Don't Take Your Spare Tire For Granted
There is a lot to learn about tires, and often ignored is learningabout your vehicle’s spare tire. Have you checked your spare tire lately? Somecar owners have not checked their spare tire at all. It is only when they get aflat tire that many drivers panic and wonder if they have a spare and if it isusable!
Car experts advise drivers to check their spare tire regularly.Since it is not used regularly, a spare tire will lose air. Check your sparewhenever you check the air pressure of your regular tires, and especially ifyou plan on going on a road trip. Make sure the spare’s pressure is at least 60PSI. If less than that level, your spare could fail on the road and also damage thewheel.
Having a good spare tire in the trunk of your vehicle is the bestscenario. These days many carmakers are doing away with a spare tire so theirvehicles can gain more mileage and trunk space; instead, modern cars are now equippedwith run-flat tires, whose sidewalls are strong enough to enable the vehicle tomake it to the closest service station or tire shop with a puncture. That’sfine if the punctured tire just needs to be sealed. In fact, some cars comewith a sealant kit or an inflatoror inflation kit. However, if the tire’s sidewall is gashed, these kits areuseless. The vehicle would need to be towed and the owner would have topurchase a replacement tire.
If you plan on purchasing a new or used vehicle and prefer that the vehicle hasa spare, make sure that vehicle does have a spare and that the tire is in asgood condition as the vehicle’s other tires.
How far can a vehicle travel with aspare? Spares are not meant to be used permanently, nor should you expect yourvehicle to travel on them in normal speed or on high speed on a highway. Sparetires are merely designed to get you slowly to a tire repair shop. They do nothave the same durability or thread as regular tires.
Spare tires are also smaller than regular tires and made tofit snugly in the trunk of a vehicle. That’s why if you need to replace a tirewith a spare, the spare is easier to handle. Since they are smaller andnarrower, you need to take it slow when driving with a spare. You may have ahard time handling your vehicle, turning a corner, or braking. Since they aresmaller than the other tires, one side of the car will be as lower than theother.
When in the marketfor a used car, stop by Carousel Preowned. CarouselPreowned serving IowaCity, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, North Liberty, Marion, and Coralville, IA, isproud to be an automotive leader in our community. We do our best to ensureyour complete satisfaction every time you step into our car dealership. This iswhy we offer the widest selection of used and pre-owned cars, trucks, and SUVsand provide true ease of purchase in Iowa.