how long do unused spare tires last?

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I have a 2002 tundra. the full size spare is stored under the bed. in all these years, i have never had to use it. however, i understand the rubber degrades over time. so how long is a tires lifespan? [0 miles]

obviously its going to "look" brand new with full tread...but have any of you ever replaced a spare tire because of age?
 
since it's full size tire, I would include it with your tire rotation to get full use out of it.
 
If you are just treating it like a "get me home while I drive carefully" spare and not likely to put it into permanant use, 10 years wouldn't bother me too much.

A strategy is to put your best old tire on the spare wheel each time you buy new tires. I wouldn't bother with that until the car was at least 5 or 5 years old though.
 
Never sees UV rays, I would think ten years would be OK.

I bought one identical new one, and threw that and the fs spare as an axle set. Weird buying only one tire, but it seemed like a complete waste to have a new tire as the spare, and I couldn't work it into the rotation easily (I had two bald, two new when I bought the car).
 
Well, my experience says that temperature plays a large role in aging of unused tires - and a 7 year old tire in Texas, doesn't sound like anything other than a limp home spare - and I'm talking 30 mph!
 
Florida is one of the 5 states as identified as having temperature related issues. While Orlando may not get as hot as Phoenix, it stays warm year round - and heat historyis cumulative.

So I would say that if you live in Florida, and keep a tire stored in the garage, you should be cautious, and don't use a stored tire after about 6 years.

A couple of other factors to consider:

Large bodies of water tend to generate ozone, but humiidity doesn't play much of a role here.

Parking out in the sun tends to heat the tire (it is black, after all!), as does asphalt.

Reflective surfaces also tend to redirect sunlight related heat. So while concrete may not get as hot asasphalt, it does reflect the heat around.
 
Another thing to think about are the age of rubber valve stems. I had never given them much thought until this summer when I replaced all the original tires on the 2000 travel trailer I bought last year. The tires were all dated from 1999 or 2000. They appeared to be in good condition but I decided to replace them anyway. What I found while cleaning up the rims to paint them was that all the old valve stems were cracked and broke off VERY easily.

Like someone else suggested, next time you get new tires, just munt the best of the 4 old ones as your spare. I use my tires a max. of 8 years but that might be too long in the south.
 
My Dakota has the original spare. Could still be the original air too, it's FIRM. It's a Goodyear Invicta GL. Blast from the past!

Invictgl.gif
 
I ran into the same situation last year when one of my tires went flat and was irrepairable. I took the 8 year old tire out from under the pickup bed, put it on the truck, and bought a new spare.

The new spare allows me to only buy three new tires the next go-around, and use one of the old worn tires as the spare (that's only 2 years old as opposed to 8), since I don't include the spare in my rotation.

The old spare has made it about 30k with no issues, and all four are now nearing replacement. I'm glad I got my money out of it.
 
The spare under my Silverado isn't worth using.

It is a General Ameritrac with 0 miles on it. I have no plans on ever using it as anything other than a spare.

The other 4 General Ameritracs were taken off the truck with 3000 miles on them. Yes, they're that bad.

Why GM can't put a decent tire on their 2wd pickups... I don't know.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
The other 4 General Ameritracs were taken off the truck with 3000 miles on them. Yes, they're that bad.

Why GM can't put a decent tire on their 2wd pickups... I don't know.


That's pretty par for the course for original equipment tires. I took the OEM Bridgestones off our minivan after 9,000 miles in favor of something much better. Sold the Bridgestones on Craigslist for 100 bucks, too!
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
The spare under my Silverado isn't worth using.

It is a General Ameritrac with 0 miles on it. I have no plans on ever using it as anything other than a spare.

The other 4 General Ameritracs were taken off the truck with 3000 miles on them. Yes, they're that bad.

Why GM can't put a decent tire on their 2wd pickups... I don't know.


The same reason they went bankrupt, they cut quality in favor of saving a few bucks in the short term. The worst part is they are happy to expose a customer to a $1000 expense down the road in order to save themselves $20 - $100 now. They did this with the LIM gaskets, they do it with tires, etc.

I've heard it blamed on the accountants, but I believe it is the senior executives trying anything to keep on track for quarterly statements. Keeping their eye on the next three months in these sorts of ways killed them in the long term reputationally and in long term quality.

I still bought 5 of their vehicles in the last 10 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
......
I still bought 5 of their vehicles in the last 10 years.


Then I think your are sending the wrong message - unless of course, you are also complaining about the issues you find.

On a side note: The best way to complain about this is being specific. In this case, it is unclear what it was about the tires that you didn't like. For GM to fix it, they have to know WHAT, because they pretty much specify EVERY performance parameter of the tire.

Side note: It isn't the accountants - it's the management - and it isn't cost, it's the specified performance characteristics.

Starting at the upper management level, the message being sent down is not emphasizing the needs of the customer (vs the needs to the company). People get promoted by being pro-company.

At the supplier level, the message is: Build it the way we tell you, not the way consumers are telling you! In this case, it isn't cost so much as it is how difficult it is to make vehicle fuel efficient.

The easy way (and the least expensive way for the company) is to specify tires with low RR - and that results in tires that don't wear well or don't have a lot of traction - or both.

The difficult way would be to supply the same exact tire that sells in the replacement maket, and build the vehicle light (which takes a lot of engineering time to take out unnecessary weight) and fuel efficient (which takes away from horsepower) - and unfortunately, power is sexy and fuel efficiency isn't!
 
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
......
I still bought 5 of their vehicles in the last 10 years.


Then I think your are sending the wrong message - unless of course, you are also complaining about the issues you find.





Nope, I'm aware of these facts and I buy 'em used. Used car depreciation accounts for all this and I still feel like I'm getting good value at the end of the day. Plus, I still haven't found a Japanese truck that can do what I need a truck to do. The message I send is that I wouldn't pay anywhere near MSRP for a GM even though I do like their trucks/corvette.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
Nope, I'm aware of these facts and I buy 'em used. Used car depreciation accounts for all this and I still feel like I'm getting good value at the end of the day. Plus, I still haven't found a Japanese truck that can do what I need a truck to do. The message I send is that I wouldn't pay anywhere near MSRP for a GM even though I do like their trucks/corvette.


If you are buying used vehicles, then, I'm afraid, that GM is not getting any message at all from you.
 
Another thing to consider is the wheel. I have a '99 Toyota Sienna (208,000 miles) that has never needed the spare. But the other day I tried to use it while rotating the tires myself, and I found out that the lug bolt holes had rusted so much that I'd never be able to use it as a spare. I ended up buying a new wheel from Tire Rack since if I ever did need the spare, this one would be useless. Granted it's 10 years old and we live in Wisconsin but it's something to check.
 
I usually put a full size spare in the skinny spare rim.

In my old Sentra GXE, it had 205/50-16s, and the spare was a 115/70-14 in a 14x4" wheel... it was wayy too short.
So I got my hands in a 2007 BF-Goodrich Touring T/A 185/65-14 and squeezed it in that wheel.

I'm gonna do the same for my SE-R, I'll put a 185/65-15 in the 15x4" spare wheel.

Here is a picture of my old sentra:
New spare, normal wheels, old spare.
S3010276.jpg

IMAG0151.jpg
 
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