Spare Tire FYI

Slid under my '96 yesterday to change the fuel filter, looked up at my spare tire (original) and it was dry rotted to the point of being dangerous to put on the road, SO just a heads up to all to add the spare tire to an annual review.

This is a good warning. Last year the government put out warnings for consumers concerning older tires and the dangers of using them. Those warnings also included the spare tire on your vehicle. Heat and oxygen can cause a tire to break down,( called thermo-oxidative degradation.) It is recommended that you replace your tires every 7 years. I have a few posts on this site in regards to this issue and a couple of the sites I link to that has more info is : http://personal-finance.thefuntimesguide.com/2009/01/used_tire_dangers.php .and http://www.tiresnotes.com/car-tires/spare-tire-safety-warning-62.php .

I guess my next issue is where to find a spare, I am leaning to a salvage yard for a good, used, steel wheel (correct bolt pattern) and then a good used tire. I talked to two local nation wide tire stores and they were at a loss as to where to even begin to find a OEM replacement. I assume a full size wheel/tire replacement will store in the current spare tire well.

For your specific year/model, I.m not sure if a full sized spare will fit, but I will say that many vehicles out there WILL accept a full sized spare in the spot where the mini previously was. I'm one who also likes to replace those "doughnut" spares with the real thing:lol: and have been successful in my vehicles with doing so. A salvage yard is a good choice to find a used steel wheel and given your vehicle is 13 years old, there should be a decent supply. If you are looking for new, tirerack.com carries some for many vehicles. A few years back I ordered new steel wheels for my Venture van and they were only $35 ea. not a bad price seeing a local supplier was charging almost twice that. Check your local Yellow Pages to see if there are dealers in your area that may carry new if that might be your only option. One last source that readily comes to mind is www.car-part.com At that site you enter your vehicle info and the part you need and are taken to a results page which lists salvage yards across the country that show it in their inventory. You can also refine the search to yards closer to your location.
I would hesitate however on getting a used tire from a salvage yard. Refer to the first link I posted in my other post as they give some info on this matter. If possible it might be better to find an inexpensive, new tire to fill the need as it will probably be used as just a spare so appearance won't matter.

Thanks for all of the input, I am going to measure the spare tire depression to determine if a full size tire will fit, I only wanted the wheel from a salvage yard and if all goes well I hope the cable is strong enough to hold afull size tire and wheel. I will let you know how this works out, until then I carry a 12 VDC compressor and a tire plugging kit in the car.

A salvage yard is the right place to get one. Every wrecked car has a spare, usually usable. Remember, wrecking yards often have to pay someone to remove scrap tires, so you should get one (on steel as least) super-cheap.

'95 Grand Caravan

We carry a fullsize spare where the doughnut spare was mounted under the rear. It fits nicely on our van.

We bought a matching rim through a wrecker, one of the Dodge original five spoke wheels.

Final post. I went to salvage yard and found a steel wheel off of a '99 Caravan, then to a used tire shop and got a good (about 75% tread life left). Giot the tire mounted and balanced, dropped the comapct spare, hooked the cable lif to new wheel and raised her up with no problem and she looks like it was designed to hold a full size spare, just a little update for at least the '96-2000 drivers.