On Sun, 29 Dec 2013 17:10:48 -0800, Erik wrote:

On 12/29/13, 3:24 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I rented a car this weekend. The tire pressure indicator came on. At my
next stop I checked the tires and it turned out to be that the left front
tire was low. I filled it up and decided to check the spare to make sure it
was full of air just in case I needed it. When I opened the trunk, I
initially thought that the spare was a full size spare, because it sure
wasn't a donut.

After closer inspection I noticed that the tires on the car were
Bridgestones, 205/55-16, while the spare was a Pirelli 195/65-15. Under the
numbers it had the words "Standard load" OK, so it's not quite a full size
spare when compared to the tires on the car, but at least it's a real tire.
Then I noticed that the rim had the familiar "donut labels" on it. Limited
Use, Do Not Exceed 50 MPH, etc.

So what's the deal? Why would a full size tire, even if it was slightly
smaller than the original tires, have the Limited Use, reduced speed labels
on it? Granted, the smaller tire might make the handling a little weird.
Could that be the reason they label the spare as "limited use", etc?

My last truck had a "full size" spare but it wasn't the same size as
the other tires (15" vs. 16"). It was a real wheel but couldn't be
rotated with the other tires.

I 'heard' manufactures finally realized compact spares were impacting
sales... decided they wanted something that at a quick glance in the
showroom looks like a full size spare, but still cheaper & lighter than
providing an actual 'real' tire/wheel assembly. A compromise...

Anti lock brakes, traction control and some other stuff also don't play
well with compact spares.

More he

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spare_tire

An (unreliable) acquaintance said he'd herd at least one mfg is about
to, or maybe already is selling cars sans spare altogether. Don't know
which one/s, and it may in fact not be factual.

Wouldn't surprise me. I don't remember the last time I used the
spare. I think it was on my '78 Granada (in perhaps '84). The spare
on my last truck never left its mount. It couldn't have, for the last
eight years, or more. The whole assembly was rusted into one big
glop. It would have had to have been torched out.