Dry rotting spare?

[raser13]

This might seem like a dumb question. But is there a way to slow/stop dry rot on a spare tire? This is the first vehicle that I've owned where the spare was located on the outside of it. Now after a year or two I'm noticing small cracks in the tire.anybideas?

 

[Petescj]

Get yourself a tire cover . You probably pal outside in the sun quite often. If not is it a used tire?

 

[raser13]

Yeah it's parked in an uncovered paking lot most of the time so it's exposed to the elements all the time

 

[Hedgehog]

I've been wondering about this lately. Not many years ago EVERYBODY had some sort of cover on their rear mounted spare. Now, not so much. What's the deal? Are decent covers too expensive? Is it out of fashion? Are we becoming too lazy to remove the cover? Is it all about showing off our expensive rubber, I.E. "Hey look at my big lumpy rubber rotting away on the back of my rig." A while back I tried to get a 5 tire rotation done on my car, the spare is the same. The, free service for the life of your car, dealer looked at me like I was the dumbest thing he's ever seen and said, "No, we don't do that." Errrrr! A hundred dollar tire going to waste.

So, if it were me, I'd either mount it up and run it or spray some tire stuff on it and get a cover."

 

[Torxhead]

I have been doing the 5 wheel rotation thing for many years with no tire rot. This is only until I puncture a sidewall then that tire becomes the permanent spare. With a full time locker it is a good thing to keep at least the rear tires at the same diameter also.

 

[raser13]

mine didn't come with a cover. and with what one cost for the 33's and 35's i run i didn't ever think it was really a necessary purchase. but if it stops the dry rot issue it's worth the cash.

o.k i do four wheel rotations on my cars. but what's the right way to do a five wheel?

 

[Hedgehog]

There are rotation diagrams around that show how to do 4 and 5 wheel rotations. Careful though, some cars have directional tread patterns. There is only one way to run those.

After reading this thread I realized that I never put my tire cover back on after building my carrier. So I hit the garage to do it ...... yeah know what, I think someone took my tire cover. I can't find it anywhere, which made me think about it. I don't remember taking it off before the carrier build. It's no big deal really, it's one of those inexpensive desert camo ones you can get at a surplus store. Yes, I put my spin on it by dying the material black. It turned out kind of neat, the over all material was black with the desert chip pattern showing through. Oh well it's time to drop another $8.00 on a new one.

 

[Petescj]

Here's one from tire rack, you want to use example G: