Newbie question about the spare on the back of the Wrangler

[pantheman75]

As a likely future JL owner I've been doing a lot of reading about these amazing vehicles. One question I have that I haven't heard a lot of people talk about relates to the use of the spare wheel / tire on the back of the Wrangler. Most people never use their "emergency only" spare since most of the time it's a completely different "lesser rated" wheel and tire that is also difficult to access; that's obviously not the case with the wheel / tire that comes on the Wrangler. Do most of you still treat that extra wheel / tire as an "emergency only" spare or do you rotate it in for use to spread out the miles across another tire? I'm just curious what people do; thanks

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[WXman]

Both. A lot of guys rotate their spare in and a lot of guys don't. I think that if you have 5 matching wheels/tires as the Wrangler does from the factory, then it makes sense to use all 5 in rotation.

In my case, I bought aftermarket wheels and tires, and since I've only needed a spare twice in 23 years, I elected not to spend another $300 on a fifth wheel/tire. So my factory spare is for emergency use only.

 

[TJ2018]

Do most of you still treat that extra wheel / tire as an "emergency only" spare or do you rotate it in for use to spread out the miles across another tire? I'm just curious what people do; thanks

I plan on rotating it with the rest, that way they all have equal experience and no one gets jealous!

 

[TXRubicon]

I always print out the cropped version of this image showing the Rearward Cross from Tire Rack and give it to the shop doing my rotation, be it NTB or the dealer. They always did it gladly. It's important to have the spare at even levels of wear as the rest of them.

 

[Columbus104]

As a likely future JL owner I've been doing a lot of reading about these amazing vehicles. One question I have that I haven't heard a lot of people talk about relates to the use of the spare wheel / tire on the back of the Wrangler. Most people never use their "emergency only" spare since most of the time it's a completely different "lesser rated" wheel and tire that is also difficult to access; that's obviously not the case with the wheel / tire that comes on the Wrangler. Do most of you still treat that extra wheel / tire as an "emergency only" spare or do you rotate it in for use to spread out the miles across another tire? I'm just curious what people do; thanks

I plan to rotate my spare in. Especially since after my first set of tires wear out, I may go with a different set and I don't my spare to be mis-matched then. One thing to think about is that you don't want to wait too long to begin rotating your spare in. A good rule of thumb I've heard is to rotate every 5,000 miles. When you first buy your Jeep, you get 4 free tire rotations (and 4 free oil changes) within the first 2 years, as part of the Jeep Wave program. After that it's up to you. But then once you do purchase your second set of tires, most tire stores will throw in lifetime rotation.

 

[TJ2018]

I always print out the cropped version of this image showing the Rearward Cross from Tire Rack and give it to the shop doing my rotation, be it NTB or the dealer. They always did it gladly. It's important to have the spare at even levels of wear as the rest of them.

Thanks TX! That's a great reference tool, I plan to do the same.

 

[citzen z]

i always rotate the spare. what are thoughts on a tire cover?

 

[TimmH]

........ what are thoughts on a tire cover?

I took mine off day 1, it annoyed me, and I didn't like it.

Not to mention is seemed to block a decent portion of my B/U camera view, had this half moon shaped black space on the bottom 3rd of my screen.

 

[The_Phew]

I took mine off day 1, it annoyed me, and I didn't like it.

Yeah, I only take a spare on road trips, leaving it at home for local commuting. I figure the weight/space savings 350+ days/year is worth having to spend an extra 30 minutes max getting a ride from Uber/AAA/spouse/friend whoever to run home and get the spare if I ever need it (never have).

Along those lines, it's full-size spare or bust for me on road trips. Run flats and temporary spares are worthless, since you can only travel 50 miles or whatever on it, still leaving you screwed if you get a flat in a rural area on a Sunday.

 

[MEGAS]

If you go off road you want a matching spare. Rotate it through. Where I go there is no roadside assistance or calling for help. If you aren't wheeling with others, you are on your own. Even then you need to be self sufficient. Don't rely on others to get you out.

 

[Jeep'N]

My 1st jeep (JKUR) was used and the previous owner had put bigger tires and left the factory tire as a spare. I never understood how they expected to use that spare with it being so much smaller than the others and it looked funny to me. So the first thing I did was purchase another tire and matching wheel. My current Jeep (JKUR) has all 5 matching and all 5 get rotated and I plan on doing the same with my New JLUR.

 

[mwilk012]

I rotate all 5 when getting rotations done, but the dealership that did it last would not do it for free. They claimed that the jeep wave tire rotations only include the 4 tires, even though there is no fine print saying that on the jeep wave membership.

 

[TJ2018]

Do most of you still treat that extra wheel / tire as an "emergency only" spare or do you rotate it in for use to spread out the miles across another tire? I'm just curious what people do; thanks

Joining in the chorus of those saying I'll be doing 5-tire rotations as well. Even wear all around. Of course that means 5 tires when replacing rather than 4... but on the other side you'll get about 20% longer tread life (in time, not miles) as you're spreading it out over 5 instead of 4 so it's a wash in the end.

 

[Bdubya33]

I’m struggling with the math here. If I rotate all 5 then I’m replacing all 5 but only get 25% more miles between replacement (replace all 5 at 50k miles vs 40k miles). That means that it will take 4 replacements of 5 tires to break even. So it wouldn’t be until my vehicle has 200k miles that I break even on my investment of rotating all 5 tires. Right?

 

[timn1984]

I’m struggling with the math here. If I rotate all 5 then I’m replacing all 5 but only get 25% more miles between replacement (replace all 5 at 50k miles vs 40k miles). That means that it will take 4 replacements of 5 tires to break even. So it wouldn’t be until my vehicle has 200k miles that I break even on my investment of rotating all 5 tires. Right?

Most people in most cars rotate 4 tires, Jeeps have great access to the 5th tire, so I would venture to guess that most Jeep owners rotate 5 tires. If you think about it too much you will try to read way more into it than is really there. The logic of rotating 5 tires as opposed to 4 would tell me that your tires will last longer before having to replace them, IF rotation has been done correctly. As to attaching a percentage of time onto the stated range of the tires, I don't know, because that range is just an estimate from the tire companies to get you to change your tires more often. Some tires may last longer than the range indicates they should. The real test would be to see when your tread gets low, when that actually is in relation to the stated range on the tires themselves. That would be a great experiment, if you are into that.
Otherwise, just do what you feel more comfortable doing, rotate 4 tires OR 5, your preference.

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