I just pulled down my spare for the first time and found marks where the frame had rubbed against the sidewall of the tire, ruining the sidewall!! Has anyone else experienced this? I've replaced the tire, but I'm not sure how to protect it from the same fate. Is there a cover or separator that should be there? Any Ideas? Thx for your help.

 

director,
I read about this, here I think, jsut before I got my truck. I got a flat tire 180 miles into ownership, when I fixed the spare I cut a piece of carpet to put between the tire and truck. Although it is getting ratty it does work, I am looking into replacing it with a sheet of teflon.

Ed

 

My spare is on the truck for the first time ever on my 97. There was marks but no damage to the tire. The tire is however a little bit dryrotted & had like 13 p.s.i. in it when I pulled it off.

 

I was going to say do a search but, when I did over six pages came up with hundreds of posts.

Put something between the tire and frame.
Some use carpet.
Cardboard don't work, just ask... me.
A piece of pywood would work but, tricky to cut and it might rattle.
An old inner tube (deflated).

Who did come up with the best idea?

 

I actually just lower and raise it occasionally. Usually about once a month to check the pressure and to work the winch. I've not really noticed any marks on my tire since I've been doing this.

 

i am using my once spare as my fourth tire and the one that had a 6' gash in teh tread from some A** that cant throw razors away insead throws them out the window. sorry just had to let a little steam. well on with the tire it had only a few marks on it so i just cleaned it up good. sounds like i got lucky. now this thred has reminded me that the flat tire is there and i need to get a new one before i need a good one

 

Little over a year ago I had to use my spare and it had the rub marks on it but there didn't apear to be any other dameage to the tire. I put around 2000 miles on the spare before putting it back in it place as I was on vacation. I had to buy a new rim and tire as as I damaged my rim and tire during the blowout and waited til I got home to get the new rim and tire before putting the spare back.

 

Thanks all for the ideas - it seems stupid that there wasn't some form of protection like rubber bump pads or something! - I'm going to try some chloroplast, the stuff plastic signs are made of, to see if it will protect the spare. Maybe I should have mentioned that I have the 17" rims, it might make a difference. Thanks again!

 

After dumping the goodyear rt/s for BFG Rugged Trails, I went back to the shop for them to change my spare. When they took it off it had six depression/rub marks on it. The guy at the shop said it would be ok to use. I dont want to buy a brand new tire and have it rubbed like that. I really need to know if the carpet does the trick because I went from 255 to 265 and I would really rather have the same size spare.
I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions.

 

I used some 1x3 shipping styrofoam -- merely dropped the tire and laid on two strips of styrofoam -- then cranked it up. Works great (is self-adjusting).

 

I read this thread and pulled my spare off and checked it. 15 psi and grooves pressed into the sidewall. Boosted the pressure up to 35 psi and did not torque the spare up against the bottom as tight.

 

It might be better to keep it a little tight v.s. too loose as too loose lets it move around and RUB on the frame. At least if it's tight it won't jiggle around. Sure, you'll get marks. Shouldn't grind away the rubber though if it's not rubbing/moving around.