Compact spare on FWD car drive axle?

O
Danh said:
No need to do that. Two independent jack lifts: one to remove a good rear tire and one one to remove the flat front. The rear tire would be replaced by the spare in the same operation.
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OK if you're going to add another jack. I thought you were saying you could do all that with one jack.
 
IndyIan said:
With an open diff car, I would drive a couple miles home on a compact spare on the front, but not too far or too fast... With a low load for a short time, a diff should be fine with mismatched tires. Going 70mph for 10-15 miles may kill one though? I'm not going to run that experiment anyways.
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How do I know if I have an open diff?
 
The open differential is the simplest system. Most standard performance, non-AWD cars are open diff.
 
eljefino said:
It was once bad news for the FWD differential pin to spend a lot of time with one wheel spinning faster than the other. This could encourage the pin to explosively remove itself from the transaxle.
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I thought the pin would remove itself when the tire finally caught traction suddenly.

For a short drive to a tire store I wouldn't worry about a temp spare on the drive axle.
 
Soft Cars said:
That's if your onboard jack is able to keep one whole side of the car in the air. Most cars have 4 jack points.
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Most newer cars have a stiff unibody such that jacking at the front point will raise both wheels off the ground on that side.

IMG_6106.JPG
 
Soft Cars said:
O

OK if you're going to add another jack. I thought you were saying you could do all that with one jack.
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Well, you can do it with one jack. By “jack lift” I meant the process of lifting the corner of the car with a jack. In this case using one jack on the rear for a tire swap then moving the same jack to the front.
 
Danh said:
Does Subaru still insist all tires must be within 2/32 inch of tread depth? Would make even a full-size spare a dicey proposition unless it’s part of the rotation pattern.
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When you rotate your tires you have the spare shaved down a bit to match the four on the car. I thought everyone did that. So when you are down to 0/32 on the four tires the car rides on now you can buy five instead of four!
 
The nice thing about this conversation is it gives each of us a chance to ask yourself,are you prepared for a situation away from your home base.The different responses gives you knowledge. If you don't have the tools,a chance to buy or upgrade. I had a Mazda CX-9.The spare is outside,believe it or not,the stem is up.I reversed it,stem now down.I can now check air more conveniently. I also upgraded the tools for lug removal.I have Makita 18v compressor and flash light.If I wouldn't of did a driveway pre check,when I got the car,my half flat spare wouldn't of went down on the rusty cable.
 
Elkins45 said:
I was browsing through the owners manual of my 2016 Mazda6 and noticed something interesting about the spare tire. My owners manual says that if I get a flat on my front tire, I need to put the compact spare on a rear wheel and swap the full-size tire to the front. This is the first time I’ve ever seen this advice.

I’m trying to imagine the Chinese fire drill involved in moving a wheel from back to front using only the factory jack. i’m not sure that I would be all that fond of setting my car down on the brake disk while I swap the jack to the front end. Do you guys with FWD cars all carry around jackstands just in case? I think I might just take my chances on driving with the compact spare.
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You put the spare on the back, lower the car and take the good rear wheel to the front.... no gymnastics needed.

I bet they say to do this because the spare doesn't fit over the front brakes. I have uprated front brakes on mine but they also increase the spare size if you order them like that.
 
IndyIan said:
With an open diff car, I would drive a couple miles home on a compact spare on the front, but not too far or too fast... With a low load for a short time, a diff should be fine with mismatched tires. Going 70mph for 10-15 miles may kill one though? I'm not going to run that experiment anyways.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't run 70 mph on a small spare anyway.
 
Danh said:
Well, you can do it with one jack. By “jack lift” I meant the process of lifting the corner of the car with a jack. In this case using one jack on the rear for a tire swap then moving the same jack to the front.
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Pretty sure hes just trolling at this point.
 
Elkins45 said:
How do I know if I have an open diff?
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I think you assume you have an open diff, you'll be right far more often than not.

There's ways to test, was going to list, but, some of the models out there may have "fancy" systems with viscous couplings which may complicate things.

Elkins45 said:
I think this is something everyone needs to do with every vehicle. Either with a 4 way, longer lug wrench or at least a cheater pipe. The factory wrench doesn't give you much leverage on most cars.
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No, it doesn't. You can stomp on it and hope for the best (easy for those of us who have lost the battle of the bulge, less so for those of a lesser stature). I do have one of the cheapo folding 4 ways from Walmart in the trunk, but after a couple of years one of the bolts backed out and now it's a 3 way! not very useful!

I haven't tried to to use the factory tools to remove lugs in a long time--but gauging by the sound of my impact, I sure can tell when a shop installs a wheel for me, as opposed to when I install them myself. There might be wisdom in loosening all lugs after a shop does work for you, in the comfort of your driveway, before finding out on the side of the road, in the dark, that the last person was a gorilla having a bad day.
 
supton said:
I think you assume you have an open diff, you'll be right far more often than not.

There's ways to test, was going to list, but, some of the models out there may have "fancy" systems with viscous couplings which may complicate things.


No, it doesn't. You can stomp on it and hope for the best (easy for those of us who have lost the battle of the bulge, less so for those of a lesser stature). I do have one of the cheapo folding 4 ways from Walmart in the trunk, but after a couple of years one of the bolts backed out and now it's a 3 way! not very useful!

I haven't tried to to use the factory tools to remove lugs in a long time--but gauging by the sound of my impact, I sure can tell when a shop installs a wheel for me, as opposed to when I install them myself. There might be wisdom in loosening all lugs after a shop does work for you, in the comfort of your driveway, before finding out on the side of the road, in the dark, that the last person was a gorilla having a bad day.
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I have replaced more than one wheel stud because someone rammed it down to max impact.

That's one good thing I'll say about Walmart tires: they make them use a torque wrench to set the nuts.
 
i assume the reason without reading the rest of the comments, its the same reason most oems dont like mismatched tires on the driven wheels, something about the mismatch of speeds will stress the drivetrain internals leading to a $$ fix.

i assume tho these days, a flat tire equals calling roadside assistance, who will probably just ignore said directions and install tire just like any diyer and find a replacement after a month on the donut
 
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