Executive wrote:
You'll notice your coach doesn't come with a JACK either....:W
Considering the torque necessary when the wheels are mounted, the danger of changing the tire on the side of the road, the 200# tire itself and the room it takes to store it and the rare occurrence of a flat tire, I believe it's a waste of time, energy and room to carry a spare.
I've been RVing for over 50 years and have had exactly TWO flat tires! Now if you're one of those guys that abuses his equipment, runs the tires for over 10 years and consistently drives the rig over 70 mph, then maybe you're a candidate for carrying a spare. In that case, take the unmounted spare and throw it on the roof over one of your vents. It weighs a ton so it won't blow off. Be sure to carry a good torque wrench and a cheater bar along with an adequate jack and some heavy duty jack stands.
Choice is yours. Me? I carry a MasterCard and CoachNet. I'll take a nap while waiting for the tire guy to bring me the new tire. My last flat was last August where I ran over a piece of metal on the highway and punctured the tire. I run 295/80/22.5 Goodyears. It took the tire guy almost an hour to get a tire and get to my coach. The one he put on? 295/80/22.5 Goodyear, date code 10/14. Total cost was $733 which was paid in full by my insurance company, no deductible. I polished the coach while waiting for the tire guy to arrive.....Dennis
It depends on the type of RVing you do. In my case both my wife and I work full time and our 9 year old goes to school. Add to that we have two 20 month old twins. RVing for us is a vacation. We do not have the luxury of sitting on the side the road for 8 - 10 hours waiting for an extortion priced spare to be located a hundred miles away from a company we don't know. Add to that sitting on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere with limited cell service if any isn't a good idea either. A fulltime RVer driving a 2.5 million dollar 45' Prevost or Monaco probably doesn't need a spare. They likely have satellite internet uplink and multiple hotspots and cell and WiFi repeaters built into their coach. So if the OP is a retired person with no particular place to be and the flat is an inconvenience then no spare is needed. However, for a family who has to be home to go back to work that is a very different situation. If you only ever travel on large interstate roads near major cities then likely no spare is needed. However if you are in rural areas with limited services then you need to think how self reliant you are. I don't carry the tools needed to change a 22.5" tire on my motorhome because it is usually easy and quick to get a service provider or tow truck that can CHANGE a tire it is very different to find a provider that can either mount and balance a tire on the side of the road or can take your rim to their shop and mount and balance it and transport it back to you.