SW17LS

In a perfect world, but its not a perfect world. The car has big wheels and staggered tires, they make space saver spares that are the full diameter of the stock wheels for that reason, so it wouldn't mess up the AWD. Mercedes sells them.

Toys4RJill

Same here

A perfect world would be having matching tires at all four wheels and a full size full time spare. I don't think staggered tires can possibly have a full time full size spare...I don't think it has ever been offered.. A temp spare is just dumb IMO ... in every scenario

https://sparetire.com/Mercedes-Benz/S-Class/2020-Coupe/

SW17LS

But you wouldn't have the aesthetic and performance benefits of the staggered wheels, and you would have to haul a big heavy matching wheel in the car which would increase weight and reduce cargo space.

Plenty of cars with staggered wheels come with temporary spares that are "full sized" in that they are the same diameter as the front and rear wheels. Mercedes offered one on the S Class up until the W222 generation. That spare you linked to is a great example, its less than an inch difference in diameter from the OEM wheels and tires.

Toys4RJill

Full size to means permanent replacement. Like you can drive forever on it....like the LS460 could. That is what is ideal. don't you think?

W222 is your gen right?

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

Good

also, what vehicles besides huge trucks or a few full size suvs have "full time four wheel drive"?

perfect for you maybe, and my g90 had a compact spare and staggered tires. no issue at all. why must it be a full size spare? there are space/weight considerations too you know. not everyone wants to drive a humongous vehicle.

Toys4RJill

'because the spare in a LS460 would allow the driver to drive forever on it....your G80 must go to a tire shop within 50 mile and you can't drive over a certain speed. That's all.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I know that you've long believed you know what's best for every other driver, but you simply don't.

In my truck, a full size spare makes sense. If i have a flat while hauling something, I need a full-size tire to handle the load. Additionally, storing a full-size spare is much much easier in a truck.

My car does not need that. I just need to get to a tire shop and have the flat fixed. A temp spare will serve just fine.

I get the sense you don't care much about performance cars, given that you A) drive 4runners and B) hate the idea of ever going faster than 45 mph. The market isn't you. Most drivers are not you. You're an outlier.

geko29

It absolutely can, we've corrected you on this point several times. Overall diameter is the only thing that matters. If I wanted a full-size spare on my M3, I would throw an extra front in the trunk. It would work fine at either end, because both are the same diameter. This also applies to the xDrive version, which uses the exact same wheels and tires as my RWD.

I have on several occasions used a 17" wheel with a narrow 225/55/17 tire as a spare on my E90, replacing 4 different wheel/tire combos comprised of 18" and 19" wheels and tires from 235 to 265 section width. They are all the same diameter, so it works fine.

The ONLY exception to this are the Porsche 911 RS cars (GT2RS/GT3RS) , which actually use a 1.5" larger diameter tire in the rear. No one else does this.

SW17LS

But the LS460 didn't have the performance and handling of the S560, nor did it have the sporty looks...if I had to choose between having that and having a full sized spare on a matching wheel I would never choose the spare.

I'm not going to drive forever on the full sized spare anyways because it doesn't match the tires I have etc, I'm ony going to drive on it a few days until I have replacement tires and that spare will go back in the trunk. So that temporary spare you posted above would serve me just fine, I could drive around on that for a couple days if I had to, better than having nothing like I have now.

That temp spare is perfectly fine to me. If I decide I'm going to keep the car for a few more years I may buy that...I wouldn't carry it all the time but I could carry it on a trip, and locally if its at home I could always have it brought to me in a situation like this, or I could have had the car towed home and put it on there.

Toys4RJill

I just don't agree with you. I think a full size permanent spare is a smart idea in every case..

So you would have two spares?

If you had a LS460awd..and you used your spare which would be a matching tire like all four...you could drive forever... And if you had followed the tire rotation to spec you'd be driving on that spare every 6 months....so instead of a spare...it's like 5th regular tire.

geko29

No, I would have one spare. That can be used at any of the four corners.

Toys4RJill

Permanently? or only till you get to a tire shop?

FrankReynoldsCPA

Why in the hell would anybody drive around with their spare on permanently?

SW17LS

But I don't want to have to buy 5 tires every time I buy tires, and I don't want to have to empty my trunk out to rotate that spare in, and in all the cars I have had with matching spares I never did that. My 2003 ES has a spare on a matching wheel and the original tire is still in the trunk from 21 years ago. I would always have to replace a tire when I had a flat anyways, otherwise I wouldn't have a spare.

I just don't have any need or desire to be able to drive on a spare forever. Whenever I have a flat I'm going to be on that spare for a few days max, so I don't really care if its permanent.

Toys4RJill

Many Toyota/Lexus FT 4WD and Lexus awd models always uses the 5th tire in the rotation. Both my 4Rs use the 5th spare tire in the rotation.









this is my two 4Runners above




Lexus LS460