when was the last time you checked your Spare Tire?

[mike_s]

when was the last time you checked your Spare Tire?


No..... I don't mean the one around your waist but the one in your car?


The reason I post this is that I just returned from a dive trip and ran into such a problem. It's a good way to screw up a dive trip on the way down or back, and could make you miss the boat.

I had a tire on my vehicle have the tread 'seperate' from tire enough to make the tire wobbly. It was still holding air, but definately not safe enough for highway speeds with a hump in it..

After cranking down the spare (which required unloading all kinds of gear to get to the jack and tools), inspection of the spare revealed a crack in the sidewall almost big enough to stick your small finger into. The tire was holding air, but with a crack in the sidewall would definately not hold a full size SUV going 70mph + down the highway without blowing out....

Now normally I try to "inspect" my spare tire about once a year and check the air pressure in it. (when was the last time you checks your spare tire air pressure?) However, I never lower it down to inspect it, just check the air from below and give it quick look over. The crack was on the side of the tire that faced the vehicle where you crank it up under the SUV.


Now... to make matters worse, imagine if this was at night or on a Sunday when tire stores aren't open!!! Well, it was Sunday when this happened!!! I thought we were spending the night in a hotel all because of a $120 tire. I mean you never find a tire store open on a Sunday. (and there are no such things as service stations really anymore, at least here, they are all convience stores now that sell gas).

I was prepared to face the consequences when the wife check the GPS NAV system and low and beyond there is a tire center 1.3 miles away according to it's database. Luckily it listed their phone number also. I quick phone call and **gasp**, they were open on a Sunday!!! They didn't have the matching tire for my vehicle, but were able to sell me a tire for my spare to continue home and not have to get a hotel. (I've got a full size spare so highway speeds are no concern for it).


I'm figuring it could have been worse. It could have been cold, raining, snowing, or Christmas Eve and no one was open. So I'm posting this to remind you to check your spare so you don't have to deal with this type problem when you least need it.

So...

1). Check your spare tires air pressure often, like at every oil change
2.) unload and inspect your spare tire at least once or twice a year.

Hope this is a helpful reminder to all.

 

[RonDawg]

I got as a Christmas present several years ago a small air compressor that works off the cigarette lighter. It's small enough to keep in a corner of the trunk of my car. It's slow compared to real gas station air hoses, or even a home handyman-grade compressor, but it's saved me a few times. It's also saved me some money now that few if any gas stations in my area give away "free" air anymore.

 

[mike_s]

I got as a Christmas present several years ago a small air compressor that works off the cigarette lighter. It's small enough to keep in a corner of the trunk of my car. It's slow compared to real gas station air hoses, or even a home handyman-grade compressor, but it's saved me a few times. It's also saved me some money now that few if any gas stations in my area give away "free" air anymore.

Yeah... I've got one of those. However, with a huge crack in the sidewall that could easily blow, the compressor was of little use in my case....

 

[zen_man]

hmm, I don't even know if I have a spare tire.....

/and I'm an ex-mechanic!

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I'm actually going to check my spare tomorrow when I'm back at home (at university now) when I wash and wax the truck again. I think I might rotate some of my tires too, rotating the spare (full size spare) into the mix, as my front right tire looks a little more worn than someof the others. Still, in a few more thousand miles I'll be buying new tires

 

[zen_man]

If you have one tire wearing more than the others, I would recommend getting an alignment check as well.

I'm actually going to check my spare tomorrow when I'm back at home (at university now) when I wash and wax the truck again. I think I might rotate some of my tires too, rotating the spare (full size spare) into the mix, as my front right tire looks a little more worn than someof the others. Still, in a few more thousand miles I'll be buying new tires

 

[diver_paula]

Crack aside, I keep an inflator valve that will attach to my tank to inflate a flat tire. Hopefully I'll have a used tank in the car for such a purpose but if not a full tank will do in an emergency.

Paula

 

[Jim Baldwin]

when was the last time you checked your Spare Tire?


No..... I don't mean the one around your waist but the one in your car?


The reason I post this is that I just returned from a dive trip and ran into such a problem. It's a good way to screw up a dive trip on the way down or back, and could make you miss the boat.

I had a tire on my vehicle have the tread 'seperate' from tire enough to make the tire wobbly. It was still holding air, but definately not safe enough for highway speeds with a hump in it..

After cranking down the spare (which required unloading all kinds of gear to get to the jack and tools), inspection of the spare revealed a crack in the sidewall almost big enough to stick your small finger into. The tire was holding air, but with a crack in the sidewall would definately not hold a full size SUV going 70mph + down the highway without blowing out....

Now normally I try to "inspect" my spare tire about once a year and check the air pressure in it. (when was the last time you checks your spare tire air pressure?) However, I never lower it down to inspect it, just check the air from below and give it quick look over. The crack was on the side of the tire that faced the vehicle where you crank it up under the SUV.


Now... to make matters worse, imagine if this was at night or on a Sunday when tire stores aren't open!!! Well, it was Sunday when this happened!!! I thought we were spending the night in a hotel all because of a $120 tire. I mean you never find a tire store open on a Sunday. (and there are no such things as service stations really anymore, at least here, they are all convience stores now that sell gas).

I was prepared to face the consequences when the wife check the GPS NAV system and low and beyond there is a tire center 1.3 miles away according to it's database. Luckily it listed their phone number also. I quick phone call and **gasp**, they were open on a Sunday!!! They didn't have the matching tire for my vehicle, but were able to sell me a tire for my spare to continue home and not have to get a hotel. (I've got a full size spare so highway speeds are no concern for it).


I'm figuring it could have been worse. It could have been cold, raining, snowing, or Christmas Eve and no one was open. So I'm posting this to remind you to check your spare so you don't have to deal with this type problem when you least need it.

So...

1). Check your spare tires air pressure often, like at every oil change
2.) unload and inspect your spare tire at least once or twice a year.

Hope this is a helpful reminder to all.

I drive a police car and about every six weeks I get an oil change. That's 6,000 miles. I personally check the air in all my tires including the spare.

In wife's car, I have four cans of fix a flat, tire plugs, and a small air compressor. It gets an oil change every 10,000 miles. Diesel with synthetic oil and all the tires get checked.

 

[mike_s]

Crack aside, I keep an inflator valve that will attach to my tank to inflate a flat tire. Hopefully I'll have a used tank in the car for such a purpose but if not a full tank will do in an emergency.

Paula

I've got one of those inflator attachments also. IF you do a complete fill off a Nitrox tank, then it's a good idea to drain the tire sometime soon and just put normal air in. The oxygen in their gas mix in your tire gets hotter than the nitrogen and using nitrox will/could cause the tire to run hotter than normal.

Now days a lot of tire shops are using straight Nitrogen to fill car tires with. You get less heat which causes pressure variation with use and that all means less tire wear.

In wife's car, I have four cans of fix a flat, .

4? why 4? how many does it take to fill up an average tire? (always wondered if one can was enough).

I heard that stuff will rust out the inside of your rim and your steel belted radial also and that you had to wash/rinse both out soon after using them. (meaning it was never meant as a permanent solution and needed cleaning also).

 

[Thalassamania]

That's what a cell phone and AAA card are for.