That’s a good question. I’ve never changed a donut spare tire. My guess is because the tire is rarely, if ever used, and it is not exposed to the elements like UV light, the life expectancy should, for the most part be the life of the car. Unless, you keep a car for 25 years. Then maybe it’s worth considering a replacement out of an abundance of caution. (shrug)
It is almost certainly dry rotted or otherwise compromised and should not be relied upon. If you can’t get a replacement right away, get a 12V compressor and a can of Fix-a-Flat before your next road trip.
Even the ones that are not filled with air when stored (compressor included with spare kit)?
Rubber degrades over time. Donut spares are only intended to be used for short distances at low speed because they aren’t road tires. I would never trust one that is 12 years old, even as an emergency spare.
Tires are a big deal to me, too. You basically depend on 4 strips of rubber to keep your car on the road and under control. They need to be in good condition and, to avoid flats and especially blowouts, the overall tires have to be in good condition.
This is why I don’t like to go anywhere anymore.
That’s another reason I love my Wrangler - it’s one of the few vehicles that still comes with a full size spare. I also put run flats on the wife’s Jetta.
In my experience, the tires that come with a new vehicle are designed to provide a good ride, traction, etc. at the expense of longevity. They typically last about 40,000 to 50,000 miles.
Replacement tires typically last much longer, especially if you first review tire ratings. I usually get 60,000 to 70,000 from replacement tires.
I’ve never been particularly brand-loyal for tires, going with whatever brand has good ratings and a reasonable price.
But the most recent tires I put on all three of our vehicles were Michelin tires. They are usually very highly-rated, but also cost about 20% more than comparable tires. However, I got a good deal on them, and so decided to try them out. Bottom line: they perform so much better than any other tire that I have ever driven on that I may never go back to any other brand.
Anyway, the ones currently on my SUV have about 65,000 miles on them, and still have plenty of tread left.
The chart shows how many miles I got out of each set of tires before they were replaced due to being worn out. The all season tires all have about 50,000 mile tread warranties, and don’t get anywhere close to that.
My Suburban also has a full size spare. It is driven about 2500 miles per year, and the barely worn tires aged out with cracks and dry rot, so I got 5 new tires last year. Which leads to the question: should I do a 5-tire rotation, which will require paying to swap the wheels between the spare and a road tire, or should I figure these tires will only ever get rotated twice before they age out, so don’t worry about it?
If I do the 5-tire rotation, and I ever need the spare, it will be worn similar to the other tires. On the other hand, $60 to swap the wheels.
Holy fuck.
Is it just the weight, or the fact that EV have so much instant torque?
So your spare has a different rim than the road tires? That seems a bit odd. I think I’d buy a matching (or at least equivalent) rim and have the spare mounted and balanced on it and do the 5-tire rotation. If that’s not feasible, I’d leave the spare as the spare.
I have 5 matching tires and rims and was planning on a 5 tire rotation, but my front left developed a slow leak and got replaced with the spare. I plugged the leak and put it on the spare rack, where it will probably stay until all 5 tires get replaced next year and then I’ll go back to 5 tire rotation.
Both, plus add that I don’t pay at the pump when I drive with a heavy foot. At 4000 pounds it is very heavy for a sedan, but similar to lots of trucks and SUVs that can get good life from their tires. So tire manufacturers know how to make tires that can go 50,000+ miles on 4000 pound cars. Supposedly the Hankook ION EVOs are designed that way, but I guess I’ll see. If even bother to do a winter tire swap this year, I’m sure they’ll tell me all about how I’m at 6/32 and should be thinking about new tires.
Yes, the spare is on a steel rim, and the road tires are on alloys, but it’s all the same size. It’s around $200 to get another road wheel, and I would definitely do that if I was rotating the tires once per year. Based on my just now search, I could possibly break even selling the old steel wheel from the spare.
I have had these for awhile. I mainly got them because Costco was running a Michelin special but did my research on the other options, glad I didn’t go with Pilot Sport 4 which I think are more summer tires anyway, but have a very low guarantee, like 20,000 miles or so.
I still drive carefully in snow but they’ve served well, and would get again.
There is a summer version, but also an all season version (Pilot Sport 4 A/S). I have the latter.
I didn’t realize what the significance of your chart was either. But looking at it now, that is ridiculously low mileage before wearing out, IMHO.
(Although I do realize that winter tires tend not to last as long as all-season tires.)
This extreme tire wear would seem to be a significant downside for EVs, it seems.
Yes, and I’m sure most of what I save on oil changes goes into tires. As I said, supposedly the newer EV tires are designed to handle the increased weight. I recently rotated them, and the tire guys did not try to sell me new tires, which means at 12,000 miles the Hankooks still had good tread.
Knowing I go through tires fast, either the Falken or Pirelli winter tires were heavily discounted old-stock tires that I bought in the late spring. Even having them sit in a warehouse for two years, I had no concern about them aging out before getting worn down.