Okay to use virgin spare?

[ree]

Despite my best efforts to rotate/align/balance frequently, one of my BFGs is going downhill fast. It's really unevenly worn, makes a ton of noise, and shakes at various speeds. I wasn't planning on upgrading to 37"s for another few months but this one tire is driving me nuts.

Is it okay to use my spare that's never been used for a few months until I get new shows? I was stupid to not rotate it along with the others. But that's the way it is. It's treads are about 6-7 mm deeper than the other tires. Or will doing this wear on the diffs too much?

[mdoyle]

I had a similar dilemma when I had a virgin spare and two used take-offs. I was considering buying one new tire and then using the other three I had to make a newer set.

The main concern was the difference in wear between two of the four tires. I couldn't find anywhere that stated an acceptable wear differential, so considering the big picture I replaced all four with new Toyo M/T's.

For certain different tire diameters will cause the differentials to work harder, move up your time table on new tires and get them now instead of potentially more expensive repairs later.

[ree]

Originally Posted by PhilD

You have open diffs so it is not an issue, 1/4" or so is fine. Use it and be happy.

That's what I was thinking.

As a side note, it is generally worth rotating in your spare when you rotate the tires.

Well, I realized this after having the thing 20k miles and doing a few rotates. Rather than just add it in to the cycle because I was concerned about using an unmatched tire. Stupid at the time, but I know better now. I'll be rotating all five of my new 37s every couple thousand miles when I get them in the near future.

I'll probably just make a tire swing out of the mostly unused 35 when I build the playstructure this summer.

[usetosellhummer]

yup i learned it too, put the spare in the mix

[WHOSNEXT]

how would you ratate them? what is normal? front right to left rear, front left to right rear?

[ree]

Originally Posted by WHOSNEXT

how would you ratate them? what is normal? front right to left rear, front left to right rear?

What the manual says...if you have a bidirectional tires and want to follow convention, fronts crossover to back and backs go straightforward. People have their reasons for not doing it this way, but it's what's recommended for the BFG tires.

To rotate the fifth in, just pick a corner any corner and whenever you rotate put the spare there and take the tire that would have gone to that corner and make it the new spare.

[SOFTTAILJC]

i'd be more concerned whats causing the tire to go bad and act like that.....why ruin a good tire and still have a problem?............soft....

[ree]

Originally Posted by SOFTTAILJC

i'd be more concerned whats causing the tire to go bad and act like that.....why ruin a good tire and still have a problem?............soft....

That is an excellent concern that's been nagging at me for a couple weeks now. I've kept a close eye on steering components, frequently aligned (and actually needed to due to it coming out of alignment slightly and often), rotated frequently, had "pros" check and recheck tightness of front end bearings and joints, and done the same myself. So far I've been very low wear on all the front end components (I have the cognito stabilizers and hope that that outlay is partly to credit).

I do have a leaking inner axle seal or bearing on the PS front corner. But the tire that has been going bad fast was on the DS front corner (opposite) for the past 4000 miles and it was aligned and rotated just about 3000 miles ago. So unless I messed up my alignment right after aligning it, I don't think alignment's to blame. In fact, it does feel a bit out of alignment now, but has only felt that way for about a week.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's just one tire not quite up to grade like the rest. It happens.

It's going in for a few things in really soon (and to test out how well GMPP actually works out) and I'll have them give it a good checkup. Fingers crossed that I find a good explanation and it's covered.

[BlueHUMMERH2]

Some H2's seem to wear the front tires unevenly or more quickly than the rear. A major degradation in short period of time on tires you've been running for a while... That seems strange. Perhaps your pressure was low for a while, or maybe too high, or it could just be you've taken off enough of the rubber that a casting issue that was deep in the tread is beginning to show. :/