Flat tire - spare is totally different tire - how bad is this?

[96eb96]

Mbrooks420 - truly excellent question. So I need a usable car. I thought I had at least until the spring with this vehicle. When checking out my flat with the vehicle lifted I saw the driver side rear leaf spring bracket. It needed to be replaced immediately so for better or worse I've commited funds to this vehicle... And so now I'm also considering Tirerack and four new tires. And I even hesitate to include this next sentence (for fear of being lan idiot) but it does have a slight leak from the rear main seal... Yuck... Mo Money down the line.

There are a lot of fluid lines that can rot out leak - brake lines, trans, PS... Even the Steel Evap line, then it smells from gas and you get codes.

 

[ELeBlanc]

No codes. I have Forscan on laptop and Torque on the phone (though only a beginner user of both). Car only has 91k miles so I've tried to do the right thing at all points over the last two years but rust is an issue. Month ago I had a conversation with mechanic about whether I should put money into the vehicle. He isn't a huge fan of these. We did a walkthrough and saw serious rust on the rear leaf spring bracket, and slight rear main seal leak and front axle bushing leak and ancient shocks (which he recommended I change two years ago). So his recommendation was buy something else. So turns out that Facebook marketplace has a large volume of Gen2's. Also decent number of low mileage. I even looked into Virginia and down to Georgia and Tennesse to get away from rust. I also paid someone in Ohio to check out a 97 out there. I'm only considering v8 with preference for 2000 or 2001. My flat tire led me to see the crazy rust in driver side leaf spring bracket so I had to make an instant decision - invest in car or abandon it. I didn't have anything else solid and anyway the northeast = rust. So I'm putting money into what I have...

 

[Whoknowes]

Wow .. why do you need someone to answer this question for you? It's a spare tire, many of them ARE smaller because it's there to use temporarily, to get you to your destination. It's not a tire to put thousands of miles on. MAYBE a hundred. This is BASIC. someone able to drive, shouldn't be asking such a question.

This is 97 5.0 AWD with 92k but siginicant rust in undercarriage. So I don't want to replace all four tires to make everything uniform because considering replacing vehicle. Buying one new Hankook would also not match... The spare is an 11 year old tire from two years ago when I got the Hankooks (used). No good answers. I guess best option is to put on spare and drive to tire repair guy and see if they can fix the flat Hankook and put that back on. I can't tell what made it flat. This seems like one of those cases where all of the choices are bad just picking the least and hopefully simplest of the bads..

 

[XLTrunner]

Wow .. why do you need someone to answer this question for you? It's a spare tire, many of them ARE smaller because it's there to use temporarily, to get you to your destination. It's not a tire to put thousands of miles on. MAYBE a hundred. This is BASIC. someone able to drive, shouldn't be asking such a question.

Perhaps it is You who doesn't understand the relationship between running uneven sized tires and the AWD/Control Trac drivetrain. It is fundamental knowledge that this is not recommended on these vehicles for fear of ruining the transfer case; thus, the reason Ford didn't include space-saver spares. How many miles does a person dare to run unmatched tires? Who really knows. Some say the viscous coupling on AWD can't tolerate more than a couple miles without risk of damage. I have no first-hand experience with AWD...but, it's not worth the risk of a $1K + transfer case rebuild/replacement; even on my Control Trac. So, unless you have definite proof that it can't cause any damage, I'd suggest you use caution when advising that it's okay to run unmatched tires for even short distances.

 

[Berepair]

So while I was on my knees looking around the tire, I saw the driver side rear leaf spring bracket. OMG the rust - it's scary... He has a 2005 4Runner for sale with 100k for $6500. That amount of money is painful but seems to make more sense than spending more on my Explorer. Remember I dont do any of my repairs.

Be careful with Toyotas, they have thin boxed frames which rust out. I replaced/repaired the long sections between the wheels into the rear hangers, both sides.

 

[ataw10]

This is 97 5.0 AWD with 92k but siginicant rust in undercarriage. So I don't want to replace all four tires to make everything uniform because considering replacing vehicle. Buying one new Hankook would also not match... The spare is an 11 year old tire from two years ago when I got the Hankooks (used). No good answers. I guess best option is to put on spare and drive to tire repair guy and see if they can fix the flat Hankook and put that back on. I can't tell what made it flat. This seems like one of those cases where all of the choices are bad just picking the least and hopefully simplest of the bads..

DONT YOU DARE USE THAT TIRE ! im sorry my man but after a certain point you can't use a tire it could fail at anytime , only use it if you are in a pinch honestly ! . Be warned 10+yr old tires are to not be trusted as daily driver tires

 

[jr230]

This is 97 5.0 AWD with 92k but siginicant rust in undercarriage. So I don't want to replace all four tires to make everything uniform because considering replacing vehicle. Buying one new Hankook would also not match... The spare is an 11 year old tire from two years ago when I got the Hankooks (used). No good answers. I guess best option is to put on spare and drive to tire repair guy and see if they can fix the flat Hankook and put that back on. I can't tell what made it flat. This seems like one of those cases where all of the choices are bad just picking the least and hopefully simplest of the bads..

have you got the same brand spare. at minimum take one tire off and see if it matches spare
if its really close it could be ok. the thing with awd if you have 2 out the back still has a few thousands and you replace 2 with brand new that's quite a difference difference 2 new tread 2 with little but legal left bigger difference a very small difference not so bad
this is why on any suv with aggressive tires and all awd need frequent rotation and watch tire pressure
the front wheel drive cars are similar new tire on 1 side just enough tread on the other can throw you in skid on wet road with emergence drive. i had minor accident with co focus on friday turned report in monday morning 2 new tires were on the car. only mark ford was embossed in her minivan bumper

 

[ELeBlanc]

Decided to go for 5 new tires tomorrow. So now this vehicle has to last because I've just spent some real money on it... Remember I dont do any of the work.