of 115 mph. This isn't to say it is prudent to operate a vehicle at these speeds with the temporary spare in place; it's that they are more durable than previous versions. And, yes, the temporary spare is designed to be just that: TEMPORARY.

Regardless what type of tire you use for a spare, check it regularly to maintain the proper air pressure. The maximum tire air pressure is usually printed on the sidewall.

Do you know that many of the fancy two-seater vehicles being manufactured today don't even come with a spare tire? A few are equipped only with a can of Fix-A-Flat and a tire pressure gauge. The vehicle operator is instructed to slowly drive the vehicle to the nearest tire repair facility. A fat lot of good this does in the event of a complete blowout!

Being involved in providing roadside assistance, I recommend those without spare tires to get one before venturing out any distance from home. Were you to have a flat without a spare, it could mean your only alternatives are being towed to a tire shop, paying a heavy price to bring one out to you and mount it onto your vehicle, or abandoning the vehicle to return later with another tire and rim.

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Demand American-Made; Buy ONLY American-Made

The jeep has a full size spare, the car has a donut, and the truck has a can of fix a flat with no spare. All pressures are checked weekly and treads inspected monthly for nails, screws, and wear patterns.

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TANG SOO!

If you're one of those who has purchased and installed up-sized tires and rims for your favorite vehicle, be sure you have a spare tire and rim on hand that is no more than three (3) inches smaller in diameter than your custom rims. Mounting a much smaller spare tire and rim onto a drive axle could result in serious damage to the transaxle, transmission or rear end. Smaller sized spare tires and rims mounted onto a free-wheeling axle could adversely affect your Automatic Braking (ABS) System to the extent you not only may not then have effective brakes, but in a few cases, no brakes at all.

Too, be sure you have the necessary tools to remove an over-sized rim from your vehicle. Many of the larger rims have recessed lug nuts or bolts that may preclude the use of your conventional wheel lug wrenches. In some cases, special deep-well sockets may be necessary to remove lug nuts from a wheel with a flat tire. Conventional, non-impact grade sockets are thin-wall in nature and can be used. Be sure to have a breaker bar, or an automatic ratchet, to use with the sockets.

If you have a security lug nut; that is, one which can prevent the theft of your tire and rim, be sure to have the "key" in a safe location inside the vehicle or in the trunk. Most roadside assistance services do not carry the tools necessary to remove these devices if the key is lost (mine does), and you could end up having to tow the vehicle somewhere to remove the security lug.

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Demand American-Made; Buy ONLY American-Made