Spare Tire, WHAT THE HELL?????

[eric99gt]

well i had the unfortunate incident this weekend of getting a nail a my tire on the highway. Alright no problem, I'll just get the spare out. Well low and behold the damn thing is like 4* smaller than my tire. How is that supposed to work with the factory tires. I can't believe they give u 16" rims from the factory but put like a 14" wheel as a spare. Give me a break. Well goes to show ya GM does some very careful planning....to screw ya.

[Slim]

wtf? Have you never used a doughnut before? Cars have been using compact spares since the 80s. What you have is nothing new, nor is it unique to GM .

[Panacea]

hahaha

[jordanGT]

it's a temporary spare, man. they're designed just to get you to the tire shop. don't drive on it long. a good rule to go by is the 50 rule...keep it around 50 mph and don't drive over 50 miles on the doughnut. you'd be hard pressed to find a new car with a full-size spare. trucks usually come with 'em, but cars don't.

[Dan00GPGT]

There is also significant savings in cost to the manufacturer, a weight savings for gas mileage, space allocation (your trunk well would need to be deeper and wider for a full tire), etc. Most of the vehicles that actually have a full size spare will have a steel wheel as the spare as well.

[koolZ71]

the only vehicles i know that have a full size spare are pickups and full size SUV's

[Panacea]

Trucks always have full size spares as well as sports cars (if they're equipped with them). No passenger car will have a full size spare, though I wish they did. I'm paranoid driving long distances on the highway, especially at night or on the weekend. Good luck finding a shops. THough I do have roadside assistance so it's not too bad I don't guess.

[peeps]

IIRC, some new VW's come with full size spares.....

[SOCKS99SE]

also how often do you have a flat?? I have owned 8 vehicles over the past 11 years and only had to change 1 tire, and that was just for a slow leak so having a donut doesnt bother me. In my old blazer the spare sat in the back and all it did was take up space (LT265-75-16 all terrain tire)

I havent had a spare in the trunk of My Cutlass since I got it 8 years ago.

[SwtGrndAmGT01]

I don't even have a spare in my car. I took the spare out because I have no use for it and it only added weight to the car. My car is lowered, so even if I was to use the spare i would bottom out like crazy and ruin the car. When i first got the car I had a flat, and used the spare tire, and my car was brand new nothing done to it and I bottom out the whole way to the auto place.

[rocketfast123]

My know my sister's 95 camery came with a full size tire wtf

[BLEE]

ive had 4 flats and 3 accidents in 2 years....
sucks for me.

[mr_eh]

the donut (mmm), does suck, on my se its right around the god damn caliper, i went into a gas station that had a bumpy curb and smashed something, no clue what... that thing sucks to drive on...

heh, a few days later i got another flat (tires been sitting over a year)... and i forgot to tighten the nuts on the spare... good thing i didn't have the radio up and heard em clunkin around

[my99gagt]

almost all luxury cars have full size spares, my dads lincoln ls has a full size, our jeep grand cherokee doesnt have one, and not sure about the expedition

[eric99gt]

Alright alright I'm an f'n idiot lol. Never have used a spare before. I just was thinkin it would be bad for the car when one wheel was spinnin like 50 mph cause it's alot smaller while the other was only spinnin about 30. well learn something new everyday.

[PontiacGTboy]

My dad had a 98 Grand Prix SE. I am pretty sure it was an option on those cars atleast in 98 cause it told of how to change a spare twice in the manual. once for a temp and one for the full size.

[illudium]

Originally posted by peeps
IIRC, some new VW's come with full size spares.....

yeah but the wheels are only 14's and 15's in the first place! :P

[asepgrad98]

Atleast they put air in spare at the factory. the 90's 300ZX nissan spare is completely flat so they give you a can of CO2 to fill it up with, no joke wtf

[Mike Jung]

Originally posted by eric99gt
Alright alright I'm an f'n idiot lol. Never have used a spare before. I just was thinkin it would be bad for the car when one wheel was spinnin like 50 mph cause it's alot smaller while the other was only spinnin about 30. well learn something new everyday.
Stock = 225/50/16"
my spare = 125/70/15"

rolling difference = 11.9%

If you have the spare tire on the drive wheels (in our case front); I have heard it is technically bad on the transmission components.
Each drive wheel turning at different speeds; that is how people blew trannies/ & limited-slip systems in the winter time when stuck in snow.

If it was on the back (in our case), it would be ok.

So use the spare tire for the minimum time period needed to get your full size tire fixed/replaced.

[eric99gt]

ya that's what i was worried about. it was my front wheel. i thought i remembered something about this causing damage to the tranny. i'm glad i didn't do it cause i drove about another 2hrs once it was fixed.

[Confuzed420]

If you have to ride a long distance on the temp, it is a good idea to put it on the non-drive axle. They say that they won't last all that long, but I know someone who was too cheap to buy a new tire and drove his MR2 on the temp for almost 2000 miles. It was bald but still in one piece....

[jordanGT]

you're supposed to put a good tire from the back on in place of the flat front tire and put the donut on the back if a front tire goes flat, for the reasons mentioned above. the car doesn't like the drive wheels being different sizes.

[2000blkgagt]

my bro has $90,000 porsche and guess what...it has a donut for a spare....BUT atleast it is a 16" 6 spoke aluminum donut....lol....$90,000 dollar and it has a donut....lol

[eric99gt]

alright....now i know what to do next time. boy do i feel dumb, and i thought i knew something about cars..lol

[Confuzed420]

Don't feel dumb, at one time I didn't think those tires were right. As a matter of fact, I still don't... :rolleyes:

[SOCKS99SE]

Originally posted by 2000blkgagt
my bro has $90,000 porsche and guess what...it has a donut for a spare....BUT atleast it is a 16" 6 spoke aluminum donut....lol....$90,000 dollar and it has a donut....lol
I belive that is for space savings, its actually one of those inflatable ones?? yea , luggage space is huge in those... plus if you have 90k for a car, you have the cash to have it towed to the dealer for a new tire. not changing it yourself

[SC/TGrandAm]

Our Bmw has a full sized spare, 17". So do the VW's... Gotta love German Engineering :thumbs:

[fastdad1955]

Well, as was stated they are only to be used to get you to a tire shop so that you can either fix/replace the damaged tire.

And you are correct in that if you drive on it for a long time you could damage the tranny. That is why I tell people that if they have one of these spares to mount it on the front for a rear wheel drive car, and rear for a front wheel drive car so as to not damage the tranny.

I have gotten flats over the years and I generally +size my tires and follow this practice even with full size spares...

[Vintalage]

Originally posted by jordanGT
it's a temporary spare, man. they're designed just to get you to the tire shop. don't drive on it long. a good rule to go by is the 50 rule...keep it around 50 mph and don't drive over 50 miles on the doughnut. you'd be hard pressed to find a new car with a full-size spare. trucks usually come with 'em, but cars don't.

My dads 300M has a full size spare. Actually, it looks exactly like the other tires. It includes the same rim too. Looks exactly the same. Only cheaper, smaller cars or cars that want to save space go with the temporary spare.

[entoxckatd]

well lucky me, i was just in an accident and the 2 front wheels were cracked. so i found a guy that was selling 4 wheels, the same stock ones i had. i got a good deal on them and now i have 2 extra. i'm thinking about just getting another tire put on one of them and keep it in the trunk as a full size spare. i don't usually go on long trips so i don't use my trunk that often anyway.. so the space thing is not a problem. oh yea, if anyon wants to buy a full size spare, hit me up. i'll post a picture of it soon.