Just noticed I still have my 24 year old spare tire still underneath.

This is my 19-year-old tire and it also has never been used.

I take it down every spring and clean it and lubricate the carrier.

Spray painted the rim about three times over the last 10 years.

Looks like in 2001 on a base model they used Dunlops

 

do you FF or anything to that rim?
i sprayed CF 3K all over mine in December after cleaning it up and primering it, i will be intrested to see if the corrosion spray held up onit over the past mild af winter here

 

Yes I always coat the rim in fluid film.

I am just like the guy in that movie "my Greek wedding "with his Windex. Lol

I always remove the tire for my KROWN application

 

i sprayed the other Canadian stuff instead of FF just to see what happens
the winter here seriously disappointed, perhaps this spring there will be much more water on the road to check for washoff in that area for both products to see which is the better for durability

did you notice any washoff on the rim with FF

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one whose new 1st-Gen Tacoma came with Dunlops.
I guess my spare wheel is holding up pretty good to have never been cleaned/painted.

 

It seems like both Krown and FF will wash off a bit in areas such as wheel wells etc. However I think that a small layer always remains.

Both products "hold" the dust and therefore look dirty. When you wipe a section of frame or body panel with a rag you can tell and feel the oil.

 

Firestone dealer told me if they find a tire in stock over 6 years old they drill a hole the in sidewall and toss the tire.

 

I believe that.

It is always good to check the date codes on tires when buying used or even new.

 

The spare on my 2003. Part of a set of five BFG AT KOs (just as the the KO2s came out). POR-15 precoat/Rustoleum topcoat refinish.

 

that is sharp with the white letter out!

 

except that's the backside. If I could find a nice set of 1/2 caps that fit those rims I'd use them. Always liked steel wheels on a truck.

 

Correct, @cruxofthebisquit! I run always run blackwall out on my BFG ATs. 235/85/16 with OME kit on both my Gen 1 and Gen 2 trucks.

 

do those steel wheels turn all crusty after awhile in Texas with the humidity?
they do here in the north but is probably due to the road salt + humidity

 

Unpainted anything rusts here from humidity but paint keeps that in check.

 

those steel wheels get chipped easily!
never ending paint touchup i presume
my 95 Toyota pickup had steelies but i did not have it long enough to see what happens over time
alloys have a different type of corrosion it seems

 

You ran over a catfish?

 

Our beaches get covered in them at times. (the saltwater variety are good for nothing) You may not know it if they get sand covering them.

 

The original Dunlops would have been made as a subsidiary of Sumitomo. At some point, Goodyear bought a good chunk of Dunlop and became the NA distributor and the tires got a lot better - that's probably around the time they stared making the OE tire.

We used to sell the shit out of Dunlop in the mid-2000's as a mid-grade alternative to Goodyear and people were generally pretty happy with them. If the quality of the budget Sumitomo tires we sold were any indicator of quality, their Dunlops would have been pretty shitty.

Either way that tire is unsafe for the road, I'd use fix-a-flat before I'd trust that tire and I generally regard it as one of the worst creations known to man.

 

It is a shame what happened to tire Co's but I guess the whole rubber industry has been a sin to mankind. Heart of Darkness.

 

The Rubber Manufacturers Association recommends that any tire 10 years or older should be removed from service. I had people argue with me all the time when they would come in for a tire repair and we'd advise them that if it wasn't repairable and their spare was 10+ years old we wouldn't put it on or made them sign a waiver.

If it were me, i'd just go to a place that sells used tires and pick the newest tire that they have in your size to replace your spare.