Space Saver Spare Tire Size TourX Essence

[Uniqez]

Spare tire - ✅
Jack was taken from 2013 or 14 Impala, trimmed the styrofoam and it fits perfectly.
Compressor and goop are on the left.

 

[ECM56]

Uniqez: Did you put anything underneath the spare to cushion it? It seemed to me it might rock and make some noise so I put a rolled up beach towel under it. But, maybe once the wing nut is tightened down, it may not move around - I didn't test that. There's plenty of room to store small stuff under and around the spare.

 

[Uniqez]

Uniqez: Did you put anything underneath the spare to cushion it? It seemed to me it might rock and make some noise so I put a rolled up beach towel under it. But, maybe once the wing nut is tightened down, it may not move around - I didn't test that. There's plenty of room to store small stuff under and around the spare.

I was thinking about putting something under it, but then I just tighten the nut and test it. It feels pretty solid and doesn't rock. There is only one thing I'm planning to add - some cushion tape on the rib that spare sits on. Just to prevent from damaging the paint, if spare ever moves.

 

[SweetWafer]

Unfortunately, I gouged the sidewall of a tire on my TourX and I got to use my spare, a P/N 9594807 out of a 2010 DTS. This wheel does rub a bit on the brake caliper when driving on my car (replaced front right.) I did not have to do more than 3 miles of driving on it, thankfully. The removable piece in the cladding (just pull toward you) at the front jack point was good so a scissor jack could fit and not damage the plastic.

 

[ECM56]

Unfortunately, I gouged the sidewall of a tire on my TourX and I got to use my spare, a P/N 9594807 out of a 2010 DTS. This wheel does rub a bit on the brake caliper when driving on my car (replaced front right.) I did not have to do more than 3 miles of driving on it, thankfully. The removable piece in the cladding (just pull toward you) at the front jack point was good so a scissor jack could fit and not damage the plastic.

Is that the 5-spoke wheel? Alloy, I think I read somewhere?

That's good information. There looks to be plenty of clearance with the steel wheel.

 

[SweetWafer]

Is that the 5-spoke wheel? Alloy, I think I read somewhere?

That's good information. There looks to be plenty of clearance with the steel wheel.

Yeah, it's this black alloy wheel:



It was drivable for a few miles. If I had to do more than five miles on it, I think I'd opt for a tow.

 

[1500cc]

Yeah, it's this black alloy wheel:

It was drivable for a few miles. If I had to do more than five miles on it, I think I'd opt for a tow.

You could probably put the spare on the back and not have any clearance problems, and then put the good tire from the rear on the front.

 

[Uniqez]

You could probably put the spare on the back and not have any clearance problems, and then put the good tire from the rear on the front.

+1 here. Normally you don't want to put doughnut on the front anyways. Most of the car manuals would state this.

 

[ECM56]

Ah, good point. I didn't try the steel spare on the front, I tried it on the rear. It may not have any more clearance than the alloy wheel. Next time I am playing in the driveway I will give it a try. Also, good tip that it's preferably to put the doughnut on the rear.

 

[SweetWafer]

You could probably put the spare on the back and not have any clearance problems, and then put the good tire from the rear on the front.

It's good to know that the rear has better clearance. By the time I knew it was rubbing, I did not have time to move it (nor any info that the rear would be better anyway) and keep my appointment at the tire place. I stopped and made sure I wasn't rubbing so badly that I was going to rip the caliper off and then drove cautiously to the tire shop. I will keep the idea of putting the spare on the rear in mind for the next time I need to use my spare. This will hopefully be many years from now. 🙂

 

[GermyShoe]

I can't even imagine how pissed I would be if I had a blowout and had to change 2 tires... I know how grumpy I am having to change one.

 

[Uniqez]

I can't even imagine how pissed I would be if I had a blowout and had to change 2 tires... I know how grumpy I am having to change one.

Yeah, but it would apply to all cars without full size spare. Your front wheels are steering obviously, so you do want to turn the steering wheel and car would follow, instead of losing the grip on the doughnut.

 

[1500cc]

Yeah, but it would apply to all cars without full size spare. Your front wheels are steering obviously, so you do want to turn the steering wheel and car would follow, instead of losing the grip on the doughnut.

It's actually the opposite ... for safety you always want the most grippy tires on the rear, no matter the drive configuration.

There's no reason to avoid putting the spare on the front as long as the car is designed to accept that exact tire & wheel. Our cars of course didn't come with spares so we have to do these workarounds like moving a good rear tire to replace a flat front. A read through the international owner's manuals indicates that the drivetrains are okay with different diameters, so really caliper clearance is the only issue to watch for.

 

[Uniqez]

It's actually the opposite ... for safety you always want the most grippy tires on the rear, no matter the drive configuration.

I would strongly disagree.
Most of the vehicles have more weight on the front and your car relies a lot on the front wheels for breaking. Now imagine breaking with half of the grip on one side... most of the manufacturer's doughnut spare would not fit over the front caliper for a reason, they don't want you to have it on the front.

 

[1500cc]

I would strongly disagree.
Most of the vehicles have more weight on the front and your car relies a lot on the front wheels for breaking. Now imagine breaking with half of the grip on one side... most of the manufacturer's doughnut spare would not fit over the front caliper for a reason, they don't want you to have it on the front.

The logic is that if the less grippy tires are on the rear, the rear will be first to lose grip, resulting in loss of control and a spin. If the less grippy tires are on the front they will lose grip first, which results in far more controllable understeer.

This also happens to be the recommendation of one of the largest tire manufacturers in the world (and probably all of them, but l happen to work with this specific one for my job).

 

[Wlepse]

I know this is the recommendation of tire companies but I never really understood why. If I push too hard into a corner and the car understeers I have no recourse other than to hope laying of the throttle is enough for it to tuck back in...if you hit the brakes you'll likely just make it worse since most of the braking is done up front. But if I go into that corner and the car oversteers you can turn into it and possibly correct it.

The only thing I can see is oversteer can be harder to handle but you have a chance and since most cars now have stability control a lot of the trial and error is gone.

But with that said, if you are riding on a temporary tire and driving that hard you are an asshat.

 

[Uniqez]

I've never seen tire companies recommend such a thing. If you guys have a link handy, please do share it.
For a normal driving conditions with front wheel drive vehicle would be really hard to lose traction to the rear( you have to really go for it).But if you have doughnut on the front and have an emergency situation where you are breaking hard to avoid an accident, your car would lose traction on one side at no time. Also, car most likely would pull to one side while you driving normally, with the doughnut on the front.

 

[SweetWafer]

But if you have doughnut on the front and have an emergency situation where you are breaking hard to avoid an accident, your car would lose traction on one side at no time.

How fast and aggressive are people driving with doughnuts on? 🙂 I suppose a panic braking situation can happen at any speed, but I could not imagine/would not recommend driving faster than 35mph with it on.

 

[Uniqez]

How fast and aggressive are people driving with doughnuts on? 🙂 I suppose a panic braking situation can happen at any speed, but I could not imagine/would not recommend driving faster than 35mph with it on.

I think you can get up to 50mph with the doughnut on.

 

[1500cc]

For a normal driving conditions with front wheel drive vehicle would be really hard to lose traction to the rear( you have to really go for it).

It's actually not. I was at the tire company's proving grounds where they had two identical Ford Focuses except one had worn front tires and the other had worn rear tires. We took them out on a wet skid pad and were told to go as fast as we could. Virtually everyone spun out the one with worn rears. No one had any problems just backing off the gas and regaining control with the worn fronts.