What do you do with your spare?

Other than using it for a flat tire, do you use it in your tire rotaion? Have a 2013 Sport (stock wheels) not sure if I should look for a wheel and use my spare when I rotae my tires.

 

Just bought 5 new duratrac's myself and i'm on the fence whether i want to rotate all 5 as well.....

 

Mine is on year 5 being under the truck

 

Sold all 5 stock tires as a set, bought 4 new tires and a used spare of same size (upgraded). I wouldnt rotate it in because the rim is steel.

 

I just picked up a matching spare wheel and plan on rotating it in when I get my Duratracs.

 

I keep it under the truck. Not in rotation.

 

I bought a matching wheel and include it in the rotation.

 

Got a matching rim; in rotation.

 

Stays under the truck. When I had my FJ, the spare was a matching rim and I rotated that in through the life of the first set of tires, then I threw the cover back on and never looked at it again when I got 4 new tires.
Personally, I have had to use a spare MAYBE twice in 22 years of driving? Im thinking it was only once though. Also have AAA and still in the first two years of Toyota care roadside, so I'm double covered.

 

Yep

 

I've been told time and again by mechanics and tire people (a mix of whom would and wouldn't benefit from the sale of more tires...) that you should *never* rotate a tire so that it then rolls in the opposite direction under normal day-to-day load conditions. Something about how the tire carcass/belts have bedded in for one direction of rotation, and shouldn't be made to roll the other way as this'll promote belt slippage and possibly other problems.

I've always been advised by said people to do front<->rear rotations on the same side only.

"Proper" rotation of a spare would get all 5 tires rolling both directions over time.

Any tire experts out there able to confirm or refute this?

 

Same here. I've got a tire plug kit and a pump that I'm much more apt to use than the spare unless the tire has a slice or is shreaded.

 

I do not rotate my spare, because my spare is one of my old A/T tires and my current tires are basically a street tire. The stock spare was too small so I tossed it, also it was the dunflop grandtrek AT20.

 

There was actually a few good threads on this very topic not terribly long ago. A lot of people were dead against criss-cross style tire rotation for the reasons you mentioned. That being said, go onto a tire manufacturer's website and see what they say about tire rotation. Obviously directional tires need to roll the same direction.
This was taken from Cooper's website:

When I had a set of Coopers, rotating front to back was leading to some serious cupping so I started criss crossing them and it smoothed the ride out. It really did make a difference.
Firestone has a similar diagram on their website but ONLY list the criss cross pattern as the acceptable way to rotate tires (tires criss cross from the drive tires to the opposite corner, non-drive tires stay on that side of the vehicle.
Tire shops will tell you to rotate front to back only.

 

Discount tire only recommends front to back rotation on directional tires.

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTireRotation.dos

 

Well i just got off the phone with Goodyear representitive and they don't have a recommended tire rotation at all. She actually told me to check my owners manual. lol ummm ok (but i got your tires on the truck, don't you guys (goodyear) test this stuff?)

Anyways, i'm running 5 matching rims/tires and i think i'll just rotate them all through. At least i'll get more life outta of them...

 

I flipped my original spare to make it easier to check air, but it is not in the rotation. I rotate the preferred way in the above post.

 

I picked up a matching rim (stole it off my wife's 4runner, don't tell her!) and I rotate my spare in.

I bought 5 tires, I'm gonna use 5 tires.

 

Gee, thanks GY rep... I'll ask my mechanic to ping his GY rep (Eastern Ontario) and see if that's a consistent message now.

I really would love to see some data that supports *not* doing a full rotation where each tire ends up on each corner of the truck at some point. Makes complete sense for promoting even wear...

 

Owners manual for my 08 say 5 tire rotation.