I was admiring my new exhaust system and noticed that one of the pipes is right next to (less then 1/4") from the spare tire. Any chance of this damaging the tire? I would hate to need it and find out it is damaged and can't be used.

 

My Gibson system is also very close to the spare tire. This is my observation, not necessarily applicable to your set-up:

While driving, the air flow around the assembly is enough to adequately cool and disperse the heat from the pipe.

Because the exhaust is now split into two exits, and only one pipe is near the tire, there is roughly half of the heat in the tail pipe as compared to the stock exhaust.

I have put my hand on the spare tire where the exhaust pipe is near it and it was not overly warm to the touch.

So, to make a long story short, I am not worried about damaging the spare on my truck...

PS. My exhaust is about 3/4" from the spare tire...

 

my catback runs about an inch away form it but even when the engine is warm the pipes back by the tire are barely warm due to heat distribution before it reaches the farther out part of the tailpipes. I wouldnt worry about it.

 

Ditto, but my 3" tailpipe gets pretty darn hot. To me, that means more heat is moving away from the motor.

Watch for the spare wanting to 'creep' over towards the pipe as you drive. Mine would creep over and when I started to smell burned rubber, I'd know my spare was touching the pipe.

I had to lower the spare, and while raising it up, would push on the tire to move it over as far to the left as it would go, then snug up the cable. I later put some foam rubber strips on the frame rails where the spare rides against to keep it from rubbing grooves into the spare tire. As a bonus, it keeps the spare from creeping over now too.