I was looking at my tires the other day and realized that if I needed to use my spare, the diameter of the spare tire is a lot bigger than the diameter of the other 4 tires on my jeep, probably by a good inch, due to wear. If I had to put that spare on and drive any significant distance, that could put a lot of strain on my differential having the tire sizes off by only that much. So I guess my question is does anybody out there incorporate their spare into their tire rotation scheme? I'm about due for new tires and would like to start rotating in the best possible way right from day 1. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
rotating the spare.
- Thread starter indiemo
- Start date
graewulf
New member
I never have rotated the spare... probably never will either.. the small difference in tire size won't hurt anything.. and when you get the original tire replaced/fixed, put the spare back where it belongs... unless its the same kind of tire, then just leave it and put the fixed one in as a spare. You won't do any damage to your differential unless you're talking a majotr tire size difference... shouldn't affect handling either.
If you are woried about tire size put it on the front. Then it doesn't matter unless you are in 4wd. I never rotate the spare I am to cheep to buy a matching wheel to put it on and I would just assume not buy 5 tires at a time they cost too much now. I usually have a used tire put on for the spair anyway. Which reminds me I have 1 inch smaller spares on both my 4x4's I need to look for some used tires.
Unless your axles are locked, it doesn't matter... even if you are in 4wd. The whole point of open differentials is so that one wheel can spin at a different rate than the other, like when you make a turn, the inside wheel travels slower than the outside. If you're buying 5 tires all the same brand, then YES, rotate the spare in. But I keep a used tire for a spare on the same style rim. When I get the tire fixed, swap back out.
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Snitty
New member
if that is the case, then you could run different gears in the front than the rear.... that is the same case as different sized tires... for the same speed, the driveshafts would spin at different rates, one situation due to gearing, one due to tires, but still, the shafts would spin at different speeds... if at least one front tire is not the same size as at least one rear tire, it will cause damage
graewulf
New member
Snitty said:
so long as you are close you are ok.. if you were off by a few inches, you could have a problem, but the diff will even out the tires, if you ran diffferent size in front than rear you could have troublem, but an inch on one tire wont do it.... thats why you cant run 4wd on the street without wearing the tires faster, you would actually be dragging the rear tires slightly. if an inch was enough to cause trouble then a donut spare would wipe out any car made today.. they are all at least an inch smaller than the tires on the vehicle. the diff is why you dont have more trouble. also, we're not talking about going 1000 miles with uneen tires, just far enough to get it fixed.
I got to looking at my Mts the other day and realized I hadnt rotated the damn things since I got em. When you work full time and go to school full time these things get forgotten. My spare had a significant amount of tread versus the other four, so I swapped it in and I have had no problems since!!!
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