Buying new tires, 4 A/T's and 1 MT as spare?

[R_Lefebvre]

Ok, so I'm about to trade somebody my 18" wheels with tires for his 16" wheels +$600 cash. I intend to buy 245/75/16's for my road tires. These are intended for daily driving, trips, overlanding kinda stuff.

I'm siding on the Kumho KL78 because they're cheap ($86) and I have had really good experiences with Kumho tires on my cars. I think they're a great value.

I was thinking, for the steel spare I'll be getting, should I get another matching tire, or could I get something like a Kumho KL71 in the same size?

I was thinking basically, since the spare is a steelie, I'm never going to be rotating it in with the alloy road wheels anyway. And, I may in the future get a set of 4 Camaro steelies to put MT's on. In that case, i'd already have 1 tire, and would just need 3 more.

That way I'm always carrying around 1 MT, and if I was going somewhere I wanted to use the MTs, I just need to carry 3 more on the roof, or in a trailer. Swap them on, then carry 1 or 2 of the AT's around as a spare while on the trail.

What do you guys think? Is this a really stupid idea or does it make some sense?

It wouldn't be the ideal situation if I ever had to drive around on the street with one mismatched spare tire on. But, it can't be worse than anybody else driving around with a space saver spare?

I just figure, if I'm changing tire sizes, I'm going to have to buy a tire for that spare wheel anyway because it has to be the same size. And since it's a mismatched wheel, I'm not going to be rotating it in with the other 4. Might as well try to plan for some use out of the thing.

And a related question, just to confirm:

Wheels from a 97 Range Rover will fit my D2 right?

 

[RRCNicky]

If you are getting $600 cash from the guy, have you thought about looking for a used single rim to match the ones you are trading for? Sell the steel one, sometimes folks are putting together budget steel wheel sets from others spares. You'll get better wear rotating five, can sell all five down the line if you like. With a mismatched spare, you never know how far from you may be when you need to use it.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, I guess I could do that...

I actually liked the idea of having a set of 4 MT tires, and don't see much use of a 5th AT anyway. That way if I'm going on a trip where I'll want the MT's, I only need to carry 3 extras and swap them at the trail head.

Would it be that big of a problem having a different tread of the same size as a spare? Is everybody carrying around a spare of the exact same tire?

I have never rotated tires before on my cars. Any wear problems are indicative of an alignment problem which needs to be fixed anyway. I mean, I do rotate front to rear seasonally when I swap on the winter tires. Whatever has the least tread left goes on the rear, most tread on the front of a FWD car. But I don't religiously rotate the tires around ever 10k. Never been a problem.

Is there something with live axles where you're going to WANT to rotate in that spare?

Hell, currently my spare 18" tire doesn't match the others. Is this a big problem?

I've had a WRX with LSD's where you don't want to be rolling around on odd-sized spares because it can burn out the LSD. But the truck doesn't have LSDs (yet) and as long as they're the same size, just different tread, is it a big deal?

If you MUST have a matching set, if I ever got a set of MT's for trail use, I'll have to buy 5 MT's, 6 if I want 2 spares. And then 5 AT's for the road. We're talking about having 11 truck tires.

It's bad enough I have two cars, and 20 car tires... Plus 2 donut spares...

 

[trailhogg]

you want spare tire to be same size, even if the wheel doesnt match

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking of doing.

245/75/16 KL78 for the road tires
245/75/16 KL71 for the spare/MT tire

Same size, just different tread.

 

[bendt]

you want spare tire to be same size, even if the wheel doesnt match

Yup.

Even if you buy the same size the dimentions can be different. Mud size will not be the same as street size.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

So it's a big problem if the tires are just slightly differently sized?

 

[trailhogg]

yeah could be on an all wheel drive vehicle

 

[R_Lefebvre]

How good are AT's off road anyway? Maybe I'd just be content with AT's in any case. I could get 6 AT's (2 spares seems to be a good idea on the trail).

I'm not thinking of rock crawling at all, more just traction in the mud. I've already gotten this thing stuck in deep snow with these Michelin Synchrones.

 

[bendt]

Unless you want to carry a spare tranny, its best to just get all the same tires.

 

[rovercanus]

AT's suck in mud.

 

[trailhogg]

if this is a daily driver, that will be off-roaded 10 or 15 times per year then go AT

if you plan on wheeling 40-60 times per year, or if this is not a DD go MT

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I think the former is the better description. The thing is, I just don't know yet, and don't want to make a mistake on choice.

I learned with cars that there is no such thing as a good compromise tire, which is why I have 5 sets. :lol: 2 set all seasons, 1 set summer/performance street, 1 set track tires and 1 set of winters.

But, I'm not in a position to be buying 11-12 tires, so I guess I'll have to compromise.

AT's suck in mud.

That's what I'm afraid of.

I guess I have the classic problem of "wanting it all". Quiet, traction, long wearing... and cheap. :lol:

That's why I figured have 2 sets would be the best option. But, if I can't use an MT as a spare, then that's just not practical at the moment.

As far as A/T's sucking in the mud, if I'm going to have a winch, I can just winch myself out right?

I'm not looking for MT's because I'm the type of guy who goes looking for big mud puddles to play in. My goal is to get to the destination, and not have to turn around because there's a mud puddle in the way.

 

[RRCNicky]

It's not because of uneven wear - it's just wear in general. Rotating 5 tires increases the life of all of them and eliminates the problem where you have a flat 30,000 miles from now and you spare has way more tread than the rest of your tires.

Carrying 3 tires around and swapping them would be a pain the ass, weigh you down like a mf and eliminate your cargo space. You really want to spend time pulling of mudded up tires and throw them back in your truck for the ride home after a long day of trail riding?

Just get 5 matching tires and call it a day. You are overthinking this. AT's not as good in mud obviously but quieter as a daily driver and you can make do off-road by driving smart. MT's, no offroad worries, noisier.

You make the call.

 

[p m]

This is so much of a cheap bastard decision that even I would not consider it.
Buy an extra rim matching your five, and get a proper spare.

 

[Bannon88]

As far as A/T's sucking in the mud, if I'm going to have a winch, I can just winch myself out right?

Sure you can, IF you have a winch......and something to anchor to. Right?

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Where I'm likely to go, I think there's usualy going to be something to anchor too. It would always be in forest, or the ground would likely be firm. I can't think of too many places around here where it's wide open and muddy.

 

[bendt]

Where I'm likely to go, I think there's usualy going to be something to anchor too. It would always be in forest, or the ground would likely be firm. I can't think of too many places around here where it's wide open and muddy.

You just Jinxed yourself.

 

[Bannon88]

Where I'm likely to go, I think there's usualy going to be something to anchor too. It would always be in forest, or the ground would likely be firm. I can't think of too many places around here where it's wide open and muddy.

Usually, when things go wrong......it's something you didn't plan on.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Oh, I know it.

Still faced with the ever present dilema on tire selection...