How long do spare tires last?

At some point, even without much use, spare tires age out and the prospect of actually using them becomes a bit terrifying. When is that?

Exactly when you need them?

Properly stored, ie bagged and in a climate controlled environment, NEW tires should last years.

The Toyo R888s I used on track last year, and will again this year are from early 2009.

z31maniac wrote: Properly stored, ie bagged and in a climate controlled environment, NEW tires should last years. The Toyo R888s I used on track last year, and will again this year are from early 2009.

The trunk of my car isn't climate-controlled.

I know they self destruct at 55.1 MPH, at least according to the 10 warning labels on them.

You would think a spare mounted in a trunk could last indefinitely, but those undercarriage mounted ones must dry rot.

I think the tire manufacturers only warranty tires for 6 years, so maybe that is the magic number?

I wouldn't want to push them much more than 5 unless stored in a sealed container. In terms of sitting in a trunk vs. rolling, sitting in a trunk is arguably worse for the tire (same rate of dry rot as any tire exposed to open atmosphere, but more uneven because it doesn't get used - outer layers would get very crusty very fast). Although hanging under the car is like the worst of both worlds.

I've actually developed a radically different strategy when it comes to spares: I leave them at home, in the unlikely event that I need a spare (never had a tire surprise me with a failure yet) I put whatever crusty old spare I have on it, and then immediately but gingerly drive it to a tire shop for a new tire or to repair the old one if possible.

We pulled the donut spare out of the g/f's '95 Volvo 850 the other day to get us home. Other than being mostly flat, it looked practically new and there's no reason to believe it isn't original to the car.

Interesting. There is a big part of me that wants to just get a matching 5th wheel for my truck and then rotate all 5 so that the spare wears out when all of the other ones do. I used a 3 tire rotation on my trailer and was pretty happy with that. Does anyone ever replace a mini spare? I know I never have.

Sky_Render wrote:

z31maniac wrote: Properly stored, ie bagged and in a climate controlled environment, NEW tires should last years. The Toyo R888s I used on track last year, and will again this year are from early 2009.

The trunk of my car isn't climate-controlled.

For some reason I was thinking of "spare = extra" vs "spare = in the event of a flat tire"

Possibly because 3 of my last 4 vehicles only had tire repair kits and not a spare.

My bad!

The OE spare in my '96 Miata seems in like-new condition. It still holds air fine.

I had to use a bias-ply spare of unknown age/origin on my Impala... That was a scary 2-hour ride home but it worked (and wasn't flat the next morning either!).

I've had them blowout hanging under the truck. That's pretty exciting.

Usually every 2nd or third set of tires I take the best of the old ones and rotate it under for a spare. All that costs is a mounting.

An acquaintance of mine stopped by with a tire that had self destructed at 70 mph and tore his truck up. The thing was still holding air, but the entire tread had separated and come off. His fender was shoved back into the door so you could barely open the door. He kept going on about how the tire was "new". Well, it wasn't new, it was his spare, and it had ridden on the back of his truck (Toyota Forerunner?) since the truck was new. The truck was a 1990 model.

So, definitely get rid of them before 20 years. I'd say closer to ten. Some very cautious types would say six.

1988RedT2 wrote: An acquaintance of mine stopped by with a tire that had self destructed at 70 mph and tore his truck up. The thing was still holding air, but the entire tread had separated and come off. His fender was shoved back into the door so you could barely open the door. He kept going on about how the tire was "new". Well, it wasn't new, it was his spare, and it had ridden on the back of his truck (Toyota Forerunner?) since the truck was new. The truck was a 1990 model. So, definitely get rid of them before 20 years. I'd say closer to ten. Some very cautious types would say six.

That tire probably would have been fine under 50MPH or so.

mtn wrote:

1988RedT2 wrote: An acquaintance of mine stopped by with a tire that had self destructed at 70 mph and tore his truck up. The thing was still holding air, but the entire tread had separated and come off. His fender was shoved back into the door so you could barely open the door. He kept going on about how the tire was "new". Well, it wasn't new, it was his spare, and it had ridden on the back of his truck (Toyota Forerunner?) since the truck was new. The truck was a 1990 model. So, definitely get rid of them before 20 years. I'd say closer to ten. Some very cautious types would say six.

That tire probably would have been fine under 50MPH or so.

Most spares are N and M speed rated, good up to 80 mph.

I would honestly say I would not cruise at such speeds on a spare, but the delamination described above is more likely due to age. 10 years is a good time frame for getting rid of a spare that hides away in a trunk. Less for anything that's exposed to the sun.

UV radiation is the major contributor to dryrotting and breakdown of rubber products.

The first thing I did when I got an FD spare for my NC Miata was swap out the tire for a new one. Best $60 of insurance I could buy aside from the spare itself.

I would imagine for most folks on here, the spare isn't much of an issue. I mean, if we have a flat, we typically drive the car home and address it. The general public will drive around on a donut for a month or two until they feel like going to get it fixed.

Just to clarify, the delaminating tire on the Forerunner described above was a full-size "spare"--basically one of a set of 5 OEM tires that rolled off the showroom floor. It was not a donut, and it would have carried whatever speed rating was on the stock tires of the day. Not that that matters much. It was still over 20 years old.

When I replaced the tires on the M5 last month there was a matching wheel in the trunk with a very used dunlop on it that was dated from 1989. glad I never had to use it, and yes I replaced it with a new pirelli identical to the other four on the car. still undecided whether I will rotate the spare but at this point Im thinking yes.

I've never, knock on wood had a tire failure, despite driving like a bat out of hell in Detroit. I attribute this to always carrying 2 spare tires, a torque wrench, an air pump and a can of slime.

I opened the trunk of a Volvo a couple of weeks ago- a 700 series, I think, so that would be 84 or newer, and the full size lightweight spare had blown in the trunk at some point. Still had the nibs on the tread.

Toyman01 wrote: I've had them blowout hanging under the truck. That's pretty exciting.

I was checking the pressure of my wife's spare on her 2003 Trailblazer that hangs outside. My first thought is it looked pretty dry rotted. I might grab a cheap replacement.

Honestly it really depends on how you use them...

http://youtu.be/HPh90yNX-mY

(C63 AMG on donuts)

Kenny_McCormic wrote: I've never, knock on wood had a tire failure, despite driving like a bat out of hell in Detroit. I attribute this to always carrying 2 spare tires, a torque wrench, an air pump and a can of slime.

Oh yeah your tires are invincible.

I dunno, the spare in my 10 yr. old ZX2SR as in fine condition when I sold the car.

Then again, I have only had to use the spare one time in all of the years of owning cars. Lucky I guess.

My spare tire is stored in my wallet, and has three big A's on it :D

For longer trips, I usually throw one of my snow tires in the trunck, as I don't have a donut anymore.