Ditch spare tire to reduce weight and save gas?

[oilnoob425]

I don't think he asked if he should ditch the spare. He asked how much gas he will save if he did. Well that's hard to tell. The only way to find out is to actualy do it and seeing for yourself. So this topic is pretty much pointless.

If I was you though, I wouldn't do it. I got spare tire in my trunk and also med kit, tire inflator, jump starter cables, compact jump starter, jack, wrench, two bags for groceries, badminton racket and three birdies, flash light and spare batteries. I also have some stuff inside of my car. I guess MPG would improve a little bit if I ditched all that, but what if I need it? I don't want to find out by being strangled on the side of the road at night in the middle on nowhere.
The best way to improve MPG is to get a more fuel efficient car. All these extremes like removing spare tire, filling your tank half way, messing with oil weight or overinflating your tires to the max are quite silly. All these people should have thought about it before they bought a gasguzzler. That's about it.

 

[leftlane]

Joe I lost no mileage when I switched to a full size spare instead of continuing to use the small spare that came from the factory. It was added with a 2 ton jack, torque wrench, and other goodies in the trunk with no loss of mileage.

 

[surfstar]

Ditched the spare in my trunk and the scissor jack - gained a deeper trunk. Had it this way for about 7 years now. AAA, fix-a-flat and cell phone just in case.

The lighter your car, the more MPG difference. I can notice differences in MPG and acceleration with a passenger vs w/o.

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted By: surfstar
Ditched the spare in my trunk and the scissor jack - gained a deeper trunk. Had it this way for about 7 years now. AAA, fix-a-flat and cell phone just in case.

The lighter your car, the more MPG difference. I can notice differences in MPG and acceleration with a passenger vs w/o.


i could definitely feel that in my mustang.

 

[mazduh30]

I think if one uses syn fluids, wax vehicle, tire pressure, keep engine tuned (maintence), change driving habits, etc. basically using all the "tricks". There might be a small increase in MPG. Removing the spare? Well, that is a toss up. When I was working in a tire shop I say about 40% of the people had extremely low or flat spares (no use anyways). I check my spare at least bi-weekly since I travel in sparse, out of cell phone range lonely roads.

 

[Drew99GT]

Fix-a flat should only be used as an absolute last resort.

Just wait till you tell the tire guys you used fix-a-flat!

Insist on them cleaning the inside of the wheel but also give them a hefty tip cause it's a PITA for them to deal with.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Originally Posted By: mazduh30
. . . When I was working in a tire shop I say about 40% of the people had extremely low or flat spares (no use anyways). I check my spare at least bi-weekly since I travel in sparse, out of cell phone range lonely roads.

I have a feeling the previous owner of the Buick was like that. I aired up my mini-spare before my trip to Little Rock last fall. Both the sidewall and the owner's manual said the spare should be at 60 psi. (I think that's right -- much higher than the regular tires, anyway.)

When I checked the spare, the pressure was something like 20 psi.

 

[Kestas]

I just saw a truck with a flat, unattended, and sitting on the side of the road. He probably had less than 10 psi on his spare.

Like mazduh30 suggested, if you don't pay attention to the spare, have it inflated properly, or have a working jack, you might as well remove the spare and at least lighten the car up a little.

 

[rshaw125]

If you just drive in town. Why not replace the spare with a can of fix a flat and a $3 plug repair kit?

 

[BigEWRX]

Let's see now.

You ditch the spare to possibly save 1/10 mpg, but run the risk of being stranded because you don't have a spare.

But, you will probably load up the trunk with other junk, thus costing you 2/10 mpg, for a net loss of 1/10 mpg.

You ditch the spare to save 1/10 mpg, but now since you have less weight in the car, it will now be faster. This will certainly translate into a loss of x/10 mpg because the stupidity to common sense ratio is now going the wrong way.

Run flats are great because you free up the trunk space, but how much do run flats weigh over a traditional tire? Here the savings may be for weight loss and +mpg, but many times it's also for a net gain for interior/cargo space and not necessarily the added mpg's.

Gas here is as of yesterday, for super, $4.68/gallon (I paid $4.76 last week and it's expected to climb back up any day now) and it's not going to keep me from driving. So I choose to continue to drive which will translate into that much less coffee per week for me -- I guess it's time to start making my own coffee instead of buying that hot cup of joe to go.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Volvo analyzed their truck fleet and found that 0W- weight oil saves almost 1% in fuel savings when compared with 15W- oil. If your analysis of 0.85% savings is true, then I think removing a spare merits at least as much discussion as using 0W- oil for fuel savings.

What are the downsides of using 0w-X oil?
What are the downsides of removing a spare and catching a flat?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: Lorenzo
The difference in fuel consumption from 23 pound weight savings would be completely insignificant. Focus on things that have real impact: driving smoothly, lower your speed and acceleration, keep proper tire inflation and avoid unnecessary trips. That's about all you can do.


Agree, and the fact that I have personally gotten 8 flat/blow out on my 300k miles worth of driving over the years. I would never drive without a spare unless it is in an emergency. For some reason the Dunlop SP A2 pops a lot, 7/8 of my flats are from that tire model.

 

[oilnoob425]

I inflate my spare regularly but I don't really have to because I carry inflator in the trunk anyway. It's just I'd rather change it quick and get out of the side of the road because it could be dangerous, than wait till it inflates.

This year I used my inflator to help the kid from my class to inflate his spare. He changed it but what good use an underinflated spare?

 

[Audi Junkie]

Another alternative is to just carry an unmounted full sized tire. Less weight, but at least you have a "spare".

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: Joe1

My Subaru has a full size spare. I was thinking of ditching the spare to reduce weight and theoretically increase MPG's...


No, the gain is gonna be so insignificant that you may might as well keep it in your car(for emergency's sake).

If you seriously wanna improve fuel economy,consider the following: accelerate smoothly (no jackrabbits), try to avoid traffic stops (you can plan your trip or just anticipate the red light and ease you way through w/o coming to a full stop), keep your engine in peak condition (tune ups, spark plugs, etc.), clean your vehicle to rid of all the junk in your trunk. Lastly, if you are heavy, shed some body weight (no use complaining about fuel economy/ditching the spare tire in your trunk when you lugging along your own spare tire around...)

Q.

p.s. of course, if you anticipate your tire blowouts to be nothing more than punctures, you may ditch the spare tire and keep a can or 2 fix-a-flat.

 

[Bobert]

Tow trucks are pretty expensive. If you had a blow out all the money saved from the small gain in mpg would go down the tubes.

You could remove the rear seat though. Then when you have three friends at work that want to go out to lunch you'll have to take their car.

 

[ls1mike]

I took mine out, but that was so I had a place to put the 15lbs N20 bottle.
Not worth getting rid of it.

 

[crw]

I could get rid of all the sports equipment in my trunk, but then life wouldn't be fun anymore...

 

[ARB1977]

Interesting...my Tacoma has a 265/75R16 as its spare because thats what im running and it still gets better gas milage than some.