Mix steel and alloy wheels at same time

[FirstNissan]

My wife and I do a lot of long distance driving. Her corolla came with a compact spare tire, I was looking at buying a full size spare wheel from Tirerack. Would it be harmful in any way to be running 3 alloy wheels and 1 steel wheel at the same time if all sizes of wheels and tires are the same?

Thanks!

 

[JimPghPA]

Mixing tires with different OD is tough on the drive train of some vehicles IF the mismatch is on the drive tires.

A full size spare is a good idea if it is for a snow tire or a special tire required for some environments like desert sand.

However now days the smaller doughnut spares are seldom required. Probably the biggest problem with a doughnut spare is owners who do not keep them full of air. Most doughnut spares run at a higher pressure than a normal tire (like 60 PSI). If you can remember to check the air pressure in the doughnut spare about once every 6 months and top it off if it is low, then you probably will be fine with only a doughnut spare. Carrying the weight of a full size spare tire will reduce your gas millage.

 

[Clevy]

As long as the tires are the same size and circumference it's fine. The drive wheels have to have the same size tires or damage can result

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: FirstNissan
My wife and I do a lot of long distance driving. Her corolla came with a compact spare tire, I was looking at buying a full size spare wheel from Tirerack. Would it be harmful in any way to be running 3 alloy wheels and 1 steel wheel at the same time if all sizes of wheels and tires are the same?

Thanks!

For short distance of less than 50-100 miles at reasonable speed: No.

 

[djb]

I wouldn't much about running a mix of steel and alloy wheels of the same width (and obviously same diameter), with matched pairs of tires, for everyday driving.

The heavier steel wheels will result in trivially worse grip on rough surfaces, but it would likely take a track-trained driver to detect that.

It looks a bit junky, but no super trashy like driving on two compact spares.

Every time I think to check a high pressure spare, it's uselessly low. They work at their limit when properly inflated, under-inflated is a lurking disaster.

Compact spares have a special layer to reduce gas permeability (now also common on regular tires), but 60psi results in 3x-4x the diffusion, from a smaller volume through almost the same surface area. If your mounted tires are 4psi low, the spare is probably down to half pressure.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA

Probably the biggest problem with a doughnut spare is owners who do not keep them full of air. Most doughnut spares run at a higher pressure than a normal tire (like 60 PSI). If you can remember to check the air pressure in the doughnut spare about once every 6 months and top it off if it is low, then you probably will be fine with only a doughnut spare.


cleaning out my car a couple weeks back, checked my donut, for what admittedly was the first time in about 2 years, it was @ 20psi. calls for 60.

but it's also 8 yrs old, and it's never been used...

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted By: djb

Compact spares have a special layer to reduce gas permeability (now also common on regular tires), but 60psi results in 3x-4x the diffusion, from a smaller volume through almost the same surface area. If your mounted tires are 4psi low, the spare is probably down to half pressure.


so should we get out donuts filled with nitrogen? aren't the molecules "too big" to diffuse through the rubber or some such? (besides being more temp stable than regular air)

 

[djb]

Originally Posted By: earlyre

so should we get out donuts filled with nitrogen? aren't the molecules "too big" to diffuse through the rubber or some such? (besides being more temp stable than regular air)


Nitrogen fills are mostly marketing [censored]. Atmospheric gas is almost 80% nitrogen to start. If the rest (oxygen, argon, c02, trace gases) diffused out faster, then the tire would end up close to 100% nitrogen anyway, right? But it doesn't happen like that.

The only magic in nitrogen fill is avoiding water vapor. You can do that almost as well with a 150psi shop tank that is allowed to cool down. Both end up wet the first time you top off from a gas station on-demand pump.

 

[yonyon]

Originally Posted By: djb

The only magic in nitrogen fill is avoiding water vapor. You can do that almost as well with a 150psi shop tank that is allowed to cool down. Both end up wet the first time you top off from a gas station on-demand pump.



Learned something new on BITOG again. Here I'd always thought that the advantage to running Nitrogen was the lack of oxygen so that the tires are less likely to burn from the inside out while running away from the police on underinflated tires.

 

[Shannow]

My Nissan comes factory with 4 alloys and a steel spare...they don't think that it's a bad idea.

At the point now where the spare is 10 years old this year, and has 400km.

Looking at ether finding an alloy, and mounting 265/70 16 Maxxis 700 on it and going 5 wheel rotation, or keeping the steely and putting 245/75 "space saver"

 

[Silk]

Running a steel with alloys if the tyre size is the same is not a problem, but you will need to make sure the offest is the same too.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Steelies and alloys on the same vehicle is actually common. Many motorhomes run dual tires with a steel rim on the inside & a polished Alcoa on the outside. Non-issue!

 

[spk2000]

Regular air will very quickly oxidize the tire from the inside out causing excessive wear while just sitting there. You may also get some trace sulfur that could make sulfuric acid similar to acid rain rotting the insides even faster.

 

[djb]

Originally Posted By: spk2000
Regular air will very quickly oxidize the tire from the inside out causing excessive wear while just sitting there. You may also get some trace sulfur that could make sulfuric acid similar to acid rain rotting the insides even faster.


"Very quickly" and "excessive"?

UV is much more of a problem than oxygen, even with a higher partial pressure.

Tires I've seen with "dry rot" aging still look fine on the inside. That suggests the problems you've mentioned are not significant.

Perhaps others have seen counter-examples?

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: spk2000
Regular air will very quickly oxidize the tire from the inside out causing excessive wear while just sitting there. You may also get some trace sulfur that could make sulfuric acid similar to acid rain rotting the insides even faster.


Ummmm...don't think so, it's a single volume, versus the continuous wash of air that passes by the outside.

Besides, if the tyre is depleted of oxygen on the inside, oxygen will leak from the outside in, and still end up with some in there.

 

[spk2000]

Sorry I was joking above if you could not tell. It was for those with a chemistry background.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: earlyre
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA

Probably the biggest problem with a doughnut spare is owners who do not keep them full of air. Most doughnut spares run at a higher pressure than a normal tire (like 60 PSI). If you can remember to check the air pressure in the doughnut spare about once every 6 months and top it off if it is low, then you probably will be fine with only a doughnut spare.
i

cleaning out my car a couple weeks back, checked my donut, for what admittedly was the first time in about 2 years, it was @ 20psi. calls for 60.

but it's also 8 yrs old, and it's never been used...



Just recently checked my century spare it also calls for 60 psi but it had 6.