195/60R17 for a spare tire?

[Hippie-Dog]

Just had to throw this in...

So oil in your engine and fluid for your brakes are necessary chemicals but tire sealant is crap?

I have traveled the USA more than once and once had tire sealant in all 4 tires on my truck.

Or we can be runover while changing a tire on the side of the road.

Slime kits are used by many major manufactures of high performance cars.

First: No one needs dead weight when accelerating.

Second: No one needs the extra weight of spare tires when trying to stop.

And stoppin is more important than goin is :-)

[007Cruiser]

If I’m recalling properly, there are some drain holes that should be helping to prevent rain from getting to the trunk. May want to check them for clogs.

[Hippie-Dog]

Thanks for the quick response Cruiser,

Trying to figure out how to find and clean them out without hurting anything...

...It's down the long list of things to do right now but any links or help is appreciated.

[2K2BIRD]

Regarding the subject at hand. While returning home from Bayou Thunder, Bill Green (15AGAIN), had a failure of the driver's side rear tire on I-49 as we were traveling 75 - 80 mph. By the time he got the car stopped and safely off of the road, slime wasn't going to get him anywhere with the sidewall damage the tire had. We were unable to determine what exactly caused the flat, but the tire was toast.

Fortunately, just before the trip, Bill had decided to replace his spare due to age. During that process he discovered that his Maxxis spare had blown up in his trunk. He had replaced that donut with a Toyo 195/60-17.

We tag teamed the tire change on the side of the interstate with cars whizzing by. FYI - the flat 235/55-17 fit in the tire well hole but of course the cover would not lay flat. In less than 20 minutes we were back on the road. Being in a rural area, if we were relying on AAA like some suggest, we would have likely still had an hour wait before anyone showed up much less time lost in getting the car somewhere to get a new tire.

We started off slowly to test the feel of the spare on the road. After Bill gave the go ahead we slowly bumped it back up to the 75mph speed limit. Bill was able to drive the 500 miles home at highway speeds without a problem. A far cry from the recommended 50mp and 50 mile suggested limit for the Maxxis donut.

[007Cruiser]

All good points, Paul. I guess I’m old fashioned but I prefer the full size spare. BTW my 75 Bird still has the original spare from Wixom in the trunk. Bet it won’t go as far as Bill’s.

[15AGAIN]

15AGAIN spare 195/55/17 and as Paul said drove almost 500 miles at highway speeds. It is back in the spare well now as I purchased a new 235/55/17 .

[Hippie-Dog]

What year was the bird and how old were the tires?


If your tires are several years old why carry a 20 year old tire in the trunk just in case?

So we can get run over while changing a tire for a real problem on the side of the road?

Will NOT pass the track boss and shouldn't pass you.

Tires less than 4 years old? Carrying a 20 year old tire in the trunk? Just in case??

Get a slime kit and be able to carry your luggage in the trunk...

The original TBird had a Continental kit that relocated the spare top the bumper on the outside back of the car.

And that trunk is (on a 55 anyway) WAY bigger that the retro birds.

Drag a useless boat anchor around or...

Remove the dead weight...

Have a grocery getter that's fun to drive, has more pickup and gets better gas mileage than before...

Emergency? Have space for luggage or even tools...




Driving through the desert? Get some new tires and a AAA membership.

Around town?

Wowsers

[Hippie-Dog]

While we are on tires for optimal handling and resilience on the road put 215/55/17 Extra load tires on the front (there goes the dreaded rotation because you can't rotate them).

Shifts weight forward with not only better steering response, also cuts through the rain puddles and snow better.

WAY more stable staggered.

All 4 wheels should never be the same as they do completely different jobs. So much for cookie cutter cars.

Just ask Carol Shelby.

[007Cruiser]

Some highly rated tire inflators:

https://www.nj.com/shopping-deals/20...o-reviews.html

[Shadow]

I ended up going with a BFGoodrich Advantage Control 205/55R17 for the spare tire.
Photos of the spare on the 2002 Thunderbird, in the trunk and with the cover over it.
I plan to keep the spare at 30 PSI.
Note to check the date code any tire a dealer is to install as for a different vehicle I own, the dealer was going to install tires with 4 year old date codes until I asked for newer date codes.
Thanks for all the replies and the suggested alternatives to a traditional spare (e.g. Slime Kit).
Much appreciated. I see now I probably should have started this post in 2002-2005 Thunderbird Garage instead.

[merlot4]

Shadow, thanks for sharing your solution -and pictures, for the spare tire! It looks like a perfect fit.