Can I keep the original stock spare on my sport s?

[NChap89]

Big difference is you can't see his spare driving down the road, lol.

Maybe so... I couldn't live with the guilt. Especially if differing tire sizes. Haha

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[Golden Power]

I had a spare tire delete on my JK and I never got a 33 Inch spare always was the stock 31. I had one blow and my dad brought me the spare as I was close to the house. The 5 mile drive to the tire shop was just fine no issues. While I was there I got a full-size spare and put it back on the tailgate. I'd say for just driving around town you are just fine with the wrong size as you can usually find a tire shop relatively close. I would never go off-road without a full-size spare, patch kit, and compressor which I now have.

 

[Spartan99]

If aesthetics are the concern a cover will minimize the issue.

 

[GATORB8]

If aesthetics are the concern a cover will minimize the issue.

 

[JSFoster75]

Having a matching spare will also make you look cooler... It increases your Forum cred by at least 50 points.

 

[Deleted member 59498]

This will help with stopping people staring at your spare tire.

 

[Headbarcode]

As Gator already mentioned, being able to do 5 tire rotations with a matching spare will prolong the life of the set, compared to a 4 tire rotation. Rotating all 5 will also result in having a spare that is of known condition and similar size as they all wear together.

A smaller spare should only ever be used on the front axle, but only temporarily. If you have a flat on the rear, you'll be on the side of the road longer. This not only increases your danger from exposure to fast moving nearby traffic, but increases the work load. You'd have to drop the spare, jack up the front to swap to the spare, jack the rear to put the front on, and finally hang the flat. You'll be wishing you paid for the 5th the entire time.

One more thing that never gets mentioned in these smaller spare threads: when running different size tires on the front, the steering will pull in the direction of the smaller tire when braking. As brake pedal pressure increases, so will the strength of the pull.

 

[LKG]

Slightly smaller spare is exponentially better than no spare. Just keep an eye out for a match later on. When you find one, throw it on the back.

I have personally checked your math and you are %100 correct. In fact a much smaller spare is as well.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Traction control and antilock brakes all rely on wheel speed sensors to work properly. The math in the computer assumes the wheels are the same size. The computer measures the speed of each wheel and applies braking to each wheel if it detects a large difference in wheel spin. The computer also knows if you have turned the steering wheel and uses that to calculate X degrees of turn = Y difference in RPM between left and right wheel.

If you change the wheel diameter all the calculations are off - which may results in strange and/or dangerous situation from traction control and Antil lock brakes.

Sounds good... every new vehicle has anti lock brakes and traction control and almost all have a donut spare? Please explain. The Wrangler isn't special or unique. You'll be fine. My ram rebel came with a mismatched spare as a 33" doesn't fit under the bed. Why do some of us think we somehow know better than the engineers and manufacturers that have been selling vehicles this way for decades?

 

[Zandcwhite]

Some of us actually are the engineers that design things.

And yet you have done nothing to explain why the vast majority of vehicles don't have matching spares anymore? If traction control and abs made the mismatch more problematic, why were full size spares far more common before either of those things were mandated? The Wrangler isn't some unicorn that makes it special and mandates a full size spare. Likely the main reason it still gets one is purely the fact that it is mounted visibly.

 

[BXFXJeep]

I also went the Gladiator take off route myself, and I covered the duckling with a cover.

After reading this thread, I'm now thinking about taking a picture of the Gladiator wheel, then printing it on the cover to achieve the much vaunted fiver.

Would people know it's just a print, or would they think it's the real thing?

 

[Swisskidd]

Sounds good... every new vehicle has anti lock brakes and traction control and almost all have a donut spare? Please explain. The Wrangler isn't special or unique. You'll be fine. My ram rebel came with a mismatched spare as a 33" doesn't fit under the bed. Why do some of us think we somehow know better than the engineers and manufacturers that have been selling vehicles this way for decades?

The Donut spare is an emergency usage wheel only. That’s not just due to its tire compound only, but also due to the fact that the electronic driving aids are impaired by the uneven wheel size. This is explained in the owners manual in every car equipped with a Donut spare.
Sure, the OP can retain his smaller wheel and treat it as a Donut spare in case of emergency. It in no way will work equally to a matching size spare wheel.

 

[sailscall]

I've figured out over the years that doing stuff half-assed and on the cheap typically comes back to bite you.

 

[YJdude]

And yet you have done nothing to explain why the vast majority of vehicles don't have matching spares anymore? If traction control and abs made the mismatch more problematic, why were full size spares far more common before either of those things were mandated? The Wrangler isn't some unicorn that makes it special and mandates a full size spare. Likely the main reason it still gets one is purely the fact that it is mounted visibly.

Why don't you go ahead and drive as fast as you can on your Jeep donut and get back to us.
There's a reason why every donut has a strict speed limit written all over it..
But, it seems like lately you have come to the forum just for the sake of arguing.

 

[Zandcwhite]

Why don't you go ahead and drive as fast as you can on your Jeep donut and get back to us.
There's a reason why every donut has a strict speed limit written all over it..
But, it seems like lately you have come to the forum just for the sake of arguing.

The donut spares are throw away tires by design. The compound is trash. That's the reason for the speed limit and total miles driven warnings. Guess what the standard LT 31" tire mounted under my ram that came with 33" all Terrains doesn't have written all over it? Guess what's nowhere to be found in the manual? Hell numerous sports cars come with different sized front and rear tires. We aren't talking about running a 31" spare with 40's, we are talking a roughly 31" spare with a set of 32.5" gladiator take offs. Those that don't do 5 tires rotations aren't exactly running a matching spare either, but you do what you're comfortable with.

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