Author Topic: Check Your Spare Tires Regularly.... (Read 15198 times)

Patriot_1776 · « **on:** February 27, 2005, 03:56:56 PM »

This is worth reading.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6980573

Team 4 Reports: Tire Danger
KNBC-TVLOS ANGELES - A vehicle's tires may look like they're in great shape. But looks can be deceptive. And that deception can be deadly. Images:Tire Danger

Jeff Castro lost his wife, Krista. She was driving when the tread of her back tire came apart.

She lost control and swerved through several lanes of traffic, into the path of an oncoming pickup truck.

Her tire was a full-sized spare, manufactured in 1991, making it over 10 years old. But Jeff Castro said it really hadn't been used and that he put on the spare just two days before the fatal crash, and it looked brand new, like it just came off the shelves. That is what concerns safety advocate Sean Kane. "Tire aging occurs primarily internally," said Kane. "The tire may appear to be in perfectly good condition. Yet the internal adhesives have deteriorated to the point where it could fall apart." When the adhesives deteriorate, the tread can peel off the tire like an onion, reported NBC4's Michele Ruiz. Kane said tire age is dangerous because the problem is hidden beneath your tread, and you can't see it. Kane said don't rely solely on tread, because a good tread does not necessarily mean a safe tire. That includes newly purchased tires made years before and stored in warehouses. Kane's research company has documented more than 50 crashes that he claims are due to tire age. Dan Zielinski with the Rubber Manufacturers Association, or the RMA, is a spokesman for tire makers.

"We don't have data to show what, if any, problem does truly exist," Zielinski said. He dismissed Kane's data as merely anecdotal and said mileage and inflation pressure are more critical factors when it comes to tire safety. "Most American drivers do not properly maintain their tires," Zielinski said.

Team 4 Reports obtained a document in which the British Rubber Manufacturers' Association strongly recommends that unused tires should not be put into service if they are over 6 years old, and that all tires should be replaced 10 years from the date of their manufacture.

Many tire companies are also global companies. Many of the members of the American RMA are also members of the British RMA. Team 4 Reports wanted to know why British drivers would be warned, but not American drivers.

"There is no scientific data," said Zielinski. "It would be irresponsible to tell consumers that there is a certain time where their tire's not serviceable."

Because of a pending lawsuit, Bridgestone-Firestone would not comment about Castro's death. To find out how old a tire is, find the DOT number on the tire. The last set of numbers represents the week and year of manufacture.

For example, if the last four digits are 4804 it means the tire was manufactured in the 48th week of the year 2004. If the last digits are three numbers, for example 385, then it means the tire was made in the 38th week of 1995.

-Patriot

Dave in WV · « **Reply #1 on:** July 01, 2005, 04:41:40 PM »

Good post. Most folks seem to forget to check the air pressure in their spare. Another thing I learned the hard way with the Toyota PU I had was to lower and lube the spare tire hanger mech. Corrosion had it bound up when I went to lower the tire to check the pressure. I had to deflate the tire so I could raise the tire to get it broke loose.

rockbilly · « **Reply #2 on:** July 20, 2005, 06:40:56 AM »

:roll: Some folks just don't realize the importance of good tires on their vehicle. I have seen people spend big bucks to get brakes fixed and yet they continued to run slick tires. If the tire can't get a bite of the road, it ain't gonna stop the forward motion.

If you really love your wife, you will take the time to check the tire pressure in her vehicle several time each year. Course if ya wanna get rid of her let 'em go and maybe.....................

Siskiyou · « **Reply #3 on:** November 16, 2005, 02:00:57 PM »

Checked the wife's spare the other day. It was down to 17 pounds of pressure. Shame on me.

darrell8937 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2006, 11:53:58 AM »

This is some thing to take seriously.. Though my exsperiances are comical .. by the grace of God.. A friend of mine wanted to borrow my spare tire for a dakota pick up as he was going on a short trip and his spare had disapered from under the bed of his truck.. A week later ,, so had mine. It was somewhere beside the road. like his. Both of our cables that hold up the spare had rusted away. Spare tires are often forgotten. Exspecialy for those of us that buy four good tires and never think of the spare. The important thing to take away from this is to treat you spare as any other tire on you vehicle. I would even suggest slitting the side wall of that old suv tire that has ridden under that nice cover. Though it looks like new ,, it is not.. Throw it out at your local tire deale, and the 20 year old tire changer will grabb it.. They just don't get it.. some will even end up for sale a used tires.. Check the tire dates..discard old tires...

Siskiyou · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2006, 04:08:26 PM »

The the other day I got a look at the pickup I sold last August. The new owner puts a lot of miles on it every month. A lot of it on roads that are being salted for ice. The rim looks has a layer of rust on it. Iam sure the cable let down is also rusted. In the pass I checked the tire monthly for air pressure. But I did not run it up and down. I wonder if it would lower now, or is it going to fall out on the road.

I still check the spare on my new pickup. But it have not inspected the cable.

Dave in WV · « **Reply #6 on:** July 14, 2006, 04:52:04 PM »

Sisk, I had a 91 Toyota PU. I got lazy and didn't lower the spare and oil the winch every year. When I did try it was rusted and locked up. I had to deflate the tire so I could RAISE the tire to break it loose. That would have done me a lot of good. A deflated spare in a time of need. I kept it lubed after that.

kyote · « **Reply #7 on:** September 19, 2006, 02:23:34 PM »

great post.the other month I was out hunting and had to go of road to retrieve a dead animal.`well my luck,a stick went through the side wall of my mitchlen I put the spare on and the next day went to the tire shop.I had the road hazourds ins.the spare had been on for several years and was cracked.(rubber had cracks in it)I showed the guy at the shop and he said thats normal.like he was not going to replace it with the ins.I said look bioth you and I know you would not want to drive with this tire at 75mph for several hundered miles to the next tire repair shop with it as a spare.he said yer right.so he gave me two new tires.checking and changeing your spare is a great idea..

Sourdough · « **Reply #8 on:** June 07, 2007, 12:13:58 PM »

I was driving my Chevy work truck on evening. As I went down the road I heard a funny noise and looked in the rear view mirror. I saw a Toyota pickup following me suddenly go airborne then off the road. I pulled over to see what the problem was with the Toyota. There lying in the road was a wheel and tire. The driver of the Toyota was getting out of her vehicle and coming my way. I went and removed the wheel and tire before some else ran over it. As I rolled the wheel along the shoulder of the road the lady came up to me, saying "whew, what a ride". I asked her where the wheel came from, she then said "out from under your truck". I looked and found the cable that holds the spare in place was broken. When the spare fell she could not avoid it. The tire bounced and turned up as whe was passing over it and caught on the bottom of her truck. The spare crushed her oil pan, and broke the mounts for the engine and transmission. That cost the Army something.

The wife just bought a new Mazda RX-8, no spare. I asked the dealer about a spare he said no need we have excellent road side assistance. They will come and take care of the problem no matter when or where. Yea right, try and get someone to come to your aid between Mancu Lakes, and Whitehorse, Canada. Or around Beaver Creek, no I'm going to have a full size spare before I leave the states. Maybe even two, that the usual number I carry on that trip.

scout34 · « **Reply #9 on:** October 20, 2007, 02:21:45 PM »

I was getting ready to move from Ft. Hood to Ft. Knox and was checking the spares on both trucks. My wife's was good but mine was just gone. The hanger had been removed by some low life. When I tried to buy a new wheel I found out why. New Ford Superduty 8 lug wheel = $250

. Now I look at mine every other day.

Horsefeathers · « **Reply #10 on:** January 19, 2008, 11:34:39 AM »

I have a Ford Expedition (1999) I checked my spare only to find the lowering cable was jammed. Had to replace the whole unit. Luckilly it bolted on and was easy to replace. The loose wheel on the road reminds me of an incident I saw. Awheel came rolling down the highway past my car, fell flat on the road. A small compact car ran over it with one wheel and was lifted up onto rwo wheels Same side.. The car continued down the road for a while and the came back onto four wheels and continued on it,s way. Another incident on the same road had a tire roll down the road, go through a windshild and kill the driver...Horsefeathers

hillbill · « **Reply #11 on:** May 20, 2008, 03:51:35 PM »

saw this thread and checked and oiled the spare and spare let down on my 98 Nissan frontier today. spare tire letdown was a lil squeaky but then im not in a high salt area.glad yu guys gave me the heads up on it.i lubed the tire carrier and it should be good for a while. again thanks!

Rex in OTZ · « **Reply #12 on:** June 23, 2010, 10:17:49 AM »

In the area i live city haul's allot of industrial type garbage by open dump truck happens that spring breakup day a piece of motorcycle engine fell off the tail gate in the middle of mud puddle right in a busey intersection, I happen to drive through the mudpuddle the FOD was coverd by water in my lane and found I drove over a stud right through the tread of the left front tire, I limped the truck over to the side the road got out the jack and jacked er up, the lugnuts were rusted on so I walked the 4blocks to the shop for a 4-way & some penertating oil, finally later on I was able to knock the rim off the Hub with a 8' 2x4 and a 10# hand sledge only to discover the spare was held in by a electric winch that needed a special key to operate (nobody knew where the key was so I needed to cut the retaining cable), the truck had a dealers package 16" aluminum rims the spare was a 15" on a 4x4 truck?? it pays to check that the spare is the same size as whats on the vehicle, was able to mount the 15" on the front and run round with it in 2 wheel drive till I could get a spare built, so I order 5 tires each time I change a set of tires, Ive found that if a valve stem/rim slow leaks and somebody drives the underinflated tire it heats up and causes undue flexing the side wall causeing more the tire to weakin and then its always a slow leak tire, when replaceing the tires change the valve stems to,
The correct size and type / rateing and dont skimp on value when it comes to tire maintenance on 80 PSI tires dont assume use a good pressure gage and do it once a week or every time you get in, I pull the dipstick's and check coolant before every trip.
The worst I had was I was traveling with another guy across state I was following his truck when my Rt front tire blew out on my Dad's Ford farm truck (LN8000) I was hauling 5 purebread Angus bulls they got to tussling in the back and tossing the truck round quite a bit must of cause the blow out, I was a couple miles out of a small town (Indianola Nebr) when the blow out occored and I ended up buying a pair of COOP brand tires so the front end matched, just so I could get back up state.
I found when the bulls started fighting in back I'd bump the brakes couple times and knok them off balance, after a couple thimes they simmer down and rode rode nice.

Siskiyou · « **Reply #13 on:** June 23, 2010, 10:29:55 AM »

When contruction was going hot and heavy contractors were fore ever spilling nails out on the roadway.

Bob Riebe · « **Reply #14 on:** November 26, 2019, 09:35:37 AM »

JUST as important, check to see if the car-jack is still in your trunk.When I bought my 1978 Olds Delta 88, with 35,000 miles checked trunk and saw the original spare still there, white wall still had green coating BUT when digging around while putting snow tires on, discovered there was not jack in the trunk, jack stand but no jack.

Graybeard · « **Reply #15 on:** November 26, 2019, 11:29:23 AM »

I don't have a trunk, just a bed. But the jack is right where it belongs under the rear seat. Now I wonder if I have a spare tire anywhere? Guess I really never looked but then my truck is only 3 years old this month.

O-mega · « **Reply #16 on:** November 26, 2019, 06:29:45 PM »

Along these lines, you should take off your tires and put some never seez, grease or like lubricant between your aluminum wheel and steel rotors/drums. I normally have the tire place rotate my tires, as it's part of getting new tires from them, but when I needed to replace my front wheel bearing I decided to rotate them myself. That's when I found out that these to metals like to fuse together, in as little as one to two days. I read that you need to remove all but one or two lug nuts, leaving them loose, then lowering the truck and moving it back and forth...didn't work for me. I had a good floor jack, and jack stands, and I still felt a bit uneasy about having to kick the tire loose, I couldn't imagine having to do that with a scissor jack, on the side of the road.

TiggerLueb · « **Reply #17 on:** May 18, 2021, 06:20:51 AM »

As a busy parent I chose to not do some of my own maintenance on my truck. I spent my valuable time off with my daughters. Then one day on my way into the employee parking my spare tire dropped from under my truck as I navigated a deep expansion joint in the pavement. Embarrassed, got out of the cab, retrieved my loose wheel and parked in my spot. The retention cable on my 1989 GMC had broken as I bounced across the expansion joint. I was glad that it had chosen to do so at that time and not at a higher speed. Now ever 5K miles I rotate my own tires and check my spare as I do so.

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #18 on:** May 18, 2021, 10:37:53 AM »

Because of my age I moved my spare from under the truck bed and placed it in the bed of the truck that way I can check it often I have a De Walt impact gun a plastic tarp to lay on a 12 volt air pump plus some gloves along with a aluminum racing jack. I have a fiberglass bed cover that can be locked for protection. Getting the spare out from under a truck when you are dressed in a suit is a real pain. So this is the way I took care of the problem. Getting all the lug wrenches and jack from under the seat is also a real pain. so this is my game plan. I also have a small 12 volt 2500 lb winch that slides into my hitch receiver if I should get stuck.

Deaconllb

Mule 11 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 18, 2021, 11:09:45 AM »

If I were reduced to wearing a suit I’d pay for a good roadside assistance plan and let someone else do it... A suit on me would be like putting lipstick on a pig... I use to have work clothes and city clothes. Problem was I’d forget I was wearing the city clothes too many times...

Graybeard · « **Reply #20 on:** May 18, 2021, 11:17:47 AM »

I haven't worn a suit since I retired in '95, I don't even own one that would fit me.

I'd hate to think I had to get my spare out from under my truck. I really doubt I could. But I have roadside assistance I can call and let them do it.

DEACONLLB · « **Reply #21 on:** May 20, 2021, 06:25:50 AM »

I wear a suit several times a week in my duties as a minister. Weddings, funerals, church services and other formal occasions require a suit. As far as roar side assistance I have had it for years for major things. But when you call for help it may come and it may not. When I am on my way to a funeral or some other function I cannot afford to sit on the side of the road and hope some one shows up in time for me to get to where I am needed. If you don't like to wear a suit that is fine to each his own.

Deaconllb

Mule 11 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 20, 2021, 07:39:03 AM »

I was not bustin your chops Deacon and had a pretty good idea as to why you where a suit. Also your reply makes a lot of sense. Thanks for your service...