Spare Tire Advice

[Aikouka]

I was driving to work this morning, and the car in front of me braked rather suddenly, which caused me to focus on it to try and gauge the intensity of the braking (i.e. slowing down vs. stopping). Unfortunately, that meant that I missed the reason why he braked so suddenly: there was some debris in the road. I hit it with my front driver's side tire and as you can guess, the tire began to lose air. I pulled over, swapped it out with the "donut", and went to see if I could get a replacement. Well... as you can probably guess by me making this thread, my morning didn't get much better, because no one including the Ford dealer where I bought the car has the tire in stock. Essentially, I'm stuck with a donut on my car until Friday or Saturday when the dealer can get the tire in. I had them come down in price to closely match Tire Rack, so that's not bad.

Anyway, I'm just trying to avoid doing any potential long-term damage to components on the car. I read somewhere that you should consider swapping one of your car's good wheels if the bad tire is on a drive axle, which is the case for me. That makes sense to me, but is it good advice? The only thing that has me worried is that there's a 65 MPH road on the way home (only about 2.5 miles), and I recall that you should avoid taking a donut above 50 MPH.

In case anyone's wondering, my Altima had a full-sized spare, so I've never had to deal with a donut. Also, my luck appears to have run out, because I've never had a flat tire before this.

 

[smackababy]

I think the general rule is you are not supposed to go over 50 miles and 50MPH if I recall correctly. However, while in the military, I had a blowout like 600 miles away from my station and had to get back or the group of us would face the consequences of leaving the local area without taking leave and had a blowout. So, I drove on the donut for that entire distance and nothing "bad" happened that I could tell. Did 70MPH on the highway and made it back in time.

Probably was dangerous, but at the time the risk was worth the reward. Depending how old your donut is, it should be okay.

 

[LTC8K6]

I think you are fine. Don't worry about it. The time and distances you mentioned are trivial, imo.

 

[Aikouka]

I think you are fine. Don't worry about it. The time and distances you mentioned are trivial, imo.

Hmm what about switching one of the back wheels into the front? It would certainly make turning the vehicle easier.

I just don't want to incur any extra costs because of carelessness. Arguably, that's how I popped my tire to begin with, and that's already costing me $300! I always thought my 16" tires looked rather gaudy, but they were about half the price of these 19" tires.

I think the general rule is you are not supposed to go over 50 miles and 50MPH if I recall correctly.

I think even with having to use the tire until Friday or Saturday, I can keep around the 50 mile limit since it's only about 9 miles to work. I knew about the speed limit, and that's what kind of worried me at first as unless I go way out of my way, it's hard to avoid the 65 MPH road. I could take an earlier exit, which means my northbound travel will be diverted to a 40-45 MPH road instead. It'll take about 5 minutes longer to get home, but it may be a bit safer.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Hmm what about switching one of the back wheels into the front? It would certainly make turning the vehicle easier.

I've always done it that way. Spare on the rear on FWD. Safer that way.

 

[Jimzz]

I've always done it that way. Spare on the rear on FWD. Safer that way.

Thats less safe but better for some drivetrains.

You always want the best tires on the rear. In this case if he has posi it can be damaged by the wheels spinning at differant rates.

 

[Midwayman]

I'd just stick it on a non drive wheel, stick to the right lane and give extra following distance when driving. Avoid any trips you can postpone. I've seen people drive with them for months with no issues, but those tires skeeve me out.

 

[OGOC]

Some car magazine put a donut on a Corvette years back and thrashed it through all their typical slalom and other tests. It did surprisingly well except for in straight-line traction (due to being so thin). Those things are pretty tough.

My main concern for spare tires is on older cars people may not realize their spare may have came with the car 10+ years ago. Tires do wear from age. Usually being kept out of the elements helps a lot though.

 

[Aikouka]

One thing I wanted to add... what are your thoughts on patching? I haven't had a chance to really look at the tire, but I don't think it was damaged much because it still had air when I took it off. I could even hear it start to escape as I lifted the car off the ground. I've always been a bit weary of patches though.

 

[smackababy]

One thing I wanted to add... what are your thoughts on patching? I haven't had a chance to really look at the tire, but I don't think it was damaged much because it still had air when I took it off. I could even hear it start to escape as I lifted the car off the ground. I've always been a bit weary of patches though.

Well, if it was sidewall damage, it is illegal to patch or plug that. For a puncture in the treads, I've never had a problem with the couple I've gotten. Generally, I'd only use it if I couldn't afford a replacement tire though. But that is just me.

 

[cbrsurfr]

Thats less safe but better for some drivetrains.

You always want the best tires on the rear. In this case if he has posi it can be damaged by the wheels spinning at differant rates.

True that the smaller contact patch in the rear will increase the tendancy for oversteer which can be more dangerous if you aren't aware of it. If he drives normal, not in any snow or heavy rain I think he'll be fine. Personally I'd rather have the fronts match on FWD since they do the steering, acceleration, and a majority of the braking. But I also don't have that problem as I have a full size spare.

 

[Aikouka]

Well, if it was sidewall damage, it is illegal to patch or plug that. For a puncture in the treads, I've never had a problem with the couple I've gotten. Generally, I'd only use it if I couldn't afford a replacement tire though. But that is just me.

I don't think there's any sidewall damage. My guess is that it's all located on the bottom (tread area) of the tire, because I only started hearing air hissing when I lifted the car off the ground. I'm not an expert or anything, but that leads me to believe that the breach was closed off while it was in contact with the ground.

I guess I share the same sentiment as I don't have as much experience with patches, so I'm not too sure how well they hold up. Although, what I might do is see if the tire can be patched, and if so, use it as a full-sized spare. I just need to get a new rim, which I could see how much the OEM one costs (probably a ridiculous amount) or just get any ol' 19" rim with the same dimensions and stud pattern.

EDIT:

If he drives normal

It'll be hard for me not to push the car harder around curves, but I think I can manage it for a few days.

 

[Jimzz]

Some car magazine put a donut on a Corvette years back and thrashed it through all their typical slalom and other tests. It did surprisingly well except for in straight-line traction (due to being so thin). Those things are pretty tough.

.

What donut? Corvettes have not had spare tires since 1997.

 

[C1]

When the tire is damaged in a way that it cant be patched easily or safely then just put a standard inner tube (of the correct size) in the tire. The tube also adds strength to the tire structure. You should be able to use the tire w/tube safely until you can procure a replacement tire.

 

[OGOC]

What donut? Corvettes have not had spare tires since 1997.

1) The article was from years ago.
2) You can put a donut tire on any car if it fits.

 

[AMCRambler]

Hit the treadmill.

 

[Zap]

no one including the Ford dealer where I bought the car has the tire in stock.

Had something similar happen to me with my Mazdaspeed 6. Ripped a hole in my sidewall hitting a nasty pothole. Dealer didn't have that size, nor did anyone else. Ended up special ordering it. In the meantime I put on my snow tire, so at least I wasn't on the donut.