jmmullin

i believe i'm going to take mine out...but mainly because i just checked it out last weekend (i bought the car about a month and a half ago) and noticed the jack was missing...spare tire doesn't do much good if you dont have a jack... or i may just buy the jack. but since i also already have a AAA membership I'll probably take it out.

or i'll forget about it in the next 30 seconds and go on living my life.

ss.slp.ls1

Buy a jack at a junk yard. If you have no illegitimate reason for removing it, then don't. Why use up your free tows if you don't have to...

'94 Bad A Z28

I took mine out a long time ago, I don't even remember when. Noisy and pointless. If you are going to get a flat tire it will most likely be a rear tire and a spare tire does you no good what do ever on the rear of a rear wheel drive car, unless your spare is the same size as the tires on your car. If the spare is not the same size, which it is not on a F-Body, then all you are doing is screwing up your rear. You have one tire spinning at X mph and the other one spinning at Y mph... think what that does to your "posi" unit.


That and I have too many sets of wheels and tires to put a spare on my car. I'll just have a friend stop by my house and pick up a set to swap out. Out of town, well that's what AAA and cell phones are for.

ss.slp.ls1

I highly doubt you will cause any damage by driving X amount of miles home or to the tire shop with a spare on the rear.

'94 Bad A Z28

You can doubt whatever you want, I just don't ever want to do it.

ss.slp.ls1

One wheel can turn faster than the other without damaging anything. Think of the physics of what happens when you make a turn...the outside wheels spins faster than the inside wheels. Driving with a spare wouldn't be any different.

rLyTa1n

One acronym, AAA! Plus I can't use my spare in the back because of the difference between my ZR1 wheels and the stockies, some say you can run it like that, but just me personally, I wouldn't. If you have stock tires then I would keep it in I guess. I guess you could always keep the spare for the front if you have 17's also. I could have sworn the spare rim size was 16 with just a very thin sidewall rubber, I could be wrong, havn't looked at mine in forever.

Injuneer

A turn lasts a few seconds, and the differential velocity (proportional to the outside wheel turning radius vs the inside wheel turning radius) is negligible. The difference in diameter between the compact spare and the stock tire is much greater (divide the two diameters to get the difference in relative velocity), and will DAMAGE the posi in short order.

The correct solution to a flat rear tire is to put the spare on the front, and move the good front tire to the rear, to avoid damage to the posi.

ss.slp.ls1

Good to know.