The Spare Tire

[pdub]

I'm trying to think, I don't believe...no I'm SURE I haven't had to use one of those donut spare tires until today (by now yesterday).

It's said to be meant for rescue only. At least when I was born, it was said to be good for 50 miles. To get to a new tire or a repair shop.

But the thing is, I notice folks here in eastern Tennessee at WalMart, the grocery store, everywhere, tooling around on donut tires. Ma and Pa Kettle and all the grandkids, not a care in the world, just another day with the donut spare tire on, driving along. Are THEY going directly to the tire store? No, not today.

I mean, Red's not moving from our house until it's time to go back to the tire store and get his new wheel mounted with a real tire. And then I'll creep back over there and be glad I made it on the donut wheel.

I guess I'm just paranoid. I guess that's what it is.

[Deaf Bob]

Pdub... They are temporary...and just that..
Fools drive and drive on them! No 2ways about them..
There are a couple types/styles of them... More probably..
We use them on derby cars up front, because you get a big rim.. If it goes flat, we can keep moving on the rim.. Which is very common in derbys..
Some are so goldurned hard! If there was no air they look half flat...
Some are so soft and flexable that half pound of air low looks way flat.
I have seen idiots go thru the spare piles at yards and tire places to get the small tire/low rider look..
Smaller tires make the car feel like it has gears
Some have sidewalls that have tread, some don't..
With those tires in the dirt, manuverability SUCKS big big time! They keep going straight when the wheel is fully locked into a turn
You could drive Red... But why? Bump the wrong way, hit a wet spot just right...it can be catsrophic..
Some guys swear by them... I ain't one of them.. I HATE putting them together for derby cars... Regular doubled ones are plenty hard to do..
Somebody put some on the back of his street car and did burnouts... Remember lower gears.. Well smaller rims allow shock mounts to rub.. On pavement
Plus going distances with one on the rear axle (RWD) keeps oil from the side that is taller..

[silver_bullet]

I'm trying to think, I don't believe...no I'm SURE I haven't had to use one of those donut spare tires until today (by now yesterday).

It's said to be meant for rescue only. At least when I was born, it was said to be good for 50 miles. To get to a new tire or a repair shop.

But the thing is, I notice folks here in eastern Tennessee at WalMart, the grocery store, everywhere, tooling around on donut tires. Ma and Pa Kettle and all the grandkids, not a care in the world, just another day with the donut spare tire on, driving along. Are THEY going directly to the tire store? No, not today.

I mean, Red's not moving from our house until it's time to go back to the tire store and get his new wheel mounted with a real tire. And then I'll creep back over there and be glad I made it on the donut wheel.

I guess I'm just paranoid. I guess that's what it is.

you are not paranoid PeeWee... you are just being observant...there are many ways in which the saying fits..."YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!!

[Beagle]

The temp spares for Mustangs didn't have a 50 mile rating that I remember - and they had a speed rating. There were guys running two spares for "skinnies" at the track. Check the numbers on your tire, it may be more tire than you think it is. It should have a speed rating , weight, etc.

[pdub]

The temp spares for Mustangs didn't have a 50 mile rating that I remember - and they had a speed rating. There were guys running two spares for "skinnies" at the track. Check the numbers on your tire, it may be more tire than you think it is. It should have a speed rating , weight, etc.

I'dda never thought to look at that Beags. The donut has an M which the chart says is 81 mph. I wouldn't want to see that happen, the stance is so screwed up already with the hogs on the other three corners. And in great big print it says FOR TEMPORARY USE ONLY.

And the real tires I got are rated Y which the chart says is 186. Hmmmm.....blower, roll cage, fire suit, five point harness, fire suppresion, solid rocket booster, nitrous, trailer, ECTA, Wilmington.....no Unit, no. Not gonna happen. Road race road race road race.

[Beagle]

[Loren]

I put one of those little spares in the '70 BB El Camino, to have more space and let the pass seat (non-stock) recline a little bit.

So I'm driving from Phoenix back home to San Diego and a front tire is looking low. It gets lower and lower... Incidentally before leaving on my trip I cleaned the car out and forgot to put the jack back in and I do not want to have to change that tire. When it's about flat, I have to stop beside the freeway or ruin a decent 50-series BFG. There out in the middle of the desert, there are some people camped a half-mile or so away and I stop by to borrow a jack from a nice old retired couple. Then on goes the space-saver.

With an all-iron big-block (even the intake), the space-saver sinks nearly to the rim. I drive on the emergency lane at 25 for a few miles...at one point I am actually passed by another guy with a space-saver driving along the side, he's going 35. Everybody else, 70-80.

I get to a service station but it's Sunday afternoon and no tire facilities are open. I find a punture hole in my BFG so buy a tube of silicone sealer, push it into the hole and drive a screw in after, then re-inflate the tire and swap it back in. I then have to turn around and drive back up the freeway to return the jack.

All good for an hour or so, then I guess the screw in the tire comes out and we're back to hunting for a jack again. There's a campground along the road and the host has one to loan.

So we're back with the space-saver. It's getting dark and there are no options except to drive it, rim about an inch off the pavement, 'til it dies, and that's where I will be spending the night. Better not go over 30...better to get home on it however long it takes.

And it took awhile. I drove on at 30mph, making myself a hazard for every sleepy motorhome driver returning from a weekend of inebriated motorcycling at the Glamis dunes. Fortunately after 8pm or so there weren't that many. I listened to CDs, one after the other, and just tried to relax. Through the desert, across to the mountains, on toward the house...into the garage at about midnight.

Well, I'd have to say it did a heroic job, but no more space-savers for me. There is a full-size spare along now, whatever room it takes up. Oh, and remember to bring a jack.

[milner351]

Great Story Loren!

I've been there - but not through the mountains or desert - not nearly as heroic.

In a truck, I prefer to have a real jack, a real full size spare, and at least a 4 -way if not a long 1/2" drive ratchet, extension and the proper socket.

Then - there's the times you're in a hurry and forget everything you told yourself to bring, and for that - $80 a year to AAA is well worth it.

[Russell]

I have had to use them before, Don't like it but better than waiting for a tow truck or walking. I always fix ASAP. Some people don't have the money or choose to spend money on other things than tires. Safety, good tires, PW your standards are way to high!

I truely think on of the coolest "new car" things is the tire pressure sensiors. Going to Nana's house middle of no where sunday afternoon, light comes on tire low. Car still driving great, pull over sure enough nail, air come out, drive a mile or two to the next exit gas station buy plug kit, plug pump up, on the road again. Much cooler than the old way, I think I have a tire going down pull over, the side wall is already toast!