Full size spare necessary?

[rickinAZ]

I may be alone here, but to me having a dinky spare, on an otherwise beefy rig, looks like “high water” pants with 6” of ankle showing. I do double-takes when I see either one. But…if an owner likes that look, it’s their Jeep. That said, I have trouble believing it’s anything but an I-ran-short-of-funding situation, especially when you are counting on your Jeep to get you back to civilization.

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[Maverickxeo]

On my TJ (with 35s), I bought four new tires, and then found an old spare on marketplace and ran that. On all of my vehicles I almost never buy five tires - I just buy 4 new, and then if I need a spare, I'll buy a used one. I rarely actually 'mile out' my tires - they often die due to rot. I've only ever needed a spare tire 2 times in my life - and both times were my fault.

My way of looking at spare tires is that they are nice to have - but not $500 worth nice to have. I'd rather spend less on a spare and more on my main tires.

 

[CaJLMetalHead]

To all you matching tire purists, what happens when you ruin a tire and the remaining 4 have 10% tread worn off? Do you buy a new set of 5 tires so you can have your perfect matching set? What about 30% wear? At what point do you toss 4 good worn tires and buy a new set of 5? 33%, 40%?

That happened to me.. I simply posted a message online asking for someone in my off-roading group to donate a tire... I had many offers that day... I kept it as spare and resorted to 4 tire rotation until it was time to buy a "purist" set of 5 tires... LOL

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