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Stock Spare Tire--Keep or Replace?

Johnny B

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Hey! I'm starting to think about my next set of tires since my Grabbers are getting pretty worn. I'll likely go with a 295/70R18 (or maybe 285/75R18). Just to make things complicated, I'm also running a set of winter tires on a separate set of rims in the stock 275/70R18 size.

I'm wondering if I should keep a 275/70R18 Grabber as a spare? Or maybe replace the spare with whatever new tire size I decide to get? I've been doing a 5 tire rotation on the Grabbers, so they are all pretty worn and I feel like I have gotten their value. If not for the winter tires I would just replace all 5 tires to match the size. But with the winter tires the spare is not going to match at least part of the year.

Decisions, decisions.

Best, JB
 
Hey! I'm starting to think about my next set of tires since my Grabbers are getting pretty worn. I'll likely go with a 295/70R18 (or maybe 285/75R18). Just to make things complicated, I'm also running a set of winter tires on a separate set of rims in the stock 275/70R18 size.

I'm wondering if I should keep a 275/70R18 Grabber as a spare? Or maybe replace the spare with whatever new tire size I decide to get? I've been doing a 5 tire rotation on the Grabbers, so they are all pretty worn and I feel like I have gotten their value. If not for the winter tires I would just replace all 5 tires to match the size. But with the winter tires the spare is not going to match at least part of the year.

Decisions, decisions.

Best, JB
Since you’ve included the spare in your rotation and since you said that all five are worn, when you decide, you might as well replace all five.
If I were you, I’d keep at least a couple of the least worn Generals as back ups for the winter tires.
Although anything is possible, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever need to drop the spare in the winter to change a tire.

With that being said, if you don’t go with a 295/70/18, why not go with a 285/70/18 instead of a 285/75/18.

Just wondering.
 
What tires are you running as winter tires? What made you not run the Generals as Winter tires?
 
Hey! I'm starting to think about my next set of tires since my Grabbers are getting pretty worn. I'll likely go with a 295/70R18 (or maybe 285/75R18). Just to make things complicated, I'm also running a set of winter tires on a separate set of rims in the stock 275/70R18 size.

I'm wondering if I should keep a 275/70R18 Grabber as a spare? Or maybe replace the spare with whatever new tire size I decide to get? I've been doing a 5 tire rotation on the Grabbers, so they are all pretty worn and I feel like I have gotten their value. If not for the winter tires I would just replace all 5 tires to match the size. But with the winter tires the spare is not going to match at least part of the year.

Decisions, decisions.

Best, JB
For better or worse, my spare is the factory General Grabber, though my other 4 are 35" tires... I haven't measured to see if a 35" tire would even fit in the spare area...

FWIW I had also planned to use the Grabbers as the winter tires, but never got around to changing them and the M/Ts that are on there are also 3-peak rated, so nothing lost there...
 
What tires are you running as winter tires? What made you not run the Generals as Winter tires?

General Grabber Arctic LT studded, same size as stock tires. The stock General Grabber ATXs were pretty good in the snow and ice for AT tires, but no comparison to dedicated winter tires with softer rubber, tons of siping and studs. My son is on the local ski team and we do a couple of ski trips in the winter. So we end up driving in snowy and icy conditions quite a bit. Plus, as the ATXs wore down, they started to lose some performance on slippery roads.

Since you’ve included the spare in your rotation and since you said that all five are worn, when you decide, you might as well replace all five.
If I were you, I’d keep at least a couple of the least worn Generals as back ups for the winter tires.
Although anything is possible, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever need to drop the spare in the winter to change a tire.

With that being said, if you don’t go with a 295/70/18, why not go with a 285/70/18 instead of a 285/75/18.

Just wondering.

285/70/18 is only .5" larger than stock tires, so for me, probably not worth changing from the stock size. Plus there are many more options in the 295/70/18 size and most are somewhat less expensive also.

I'd be OK doing the 5 tire rotation, but saving a few hundred $ and reusing an old tire as a spare is pretty appealing. Somewhere I heard that a spare within 3% of the size of the other tires is acceptable. 275/70 to 295/70 is about 1inch and about 3%.
 
I'd do all five for uniformity sake. I suffer from a touch of OCD.
 
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