Cycling in spare tires

Sorry space saver crowd, this discussion isn't for you...

Do you guys cycle through your spare tire or does the factory original just hang out waiting for its moment of glory? 

We have an E350 and a Ranger.  They still have their factory spares which are 22 and 27 years old, respectively.  For the E350, I'm planning to replace 2 tires and I was thinking about keeping the best take off and making that my spare.  Considering it is the family ride, I'd rather not have to trust that tire if needed.  For my Ranger, cycling isn't easy because I have upgraded to 15" wheels 10+ years ago while the spare is the 14".

So do you guys make full use of that extra bit of weight your ride carries around?  

I have a couple of cars with full size spares. I don't cycle them through, doesn't mean its the right thing to do ... heck, I rarely rotate tires lol.

I am getting ready to replace tires again on my 15 year old truck and 175k miles. I am going to replace the spare at the same time. I pulled it down to replace the TPMS sensor and noted the cracks in the sidewall. It still hold pressure, but I am not sure I want to rely on it in an emergency.

I have not rotated the spare thru the normal rotation because it is a different wheel than the other 4 (color and design/hole pattern).

I've never done it, though I do like the idea. Most of my tires age out long before they wear out though.

I don't have any cars with stock-size wheels, but when I have full-size spares I don't tend to cycle them in, I rotate the 4 tires on the car until they're used up and then put something else on an axle or all 4 wheels.

I do still have the factory spare for the AE92, which is about the same overall diameter as the tires I'm using now, so I keep that one as a spare, it's pretty damn old at this point, surprisingly doesn't look bad though and I ran an autocross on a rough track with it a few years ago.

When I get tires for the van I take the best of the old ones and put that on the spare wheel.

My 1972 Jensen Interceptor still has the original spare under the car, still holding air. Not sure I'd want to have to mount it though.  Should probably get around to buying a new one .....

My truck got 5 new wheels and tires and I do cycle them through. My car got 4 new tires and the best of the old ones is now my spare and hasn't seen the light of day in 5 years. 

I usually don't keep a spare tire on my car (my wife drives new stuff and it has a spare). I have AAA and if I get a flat they can tow it home. This policy has only burnt me once in the past 20 years. I had a flat when coming home from a business trip (in the airport parking lot). I had to take an uber to a parts store to get fix a flat to get enough air in it to drive it 2 miles to the closest air pump. Then the fix a flat murked my TPMS sensor so I had to fix that. Even with that I didn't add a spare. 

With a full size spare on a matching wheel, I do a 5 tire rotation and buy a set of 5 tires.  Otherwise, I'll either demote a used tire to the spare or replace a spare after 10 - 12 years. 

I have two vehicles with full sized spares, and a I rotate/cycle in the spare for each.  I want my spare to be as fresh as the rest of the tires.  And similar OD.

One is my Sprinter-based motorhome.  Seven tires, including spare.  I never rotate the dually rears, but do rotate the fronts and spare.  So the rears get replaced first, out of synch with the others...and then the front/spare set.  Works great.  On my third motorhome now and have done this on all of them.

The other use case is my car hauler trailer.  Five tires total...spare gets rotated into the pattern.

With cars with full size spares, I've always bought my tires in sets of four and changed out the best for the spare. 
 

My truck currently has a spare tire that I bought new about five years ago, when I realized I hadn't replaced the one the truck came with. Nothing else in the fleet has a full size spare.