Solved Lessons learned during conversion from Compact Spare to Full-Size Spare

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

I wanted to share some of the things I've learned from the trials and tribulations I personally experienced, during my work to convert to a full-size spare tire:

First, I need to share that I have a 2018 Explorer XLT that originally came with the 3rd Row Seats. Not having any use for those, I followed the nicely-done thread (elsewhere in this forum) regarding how to remove that 3rd row, and convert the rear to the PIU-style cargo bay. Once that project was done, I was ready to get rid of the compact spare and go to a full-size ready-to-use spare.

Here are some of the hard-earned facts that I learned from my upgrade project:

So-called "civilian" Explorers typically come with 245/60 R18 tires, on alloy wheels (as mine did). I didn't like the "floating" feel of those tires, so, after MUCH research... I converted my tires a step down in size, to 235/60 R18, which surprisingly not only greatly reduced the floating feel, but it also gave me a tighter steering response... all without making any noticeable inaccuracies in radar-based speedometer readings. At the same time, I also purchased and installed 4 OEM Ford steel wheels on the ground ('cause I love the look!)... as well as a 5th one for use in a full-size spare conversion.

Now, the spare tire well opening is only made to accomodate TWO different size tires... either the compact spare tire that comes with the civilian version, or, the 245/55 R18 tire that comes with the PIU version. IF you try to put one of the original-sized ("civilian") 245/60 R18 tires into that wheel well, it will not go all the way down, as the circumference is just a hair too big. However, if you put a 235/60 R18 tire in there, it will just fit... as will the PIU-sized tire of 245/55 R18... but again, the OEM civilian-sized tire will not!

Therefore, that leaves you only two choices (other than to continue to live with that crappy mini-spare)... either use a 235/60 R18 for your new full-size spare, or, go with the 245/55 R18 size that comes on the PIU's... (but, keep in mind that the PIU-size is a full inch smaller in overall height, as compared to the stock "civilian" tires). This is why the 235/60R18 was a good compromise for me.

Additionally, you must also remove and replace the civilian rear trim/scuff plate panel (the one that forms the bottom edge of the hatchback door opening) with the one that comes with the PIU (Part # DB5Z-7842624-BC, black only), as the civilian scuff plate has additional plastic panel material that continues down into the spare tire well, and thus effectively blocks your ability to slide the larger spare tire all the way down into the well opening. This part will run you another $100 or so, but again, you'll need to swap-out this scuff plate in order to allow you full access to the entire spare tire well.... otherwise, no matter what you do, your new larger spare tire will not fit into the well!

Now, if you look at photos of the 5th Generation Police Interceptor Utility (or, one on the street), it looks to me (IMHO) that the stock tires they chose for the Interceptor seem to be too small-looking, in regards to how they appear when compared to the rest of the vehicle. It is for this reason that I chose a slightly-bigger tire, rather than simply doing a conversion to the Interceptor-sized tires, and its all worked out very well for me.

One of the issues that also became apparent was that you also need to get rid of your compact spare tire hold-down bolt, and instead, obtain the one used in the PIU's, as the steel rim is so much deeper than the compact spare's rim. The Ford part number for the specialized (and longer) hold-down assembly is DB5Z-1424-A. Note that, on some parts websites, this part is called a "stud", but on others, it may be called a "Stud - Front Suspension Arm"... for some ungodly reason! In any event, ignore the apparently-erroneous description and simply order it as a DB5Z-1424-A (about $21.34 from Ford), and you'll be just fine. You can also use the same plastic threaded cap that originally came with your compact spare (but, if you need another one, the Ford part number on that cap is 5F9Z-1424-AA... about $9.22 from Ford).

Lastly, one of the things I wanted to overcome was that IF I ever had to install my new spare tire onto the ground, I didn't want my TPMS monitors to be alarming that one was missing... so I also installed a matching TPMS unit into the spare tire. Even though my 2018 only monitors the 4 TPMS units on the ground, it will also automatically sense and remember any replacement TPMS-equipped tire I might install, without any extra programming (or alarms), so that is happily a non-issue here.

A final reminder, that NONE of this information is applicable to Explorers that have (or, if you wish to keep) the 3rd Seat option... because with the 3rd Seat option, there is only enough room to have a compact spare in there, no matter what!

Here are some photos of the completed spare tire in the wheel well, as well as the visible difference between the (shorter) compact spare hold-down bolt, and the (longer) one that must be used with a full-sized spare...

 

[edougawa]

Look very nice. How much did it cost you?

I converted my piu to 3rd row months ago and found out it completely useless to me, and no space for my fullsize spare. So I converted it back to cargo (trading parts with dealer, luckily no cost at my end). But those parts are always expensive, consider the cargo cover costs couple hundreds by itself.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Hi edougawa,

Yes, those parts are definitely "always expensive"! In my case, we don't have any local junkyards around here, much less than any that might have had the appropriate PIU parts in good condition available, so I ordered most everything new, and mostly through eBay, after quite a bit of shopping-around online for the best prices!

In all, I spent $1,382.35 to make the conversion, not including the new spare tire and steel rim. Since my 3rd-seat Explorer was new, I preferred to use brand-new parts in my conversion if possible, and, since I had been able to purchase my Explorer at far less than its current value, I didn't think too much of spending another $1,400 to make it the exact model that I wanted in the first place.

 

[KayGee]

...since I had been able to purchase my Explorer at far less than its current value...

That statement piqued my curiosity. What do you pay for your explorer and what was MSRP? Was it new or used with miles?

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Technically, it was considered a "used" vehicle in the eyes of California vehicle sales law, as it had about 6K miles on it... however, it had only been a dealer's "loaner" vehicle for barely a year, before they put it up for sale from their stock, and was, by all appearances, brand-new in every other way. The amazing thing is, they treated it as a "new car" sale in my deal anyway, generously still giving me about $5,000 off in then-current new-car factory purchase incentives, plus some other freebies, thereby saving me some bucks!

MSRP on the car in January of 2018 was $35,015, whereas the price I negotiated a year later was something like $28,500. Of course, here in California we also have dreadfully-high sales tax and registration costs, which I had to pay on top of that. However, at the time, I was also trading-in my 3-year-old (leaking) 2015 Edge, for which they gave me a $22,500 trade-in credit for, so my out-of-pocket cost that day was around $6,000 after all the taxes and fees... which was then also reduced by my getting a very sizable refund on the Ford ESP Plan that I had purchased on the Edge... so that my net outlay was about $3,000... which I didn't think was too bad to upgrade from a used 2015 vehicle to another larger 2018 vehicle that was barely broken-in.

Amazingly, if I run the KBB numbers on it today, it still shows a current trade-in value range of $26,144 to $28,031... along with a private-party value of $30,658 to $32,865... so, with all that said, I think I did pretty well overall!

 

[edougawa]

Technically, it was considered a "used" vehicle in the eyes of California vehicle sales law, as it had about 6K miles on it... however, it had only been a dealer's "loaner" vehicle for barely a year, before they put it up for sale from their stock, and was, by all appearances, brand-new in every other way. The amazing thing is, they treated it as a "new car" sale in my deal anyway, generously still giving me about $5,000 off in then-current new-car factory purchase incentives, plus some other freebies, thereby saving me some bucks!

MSRP on the car in January of 2018 was $35,015, whereas the price I negotiated a year later was something like $28,500. Of course, here in California we also have dreadfully-high sales tax and registration costs, which I had to pay on top of that. However, at the time, I was also trading-in my 3-year-old (leaking) 2015 Edge, for which they gave me a $22,500 trade-in credit for, so my out-of-pocket cost that day was around $6,000 after all the taxes and fees... which was then also reduced by my getting a very sizable refund on the Ford ESP Plan that I had purchased on the Edge... so that my net outlay was about $3,000... which I didn't think was too bad to upgrade from a used 2015 vehicle to another larger 2018 vehicle that was barely broken-in.

Amazingly, if I run the KBB numbers on it today, it still shows a current trade-in value range of $26,144 to $28,031... along with a private-party value of $30,658 to $32,865... so, with all that said, I think I did pretty well overall!

It’s cheaper than my 2013 PIU with 100k miles. You got a great deal. XD

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

Believe me, I am grateful that I stumbled onto this deal... I think it was all a matter of chance and good timing, for sure!

 

[KayGee]

It’s cheaper than my 2013 PIU with 100k miles. You got a great deal. XD

Wait, something does not compute. He paid 28k for a used 2018 xlt and that was cheaper than your 100k mile used 2013 PIU?

 

[edougawa]

Wait, something does not compute. He paid 28k for a used 2018 xlt and that was cheaper than your 100k mile used 2013 PIU?

I counted only the cash out of pocket. Of course he had to trade in his old car.

 

[KayGee]

I counted only the cash out of pocket. Of course he had to trade in his old car.

I think I have a migraine now.

 

[RhinoQuartz]

Technically, it was considered a "used" vehicle in the eyes of California vehicle sales law, as it had about 6K miles on it... however, it had only been a dealer's "loaner" vehicle for barely a year, before they put it up for sale from their stock, and was, by all appearances, brand-new in every other way. The amazing thing is, they treated it as a "new car" sale in my deal anyway, generously still giving me about $5,000 off in then-current new-car factory purchase incentives, plus some other freebies, thereby saving me some bucks!

MSRP on the car in January of 2018 was $35,015, whereas the price I negotiated a year later was something like $28,500. Of course, here in California we also have dreadfully-high sales tax and registration costs, which I had to pay on top of that. However, at the time, I was also trading-in my 3-year-old (leaking) 2015 Edge, for which they gave me a $22,500 trade-in credit for, so my out-of-pocket cost that day was around $6,000 after all the taxes and fees... which was then also reduced by my getting a very sizable refund on the Ford ESP Plan that I had purchased on the Edge... so that my net outlay was about $3,000... which I didn't think was too bad to upgrade from a used 2015 vehicle to another larger 2018 vehicle that was barely broken-in.

Amazingly, if I run the KBB numbers on it today, it still shows a current trade-in value range of $26,144 to $28,031... along with a private-party value of $30,658 to $32,865... so, with all that said, I think I did pretty well overall!

Ford may have still designated it as a "new" car, as it presumably hadn't been titled.

 

[xlt03]

Ford may have still designated it as a "new" car, as it presumably hadn't been titled.

Here in California , Northern California in my case all loaners are titled to the dealership and when sold are considered used. The loaner vehicles all have license plates and they are not the dealer designated plates. It wasn't like the old days where owners or managers had a "demo" that they took home and those vehicles had the dealer designated plates on them. As a consumer we drove the demo which was "similar to the one you wanted to buy". They didn't want to potentially damage a brand new car or put on any extra miles them. Fast forward to today, my observation is every car on the lot is a demo if someone wanted to buy that particular car and the sales person would hang the temporary dealer plate off the trunk or lift gate for the test drive.

With that said...I think I just dated myself..OG.

 

[KayGee]

Here in California , Northern California in my case all loaners are titled to the dealership and when sold are considered used. The loaner vehicles all have license plates and they are not the dealer designated plates. It wasn't like the old days where owners or managers had a "demo" that they took home and those vehicles had the dealer designated plates on them. As a consumer we drove the demo which was "similar to the one you wanted to buy". They didn't want to potentially damage a brand new car or put on any extra miles them. Fast forward to today, my observation is every car on the lot is a demo if someone wanted to buy that particular car and the sales person would hang the temporary dealer plate off the trunk or lift gate for the test drive.

With that said...I think I just dated myself..OG.

Everything varies by dealer/state. Some still have dealer plates and some title the vehicles for reasons or so they can consider them sold either to help the oem meet sales numbers or to meet their sales targets for incentive or other purposes. Dealers and oems play all kinds of games. When numbers are down or the econony is questionable, more games tend to be played.

 

[Bobs2018ExplorerSport]

KayGee, that's the interesting thing in my situation... that is, the car was actually titled to the dealership as soon as it arrived on their lot in early February of 2018; they then used it until it was put up for sale on their lot in January of 2019.

Although I never did see its current CA registration document at the time of my purchasing it... it DID have a regular-series CA license plate on it (they're still on it now, even though it's now titled in my name).... yet, the dealer still gave me almost $5K in new-car incentives... as if I had just bought a zero-mileage new car off of the same lot!

I don't know how, or why, they gave me these new-car discounts, but I took 'em and ran with 'em!

 

[edougawa]

KayGee, that's the interesting thing in my situation... that is, the car was actually titled to the dealership as soon as it arrived on their lot in early February of 2018; they then used it until it was put up for sale on their lot in January of 2019.

Although I never did see its current CA registration document at the time of my purchasing it... it DID have a regular-series CA license plate on it (they're still on it now, even though it's now titled in my name).... yet, the dealer still gave me almost $5K in new-car incentives... as if I had just bought a zero-mileage new car off of the same lot!

I don't know how, or why, they gave me these new-car discounts, but I took 'em and ran with 'em!

Discount is basically solely depends on the dealers. They probably just want to get rid of it quickly (if they sell it as used, they will have to give a big discount anyway). Which means, if it makes it sounds like a better deal and everyone is happy, why not?