Anyone replaced their unused spare tire due to age?

[Mudsport96]

I bought 9 Bridgestones, myself...

I thought I had it figured out and staggered all 3 of my trucks tire purchases.... well with my job change came a drop in travel mileage change. Then my daughter went to college so and increase in mileage change. And the Tahoe stayed the same.... so it looks like all 3 will end up needing tires around the same time. And the crazy part is my work trucks 15s are getting ridiculously priced anymore.
As to the spare carrier, I have been wanting to get a setup from an early 90s ford truck and trying to adapt to the chevy frame. I mean it is basically two weldnuts on the frame and threaded rod on one end of a steel bar and an Eye-bolt on the other end. No fancy dancy cable winch system. Or combine them by taking all the safeties out of the cable system and use the bolted bar system to keep it safely secure.

 

[Tom Harlos]

Everytime I get new tires, I replace it with the best of the old tires coming off.

Good idea !

 

[tom3]

So my son probably shouldn't rely on this spare with his 06? Took us about an hour to get that safety catch figured out and unhooked. Hate to think going through this in a rain storm at the side of the road. Not one of GM's better ideas. Couple pictures of the brand new tire, see the mold fingers still on the tread.

 

[Marky Dissod]

tom3's son's spare tire from the mid-noughties gives me two ideas:

If your vehicle is 2WD:
when you buy 2 or 4 new tires to replace your old ones,
take the best / least-worn of the ones you've been using,
replace the spare with that one, so that way your spare is always under 6 years old.

If your vehicle is AWD or 4WD, one way or another, you'll rotate tires more often.
Maybe research a 5-tire rotation pattern, and use that?
Can't think of another way to be sure the spare's circumference is close enough
to the same as the other 4 tires' circumferences.
Think it's a bad idea to put a freshly-tread tire and an old tire on the same 4WD axle.

 

[vcode]

tom3's son's spare tire from the mid-noughties gives me two ideas:

If your vehicle is 2WD:
when you buy 2 or 4 new tires to replace your old ones,
take the best / least-worn of the ones you've been using,
replace the spare with that one, so that way your spare is always under 6 years old.

If your vehicle is AWD or 4WD, one way or another, you'll rotate tires more often.
Maybe research a 5-tire rotation pattern, and use that?
Can't think of another way to be sure the spare's circumference is close enough
to the same as the other 4 tires' circumferences.
Think it's a bad idea to put a freshly-tread tire and an old tire on the same 4WD axle.

Only one problem with a 5 tire rotation. If you have alloy wheels you will have a mismatched set of rims with the steelie spare.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Only one problem with a 5 tire rotation. If you have alloy wheels you will have a mismatched set of rims with the steelie spare.

With the profits GM makes off each pickup truck & suv, you'd think they'd be kind enough
to include a proper matching 5th spare wheel & tire. But alas, billionaires are not rich enough ...

 

[swathdiver]

Anyone replaced their unused spare tire due to age?

I did. Bought a 4th spare from a 2015 Silverado, same tire and wheel as my other three. Now we had 4 to do burnouts and donuts with. So my 15 year old spare is somewhere in the garage and the 9 year old spare is under my truck.

We run the hoist up and down twice a year, Independence Day and New Year's Day and regularly check the air pressure with each tire rotation. It seems to lose about 5 psi every 6 months.

Haven't needed to use one yet after twelve years and nearly 200,000 miles across three trucks.

 

[swathdiver]

With the profits GM makes off each pickup truck & suv, you'd think they'd be kind enough
to include a proper matching 5th spare wheel & tire. But alas, billionaires are not rich enough ...

Waste of money, most folks haven't even run the hoist up and down since they bought it. I did this with my previous vehicles and actually used them. Thought about it with these trucks but they haven't even had to use their spare in 200K miles.

 

[buckwild27]

I just got two 20" PPV wheels to use as spares on my 14 and 18 sierra's

 

[OR VietVet]

With the profits GM makes off each pickup truck & suv, you'd think they'd be kind enough
to include a proper matching 5th spare wheel & tire. But alas, billionaires are not rich enough ...

Like @swathdiver said, it is a waste of money. The spare is just that, a spare that may or may not ever hit the road. If it does, the OE wheel tire is fixed/replaced and bolted right back on.

 

[S33k3r]

We keep having to use our spares.

 

[buckwild27]

I buy 10 ply tires because I hate getting flats. My spare has been put on 2 times in 12 years. 1 time for a cracked wheel and one time for a bent wheel.

 

[Fless]

As a related question, does anyone have a full sized matching spare and rotates it in?

 

[mountie]

As a related question, does anyone have a full sized matching spare and rotates it in?

Nope.... my spare has been under for years, and the tread is un used.

 

[Sparksalot]

As a related question, does anyone have a full sized matching spare and rotates it in?

Yep. On both of mine.

 

[buckwild27]

I'm upgrading to a 20" spare but not a matching wheel.

 

[mountie]

From what we talk about... lowering the spare tire...... I should do that some day, to see if mine will actually, lower...... i just haven't been in the mood, incase it gets stuck half way.....
I don't have a lift..... Not going to try when it's on the garage floor.

 

[noodlesandsam2]

Better to find out at home than on the shoulder or worse. My 01 spare was the original. The 02 has a spare. It has air in it. I need to examine it better. All the other cars - with spares in the trunk are original. the 99 and 2000 BMW are on Matching Alloys from factory, the 01 has a smaller spare, but not a midget donut. The 05 R53 Mini came runflat, but is on non-runflat with a full size spare at home.

 

[mountie]

Better to find out at home than on the shoulder or worse. My 01 spare was the original. The 02 has a spare. It has air in it. I need to examine it better. All the other cars - with spares in the trunk are original. the 99 and 2000 BMW are on Matching Alloys from factory, the 01 has a smaller spare, but not a midget donut. The 05 R53 Mini came runflat, but is on non-runflat with a full size spare at home.

Yea - yea..... Planning to get the spare down, service the whole deal and if needed... probably replace the tire......

 

[S33k3r]

Our 2005 Suburban 2500 had the original spare on it. So when I went to buy tires for it and tires for my daughter's 2003 Sierra, I bought a new spare and had the tire shop swap it out. We were be going to be making a long drive, and I figured it was better to have the hoist die at a tire shop than on the side of the road. The hoist was amazingly functional. So, they can be a real bear to deal with, but even after 20 years most of them seem to work as intended. But I am down south. I figure the rust belt has some real nightmares.