Anyone used their spare tire after the old tires wore out.

[ottertailguy]

I have a Chevy 2005 K1500 with 77000 miles and it's time to buy new tires.I wonder if it would be OK to use the spare tire that came with it and buy 3 others that match. Or since the spare is 4 years old the rubber might crack soon before the tread wears out. I don't want to sacrifice safety or waste money.

[Macgyver55]

I've done it without a problem. The biggest problem is finding exact match tires that are still available.

[Valv]

I always wondered the same too. What's the difference between a tire that has been hanging for 4 or 6 years under a vehicle and one that is still installed on the wheel and they are of same age ?

[jwhjr]

Make sure its the same size as the ones you have on right now. On my 04 Silverado, the spare is a 16", but the ones in use are 17". That's the way it came new, because the 17" tire doesn't fit in the space for the spare I guess.

[MuleShack]

I dont think you would see as much degration being it is under the vehicle and not in direct sunlight.

I am currently on 1 1/2 years on my tires and i got a flat plowing. (normally I keep them for 2 years and get new set in fall right before snow)

I dont want to get 4 new ones now and have them wear over summer. So after checking the salvage yards with no luck for an E range tire i decided to go buy one. I know they should be the same diameter with a 4x4 so you dont bind etc.

So i'm going to put the new one on as a spare, then take my spare and put it in the rear so I can burn off a couple hundreths of an inch.

Then this fall I will only buy 3 new ones and use the new one that I put on for the spare and then keep the best looking old one for my next spare.

Those flat tire scenarios really throw a wrench in the plans of the 4x4's.

[Jeremy airjer W]

If you take a look at the tire Vin# which is two sets of four letters and then four numbers (example JWHR MOHR 4308) you might be surprised to find out how old your tires are. The last four numbers are the week and year the tire was made. In the example that tire would have been made on the 43rd week of 2008.

As long as the tire is in good shape I would have no problem using it as long as the 3 new tires are an exact match. If you can't match the tire then get four and keep the spare under the vehicle.

[metrojoe]

If I have replace all the tires anyways I figure I might as well get 4 new ones and keep the spare as a spare. Like airjer posted if you can get an excact match then go for it, but finding an exact match is usually the problem.

[solbes]

I had an accident with my dakota a few years back. I was also almost due for a tire change. To get back some of my deductable, I had the auto body place switch tires between the steelie spare rim and alloy truck rims. Insurance bought the other tire (since it blew out in accident). So $500 deductable with $250 saved in tires I would have had to buy anyway.

That full size spare is still on my truck and is wearing about the same as the others. All four tires are same make, model, and size.

[ottertailguy]

I talk to a guy at a tire shop and he confirmed that the spare can be used but only if I can still find the same tires. The tires on the truck are Bridgestone Dueler A/T 693 ll 265/70R17 so now I have to start searching.