bigsherv

Hi Guys and Gals,

I have a 2014 F sport with the factory 19’s. I was thrilled the day I opened up the trunk and saw that not only did the car come with a full sized spare it also came with the same rim as the 4 wheels.

While at Discount tire with our van, the tech said our spare was 5 years old and to think about getting a spare replaced. He said tires older then 6 years have an increased rate of puncture.

I am at 7/11, 8/11, 4/11 and 5/11 on my tires. Is it a bad idea to eventually replace all 4 tires but keep the tire with the best tread of the 4 as my new spare? I would move the existing spare with the almost new but dated tire to be in regular use as well as buying three matching tires.

Thoughts?

By the way, I see tons of tire threads but mostly about the regular LS. What do you all suggest about F Sport replacements? How come now one here seems to gush about the Hankook Ventus V12 everyone on the BMW boards seem to love? I live in Houston so I don’t need anything to handle snow on a regular basis.

Scrutator

I wouldn't worry about it. A spare is a short-term stand-in for your regular tires and should function as such for many years. I wouldn't be concerned about it at least until the spare reaches its 20th birthday.

DJWLDW

When I bought my 1990 Ford Bronco II in August of 2015 it still had the original spare. I thought it was time to update and bought 5 new tires. I would not worry about it for awhile yet. I still have the original spare which is a Bridgestone in the trunk for my 2010 LS 460L

Dennis

bigsherv

What about to save money and only buy theee new tires?

Scrutator

Your spare is only three to four years old. It should be no issue to use it with three newer tires of the same make and model, assuming they're available.

roadfrog

Sounds like your tire shop is trying to sell you new tires. According to Michelin, Bridgestone and Yokohama, 10 years is the time to replace tires. ...not 6. Also, I would only consider that as an example for a tire that has seen UV exposure. A tire stored in a dark space would not see any UV. And as stated already, for an emergency until you get to a tire repair shop, I wouldn't be concerned whatsoever. That number six is what some auto manufacturers state, not tire manufacturers.

SW17LS

Yeah I wouldn’t worry about the spare at all. It’s not exposed to the elements or UV...

213374U

Could always throw the spare into your tire rotation if you want to get your money's worth out of it.

johnnyg66

I still have the original spare in my 07. By looks of it its never been used.

mckellyb

That's what I was going to say...five tire rotation.

Our two other vehicles, one is AWD, the other FT 4WD, and they're both on 5-tire rotation.

Problem solved, and you get more time out of a complete set.

mcomer

Lucky to have the trunk room to even be having this discussion! When I did have the option
to do so I always used the spare in the 5 position rotation.
The logic is:
1) when the vehicle has 50K miles each tire only has 40k
2) if you replace four (4) fully used tires even with the same brand/model of tire they will be
the latest and greatest generation with different behavior. Heaven forbid you chose a tire
with greater than OEM specs! Now you eliminate the whole advantage of having a full
size/full duty tire.

DavidinCT

Same here and last summer (last time it was warn here...sigh), I put the spare on the car to troubleshoot an issue. Tire was fine...and I put a few hundred miles on it with no issues.

1WILLY1

iTrader: (9)

Me too, mine is 10 years old and looks as good as any new tire ive seen, I will keep it another 10+ years out of spite.

As a general rule I ignore any "recommendations" from mechanics or tire shops.

mckellyb

Just remember, it's not only the exterior rubber which can be a concern.

I had a 15 year old, OEM Michelin spare in the trunk of my '95 W124 Mercedes which, when I put it on as a spare (to go an entire quarter mile to a tire shop I could see), it held together for about 300 feet before having catastrophic belt failure and rupturing the sidewall.

I'd not gone more than about 20 MPH on it, either.

It'd obviously never been on the ground, either, as it still has the little molding leftovers on the tread area and looked like it'd just left the tire shop.