Check your spare...

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My neighbor went to clear his trunk to have the bumper repaired after a fender-bender and discovered that the spare was gone...never replaced by the tire dealer that had previously had it in the shop....8 months ago...

Just sayin'......check your spare to make sure it's there.
 
ouch!

My wife once had a used car that had a spare of the wrong lug pattern!

Inflation is often overlooked too...
 
Following the same topic, check the air pressure in your spare at least a couple of times a year. It can be a pain, since you often have to remove it from its mount to access the valve stem. But, I have found 60 psi spare tires have about 40-50 psi after six months. If it's been years since you checked it you might be in trouble when you need it.
 
Ha! good one! Never would have thought the spare wouldn't be there, period!

The good news is, you can always find them cheaply in a junkyard or on CL.

How much do you want to bet the tire shop person kept it and sold it on CL?
 
I knew a case of someone who just had a loose tire in the back; thought that you could just wiggle it on the rim, I guess.
 
When I worked at TLE, I think there were 5 or 6 donut spares in the back from people forgetting to put them back in customer's cars. Some of them were there longer than I was (08-12).
 
I'm not going to name names in the following story.

A very reliable individual, who has since died, told me this story. He took his car to the dealer to get the radio fixed. It had to be removed and when he went back to get it, they said, "You never had a radio". As there was only one dealer in town he continued to work with them. When he took his car back for a service he was prepared. When he picked up his car he checked the trunk and found that the spare tire was missing. He walked over to a tarp covering an unknown pile, whipped it off and found a large pile of spare tires. He picked up a likely candidate and said, "This is my spare tire." The dealer's rep asked "Can you prove that?" "Well," he said, "it has got my name on the reverse side." He had taken the precaution of writing his name on the reverse of the tire.

Not surprisingly, that dealer is no longer in business. Who would buy a second car from them? And word of mouth probably wasn't that positive either.

Ecotourist
 
Your right
People don't check there spare's enough
Most of the people I know are of this mentality
spare-tire-i-don-amp-039-t-need-you_o_1625007.jpg

And of course, These are the same people that can get away with this [censored]
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Life just ain't fair
And Karma's not [censored] y enough
frown.gif
 
Hello, While "doing" tires on my family's vehicles I offered to check the spare of my neighbor's beater. With an understandable measure of unfamiliarity, the wife said, "Sure, if you want to". The spare had no air and I refilled it. I told the wife what I had done. She said nothing.

Later that evening she sent her husband over to thank me. His English is better than her's (they're Polish-very nice people and great neighbors) and he was sincerely grateful in abundance.

Since the ice had been well broken for years, it served as a great "neighbor maintainer". Kira
 
I bought my used 85 pickup in May, and blindly threw the full size spare tire into the mix during the first tire rotation. It looked good, decent tread, same size, had some air in it, I gave it no further thought.

Few months later I'm doing the front brakes and happen to get a look at the DOT date stamp on the tire. 2193!! Indeed, the tire was from 1993. So if you don't know your tires history, check the date code! Looks can be deceiving.
 
I spent most of last winter running a stock spare tire from a 95 Wrangler on my 2000 Cherokee.

Was kind of neat to be running a spare that was older than the vehicle itself! Well, "running" being driving around the neighborhood once every week.
 
I drove my 1989 Honda Accord from 1989-2012. I had a few occasions to use the spare. Thanks to checking it periodically, it never let me down. I never hesitated to drive normally on it, either. The worst case was having to drive 100 miles home, in the middle of the night, from an Indian Princess camp out when my daughter became ill. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but the spare held out like a champ. It was a compact spare, BTW.
 
I think the spare's pressure should be checked/adjust at every oil change, along with every fluid level.

The problem is almost every other fluid can be checked easily because they are under the hood, except MTF and differential fluids, while the spare is mostly in the trunk under carpet and nobody ever think about spare even when he/she open the trunk to load/unload somethings.
 
I sure would like to know whose bright idea it was to mount the spare valve-down. It was like that in my 89 Honda and it is like that in my 2012 Mazda. I keep my trunk area empty, but I have to unload the stuff I keep inside the spare (jumper cables, four-way lug wrench, tie down, etc.) and remove it from the car completely.

Not very conducive for the average person to EVER check the air pressure.
 
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
I sure would like to know whose bright idea it was to mount the spare valve-down. It was like that in my 89 Honda and it is like that in my 2012 Mazda. I keep my trunk area empty, but I have to unload the stuff I keep inside the spare (jumper cables, four-way lug wrench, tie down, etc.) and remove it from the car completely.

Not very conducive for the average person to EVER check the air pressure.


European cars are no better. My wife's Peugeot has its spare in a cradle under the rear. To check it I have to drop the cradle and remove the tire. Most cars carry the spare in the bottom of the trunk which you have to empty to get to.

Back in the day it was common for the spare to be under a separate floor so you could get to it without removing any luggage. Some Renault models (and other makes) carried the spare in the engine bay.
It's fair to say punctures used to be more frequent in the days of skinny crossply tires and tire rotation was a part of routine servicing. Fewer cars carry a full size spare today, some models don't even have a spare at all, just a can of goo you inject into the tire to get you home or run flat tires instead. Cars also have much larger tires than they used to.
I deplore this trend, particularly ever lower profiles and bigger diameter rims, most cars I've ridden in which have had aftermarket big low profile tires have a terrible ride and I guess shorter suspension life, all for marginal gains in grip on smooth dry road surfaces.
But it keeps the tire guys in business I suppose.

Claud.
 
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The VersaNote has it outside. I was disappointed. Here in NY, the carriers all rust up after 3 or 4 years and your spare tire randomly falls out or hen you need it you can't get it out without breaking the carrier.


It won't be a deal breaker in a few years when I buy a car, but it is something that takes a few points away from it.
 
A friend of mine blew a tire on the Taconic State Parkway in NY a while back. The spare was fine but the problem was that the big wingbolt that held it in the trunk was rusted and wouldn't come off. His dad was with him, and with lots of prying and swearing they were able to free the spare from the trunk. Problem was the wingbolt and its mount tore away from the rusted floor so they still couldn't use the spare. I think they were able to walk to a garage or body shop and had it torched off.

Tell me that wouldn't ruin your day...
 
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