Necessity of a spare?

uncle t wrote:
I got a tire for free and carried it to Alaska. when I returned I put the tire on craigs list in the free column and it was gone immediately.
lots of weight- lots of room.

those that carry a mounted spare must have the ability to forecast which of the three different rims are going to have the tire blow.

those that carry an unmounted spare and a breaker bar are fooling themselves that they can mount a 22.5 tire on the side of the road.

the torque on my tires are 600# good luck with that.

roadside assistance contract.

We carry a mounted spare (all 6 wheels are the same rim on our FORD chasis) a jack and an air impact wrench that will indeed remove the lugs. Also have a gear reduction lug wrench that even my mother could turn to loosen the lugs, just takes a few more turns.

We have had 2 blowouts over the years. Both Goodyears by the way....never again. Each time I call GSRA, they sent a truck and he changed the tire. Did not use our jack or the wrench either time, just our mounted spare. The service hand took the mounted spare out of the compartment and put the shreadded remains back in. Sitting on the side of the interstate for many hours on a holiday weekend while folks in an India call center try and find an oddball size Chinese tire (no decent tires are on service trucks) and send it to you and charge you 2 or 3x the going price for it is not a good idea.

The second blowout I had had enough of my Goodyears and wanted a complete new set. Asked the driver if he had any advice in nearby major city for purchase of decent name brand tires. The referral was great. The tire shop was over the top helpful, very fairly priced and had them and a crew waiting for us when we drove in. Much different buying tires you want vs buying what you have to.