Tire question

[The AD]

My wife's car has a nail in the sidewall of one of the tires. Apparently tire stores won't patch sidewall punctures, so she needs to buy a new tire. Her car has really expensive tires. The OEM tires are Bridgestone Turanza 225/45ZR17. Instead of buying another exact match I was thinking of having the spare (which is identical) mounted to replace the bad tire then buy another tire as the spare. The current tires have 10,000 miles on them.

I'm assuming it will be o.k. to use the spare even though it's new and the other tires have some wear. Now what about the spare? Should I get as cheap a tire as possible (not that any tire in that size is cheap)? I can't imagine I need a speed rated tire to use as a spare, but I really don't know and that's why I'm posting

[PacRimRider1]

What kind of car is it?

[The AD]

BMW 325i. This is the tire that comes with the "Sport Package." When she bought the car I looked at the tires and knew they would be expensive. Of course, I thought we'd have a couple more years until we had to think about replacing them!

[lemon boy]

run the spare* buy whatever for the new spare just don't be like the people running 65 down the highway on a doughnut spare.

*ideally you want to at least have pairs of tires matched front pr/rear pr but I think you'll be okay with that few miles and small car tread depths.

[lemon boy]

next time by the tire insurance for them.

[The AD]

next time by the tire insurance for them.

Hindsight 20/20! Thanks for the reply lb.

[Obstruction]

I'd go with a new Bridgestone Turanza 225/45ZR17 and the spare mounted on the alloy wheel from the damaged tire. This way you'll have a new matching pair of tires. Put em on the front. Put two of the three surviving tires on the rear and the last surviving tire in the trunk as a spare.

This way when you get the next blowout (sorry dude it will happen) you'll have a matching skin ready to go. Hopefully it will all time in such a way tha it will happen when you are ready for new tires all around.

[Snow Dog]

I'd go with a new Bridgestone Turanza 225/45ZR17 and the spare mounted on the alloy wheel from the damaged tire. This way you'll have a new matching pair of tires. Put em on the front. Put two of the three surviving tires on the rear and the last surviving tire in the trunk as a spare.

This way when you get the next blowout (sorry dude it will happen) you'll have a matching skin ready to go. Hopefully it will all time in such a way tha it will happen when you are ready for new tires all around.

If the spare is a matching tire and rim you would normally rotate through all 5 tires. So it wouldn't be new.

Different tires diameters only matter if you're running a limited slip diff. 10K is almost new.

[The AD]

If the spare is a matching tire and rim you would normally rotate through all 5 tires. So it wouldn't be new.

Hmm. I'm actually not sure if the spare has the same rim. I just assumed it didn't. I only looked to see if the tire was identical without paying attention to the rim.

[wanghoeby]

Hmm. I'm actually not sure if the spare has the same rim. I just assumed it didn't. I only looked to see if the tire was identical without paying attention to the rim.

Shouldn't the tires have demensions inscribed on them that you could compare to find out for sure? Also, most owners manuals have specific spare tire properties in them. Could check there too.

BTW: How did your wife get a nail in the sidewall of the tire?

[The AD]

Shouldn't the tires have demensions inscribed on them that you could compare to find out for sure? Also, most owners manuals have specific spare tire properties in them. Could check there too.

BTW: How did your wife get a nail in the sidewall of the tire?

I know the spare tire is the same, it's the wheel I'm not sure about. It's hard to imagine they'd put a nice alloy wheel on the spare, but I guess it's possible.

How'd she get the nail in the tire? Who the hell knows, but it's there

[Snow Dog]

It's hard to imagine they'd put a nice alloy wheel on the spare, but I guess it's possible.

Past vehicles I've owned came with a space saver tire or a full size tire with matching mag. (Except my pickup which had a full size tire on a steel rim.) But who knows nowadays.

[The AD]

Sure enough the full-size spare is an exact match: wheel and tire. I've never owned a really nice car before so just assumed they wouldn't spend the extra money to give you a fifth alloy wheel, too.

I noticed the 2006 BMW 3-series comes with run-flat tires, so they don't even give you a spare or jack. I guess you get extra trunk room, but lose the ability to do what I'm planning to do.