When was the last time you used the spare tire for your tow vehicle?

[Jammer]

Given the overall reliability of tires (leaving aside the problems specific to trailer tires) I'm trying to decide whether to update the spare in my tow vehicle. I carry an air compressor and tire plugs and would only use the spare in the event of a blowout.

I can only remember one occasion in 30 years on the road where I installed a spare. I was driving a friend's Ford Taurus on the tollway in West Virginia and blew the left front tire, which I changed in record time, motivated by the safety problems posed by the heavy traffic.

In my personal experience, for the cost and weight and space involved, carrying a spare alternator would be a better move, odds wise, from a standpoint of being able to continue the journey after mechanical failures.

So, convince me that a spare tire is a good idea!

[dznf0g]

Three times in the last 25 years, that I recall. But two of them were in company vehicles. I drive about 30,000 per year on business, so my exposure is greater than many.

[AWCHIEF]

It has been years since I have used a spare, but it feels pretty good that I have them on both my truck and Airstream if I need them. Sort of like having insurance, it can seem to be a waste of money until you actually need either.

[Smartstream]

There is a growing trend in new cars not to carry a spare tire for weight, fuel, and cost savings.

Cheers, Dan

[Skater]

For my tow vehicle, never. But we've only had it a year and a half.

However, I've used the spare tire in my beloved '99 Cougar often enough that it's going to have to be replaced next time (too many miles), all of those due to road hazards. I also used the spare in my '04 Impala a couple times, due to a nail or screw in the tire.

On our trailer, I've used the spare three times in the year and a half we've owned it! First time was our second trip with it when we blew a tire. Then I had to put it on when we got a nail in a tire (fortunately we discovered the leak at home). Then I had to put it on again when I discovered a huge tear in the sidewall of another tire. The first incident was due to tire age - we'd been led to believe the tires were much newer than they actually were. The second was due to a nail, just bad luck. The third was due to me clobbering a curb with that tire. So two of those were basically avoidable.

Before every trip, I crawl under the truck and trailer and check the spare tire pressures when I'm checking the other tires. The first time I needed it with the trailer, I was glad I had the foresight to check and inflate it! (Yes, I could tow on three...but is it worth the risk?) Usually I check the car tires while I have the compressor out and running, too.

As a '99 Mercury Cougar owner, I found the alternator comment hilarious. They are known for chewing up alternators, so in that car a spare alt probably isn't a bad idea. But that'd be in addition to a spare.

At least carry a can of fix-a-flat. Some Corvettes used to come with that instead of a spare because it was lighter.

[azflycaster]

Last time was around 8 years ago. A rock punched a hole in the tire on a forrest road. 5 miles from pavement, 40 miles to the nearest tire shop and no cell coverage. I wound not consider travel without a spare.

[AldeanFan]

For me it depends on where I'm going and what I'm doing.

I threw away the spare in my old Mustang years ago. The car only goes out on nice days and never far from home, we've logged 3800km in 3 years, so the chances of having a flat, and being far from help is pretty minimal.

The mini spare in my Flex is useless for towing, and the Tow package acually includes tire sealant and a compressor for this reason, so leaving the spare at home really does make sense although having worked in a tire shop in highschool, I really have a hatred for tire sealant.

Sofar I've never had the Airstream really far from a tire shop, so it has not been a concern since even the smallest towns seem to have a tire machine and a guy in dirty coveralls willing to fix a flat.
If I were travelling accross the desert many miles away from help I'd consider carrying two spares, extra gas, water, food, more tools, spare parts for the truck and trailer and even and extra can of WD40 and roll of DuctTape.

[Bill M.]

Once when hooked up to the Airstream. But I was only 50 feet out of the driveway on our dead end street when I took "one more look around". Screw in tire, partially flat. Twice in the last 10 years on my around town truck.

But on the Alaska caravan we had at least 5 and probably more flats on approximately 30TV's and toweds. Generally a sharp, arrowhead like rock straight though the case. They use some awsomely sharp gravel, particularly in the pull off areas. No cell phone coverage for weeks at a time. Lots of people bought tires and upgraded their spares when we got to Anchorage.

You will be looked at as unlucky being towed in for a dead alternator. Being towed in a hundred miles with a flat and no spare to a town that does not stock tires might get a different viewpoint. They can get them on the bus in a few days though.

[polarlyse]

Never on my truck. Twice though I've had to plug and pump up a tire. Once I had to plug a tire on our AS. Still, I wouldn't be without a spare. INSURANCE

[sandlapper]

The roads are full of junk. Even in this down economy, road construction/repair is everywhere. All kinds of tools and supplies lying around the work zones, just waiting to fall off some work truck, then into a tire. Plus all the folks hauling all kinds of stuff around in their open utility trailers. Seems no one uses the bed of their truck to haul stuff in anymore.

If you carry fan belts, hoses,alternators,tools and such, heck, why not carry a spare too. Most are stored out of the way anyhow.

It falls into that category of "glad I've got one but hope I never need it".

John

[Pahaska]

Never in 16 years of trailering, but I would no more be without it than I would have been without a parachute in my flying days. I never ejected either, but it was always there.

[newroswell]

My brother-in-law loves to take CA-58 to/from the central coast area. We frequently camp together, and even though he lives 2 blocks from me, we would break up and travel different routes to the same campground. I won't take that road. It's twisty, with long stretches without any cell service. He likes it because there is no one on it (I insist that's because it's a horrible road with 2 good alternatives!). Last time he took it he hit a piece of metal in the road that punctured the sidewall. Normally he would just call AAA, but no cell service for miles in either direction. Changed his own flat and now he doesn't take that road anymore.

We do manage to get outside cell service once in a while though. Another reason I'm keeping the spare, is I probably don't want to wait for AAA to show up, or screw with a plug/patch on the side of the road. I would have that tire changed in 5 minutes and on down the road.

He also got a bad slug of gas somewhere once and limped home late at night with a plugged fuel filter so now we both carry a new ones with us, but that's another thread.

[tpi]

I have somewhere around a million miles of driving on me.

I can't remember all the way back. But pretty well back to the '90s.

I had two incidents w/ my '92 Chevy 1500 pickup. Once I hit debris in roadway and nursed it home with a bulging sidewall. One other time I had a tire lose air on freeway due to puncture requiring a tire change. These incidents were in the '90s.

Fast forward to my 2004 Camry, I had flat tire on a dirt road near our desert cabin requiring a change.

Several other occasions had nails or slow leaks, but was able to inflate them and get to repair location.

Lots of miles represented in the time frame above. Probably 400,000 or so spanning multiple vehicles. Flat tires have been rare, but still more common for me than alternator failures (one in a Ford pickup since 1990). I still like carrying spare tire even a temporary one.

I've had more trouble with trailer tires by far. Never with the Airstream, I had been burned so often in the past, I changed the tires at ridiculously low mileage.

[slowmover]

The last set of tires on my truck kept the spare unused. This time around with the same brand but a different model, the spare will be rotated in/out of use. As little as I like changing a tire, especially on this nearly 8k truck, the thought of being without one is a non-starter.

As above, for a vehicle that never really leaves a metro area it may not matter so much. For a TV that may be quite a ways away from "home territory", it is another thing altogether. Once I would have carried (and did) spare alternator, water pump, fuel pump, etc, but the quality of those is vastly greater than what we had in the 1960's or '70's.

And while tires are also far better there is no more important system on an automobile than the tires themselves.

I would say that a better question in this line would concern how to change a tire on the side of the road (two-lane, crowned, and while hitched). If any tools, aids or additional equipment is required to make it easier and faster (safer). This would include flashers, flares, Class II safety vest, etc.

.

[pappy19]

3 times in 1,000 miles on my AS. I feel like I am a consultant now on that subject. That's why I recommend the Trailer Aid instead of trying to jack up the AS. Especially don't use a bottle jack but a scissor jack minimum if you have to.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Never with either TV.....

BUT....if your vehicle, (DD or TV), has outside spare storage make sure you check the operation of the release mechanism regularly.
Especially the cable drop type.
Duz no good to have a spare you can't get too.

Bob

[JamuJoe]

Jammer - The value of a spare tire depends upon your vehicle usage, and from reading other posts by you, I know that you already know the answer Being without a spare in the middle of nowhere would be at the least a serious inconvenience and perhaps a disaster if it occurred during some other emergency, e.g.: medical. I've not had a tow vehicle spare on the ground in the life of my Jeep GC - over 87,000 miles, but I wouldn't leave home with out one, much less transit the length of Hwy 50 or the other lonesome roads that we prefer.

I've not had a flat with the Airstream (>20,000 mi on GYM's) for that matter, but the same principle applies.

BTW, for those who upsize wheel and tire, as I plan to do with my Airstream from 14" to 15", I corresponded with Dexter and they concur that it would be no problem to retain a smaller tire & wheel as a limited use spare.

The most used "spare" in my tow vehicle is a portable battery pack, which I've used many times in helping others with dead batteries.

[Jammer]

Thank you all for the replies.

Originally Posted by sandlapper

If you carry fan belts, hoses,alternators,tools and such, heck, why not carry a spare too. Most are stored out of the way anyhow.

Both my pickup and my suburban came to me with problem tires on all four corners and as spares. Pickup had oversize load range C tires that would be badly overloaded carrying the Cayo and a spare now 15 years old on a rusted rim. Suburban had way too big tires for the rims and a worn oversized spare dating to before the 'burb's date of manufacture. Both trucks are 4x4 limited slip, and I've purchased new tires in stock size and load range for each of them.

None of the old tires is usable as a spare -- the spare from the pickup is too old to be safe and reliable (tire and rim alike), and the rest of them aren't a matching size which means, if mounted on the rear axle, the limited slip diff would overheat and be damaged in the space of a few miles at highway speed.

To have usable spares on each of those I'd have to purchase one usable rim ($85) and two tires. I've been paying around $240 each out the door for Michelin LTX A/T 2s, which is what I run, although I suppose I could use an economy tire and get the price down a little. Used load range E tires that are in passable condition are expensive for what they are here, usually $75 and up, though there's a lot of junk on craigslist that's 10 years old and unevenly worn.

So it's the $$$ that's making me think twice, although the stories you've all shared are leading me back to the conclusion that I just have to spend the money.

Originally Posted by Smartstream

There is a growing trend in new cars not to carry a spare tire for weight, fuel, and cost savings.

Indeed. I've been looking at Cameros, and you have to pay extra to get a temporary spare instead of the stock can of fix-a-flat.

Originally Posted by REDNAX

And while tires are also far better there is no more important system on an automobile than the tires themselves.

True, and moreover, tires and wheels are among the few systems that have to work in order to be able to flat-tow a vehicle with a rope.

Someone on another board pointed out that you can lose a rim to a road hazard -- he hit something once hard enough to break off a piece of the flange. A rim may be more difficult to find than a tire in a remote area or on a weekend.

I would say that a better question in this line would concern how to change a tire on the side of the road (two-lane, crowned, and while hitched). If any tools, aids or additional equipment is required to make it easier and faster (safer). This would include flashers, flares, Class II safety vest, etc.

Another reason to rotate tires, since the lug nuts and even wheels can be difficult to remove if they haven't been off for some years.

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

BUT....if your vehicle, (DD or TV), has outside spare storage make sure you check the operation of the release mechanism regularly.
Especially the cable drop type.
Duz no good to have a spare you can't get too.

On another forum, someone with a truck camper found out the hard way that the camper blocked access to the place where you attach the handle for the cable winch.

Originally Posted by JamuJoe

Jammer - The value of a spare tire depends upon your vehicle usage, and from reading other posts by you, I know that you already know the answer Being without a spare in the middle of nowhere would be at the least a serious inconvenience and perhaps a disaster if it occurred during some other emergency, e.g.: medical.

One of the points I've been keeping in mind, thinking about this, is that any vehicle can fail and have to be towed at any time, even with the best of maintenance. Sure, a spare tire improves the odds, but you can still lose the crankshaft position sensor, or the PCM, or throw a rod.

As a result you have to be prepared to deal with breakdowns safely even if repairs can't be made roadside, which mostly means use of extremely old-school techniques like extra boots and a parka in back in the winter, or water if you're in the desert, and letting people know where you're going if you'll be in the back country.

[switz]

First flat in years was on the tow home from the Airstream dealer with the new Airstream. When I pulled off to check torque vales at 50 miles, I got a screw in right rear of TV. Fifty miles later I pulled off and noticed slow leak. AAA came and moved spare to right front, right front to right rear so I could move the trailer. Messed communications resulted in a bent jack stand. Things became more challenging. Six hours later, the flat was repaired at Costco and I reattached to trailer arriving in the Phoenix area around 4:30am. Glad I had even a donut spare.

[JamuJoe]

Jammer - I like that train of thought. My last position prior to retirement was in Safety & Technical Risk Management. My approach is to consider any operation - eg: towing a travel trailer - and take time to consider:
A) What could possibly go wrong?
B) How bad could that be?
C) How probable is that?
C) How could I reduce the probability?
E) What would I need to do if it happened?

A structured thought process - it's not necessarily hard or time consuming - such as this will lead to better decisions regarding maintenance, spares, skills training, emergency preparedness.