WTF?!? Make sure you check your SPARE (Page 1/3)
fierobear DEC 19, 02:44 PM
My 88GT has been sitting for several months while I was dinking around with the steering column. With that project finished, I moved on to the standard list of stuff to do and check before road testing the car, including tire and spare inflation. When I went to check the spare, THIS is what I found...





If I used this spare, it wouldn't have been for a long time. This happened to the spare just sitting there in the front trunk. Needless to say...check your spare. Can you still buy new replacements for these tires for our cars?
theogre DEC 19, 03:50 PM
Can get tire only or mounted to new rim.
Mounted or Tire only is often a special order thru Tirerack & some others.
Often Not listed online but email or call the company.

Problem getting Tire Only, Many stores/shops won't touch them for whatever reason. Maybe for Legal/Insurance issues because needs 60psi & many shops for car & light Trucks don't have tire cages.

Don't need a "tire machine" to mount 1 tire but temp spares will hate you & others more if done wrong because "weaker" then a normal tire. So isn't as easy to mount as shown on YT that often abuse new tires to mount them.

Was damage @ the bottom?
True? Is often cause by "water" dirt etc trapped there because Drain hole(s) are blocked.

Sim problems w/ people parked on dirt/grass for weeks or months & get rotten tires on bottom because soil, lawn chems, "water" etc attacking the rubber.

more see Are Fiero Spare Tires Usable? https://www.fiero.nl/forum/.../HTML/142066.html#p5

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

fierobear DEC 19, 06:07 PM

quote
Originally posted by theogre:

Can get tire only or mounted to new rim.
Mounted or Tire only is often a special order thru Tirerack & some others.
Often Not listed online but email or call the company.

Problem getting Tire Only, Many stores/shops won't touch them for whatever reason. Maybe for Legal/Insurance issues because needs 60psi & many shops for car & light Trucks don't have tire cages.

Don't need a "tire machine" to mount 1 tire but temp spares will hate you & others more if done wrong because "weaker" then a normal tire. So isn't as easy to mount as shown on YT that often abuse new tires to mount them.

Was damage @ the bottom?
True? Is often cause by "water" dirt etc trapped there because Drain hole(s) are blocked.

Sim problems w/ people parked on dirt/grass for weeks or months & get rotten tires on bottom because soil, lawn chems, "water" etc attacking the rubber.

more see Are Fiero Spare Tires Usable? https://www.fiero.nl/forum/.../HTML/142066.html#p5




Although the car sat outside for 3-4 years, for the last 4 years or so has been stored indoors. I suppose it's possible that water damage happened back when the car was outside. I didn't notice which end was down, but I'd bet it's the blowout side. I would have seen the damage if it were at the top while in the front trunk. I didn't see any sign of water accumulation in "the tub", but it could have happened before I did the restoration and thorough cleaning.
Spoon DEC 19, 07:15 PM
A blowout like that couldn't have happened in a better place. Apparently you weren't driving at the time or you would of heard it blow.

May be good idea to rotate the spare "in place" every few years. Modern vehicles have sensors to indicate low tire pressure excluding spare AFAIK. This could be a good Fiero upgrade & include the spare as well. If anyone has done this, let us know.


Spoon

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"Kilgore Trout once wrote a short story which was a dialogue between two pieces of yeast. They were discussing the possible purposes of life as they ate sugar and suffocated in their own excrement. Because of their limited intelligence, they never came close to guessing that they were making champagne." - Kurt Vonnegut

cvxjet DEC 19, 07:28 PM
Hey Bear- that spare may be a bit "Over-the-hill".....
Stingray92 DEC 19, 08:47 PM
Hey all,

I can't recall hearing of a failure of this sort at least without some prior abuse to the spare. Anyway shhpns, hopefully tirerack has some.

Stingray
theogre DEC 19, 09:20 PM

quote
Originally posted by Spoon:
A blowout like that couldn't have happened in a better place. Apparently you weren't driving at the time or you would of heard it blow.

May be good idea to rotate the spare "in place" every few years. Modern vehicles have sensors to indicate low tire pressure excluding spare AFAIK. This could be a good Fiero upgrade & include the spare as well. If anyone has done this, let us know.

Just make sure have no crap & drain is clear.
"water" can mean condensation from weather to any water often polluted water getting in. Then any "water" can "activate" other crap to eat the tire if doesn't eat it outright.

W/ spares, doesn't take a lot of crap sitting in the well because rubber is thin to start & easier to "rot" then cord layer can "rot" too from small cracks letting crap air "water" in it.
Worse if someone put/spill some crap in the "Frunk" & didn't clean it out or use cleaners etc that can cause problems in long term.

TPMS for cars & other light vehicles has been required under FMVSS for many years now. Some vehicles have sensor to "read" pressure others use ABS to "see" tire speed change w/ a low tire. (Low tire = total radius to bottom is shorter changes speed relative to others.)

Sensor systems have several problems w/ sensors often die from dead batteries, abuse, using "Fix-a-flat" goo & other reasons.
Most OE & aftermarket senors are not rated to 60+ PSI that a spare needs.
82-T/A [At Work] DEC 20, 08:02 AM
Honestly... almost all of us have the original spares... I think it makes sense at this point that unless we drive a garage queen in rare occasions, we should all look to swap out our spares with new tires.
1985 Fiero GT DEC 20, 09:19 AM

quote
Originally posted by theogre:


Problem getting Tire Only, Many stores/shops won't touch them for whatever reason. Maybe for Legal/Insurance issues because needs 60psi & many shops for car & light Trucks don't have tire cages.





you don't need a tire cage for spare tires, many pickup truck tires are 60-80psi, only need tire cages for multi piece rims. spa may not want to do a spare tire because it is emergency equipment, and failure of that is much worse then failure of a regular tire, especially when it is on the car.
fierobear DEC 20, 11:36 AM

quote
Originally posted by Spoon:

A blowout like that couldn't have happened in a better place. Apparently you weren't driving at the time or you would of heard it blow.

May be good idea to rotate the spare "in place" every few years. Modern vehicles have sensors to indicate low tire pressure excluding spare AFAIK. This could be a good Fiero upgrade & include the spare as well. If anyone has done this, let us know.


Spoon





Definitely not driving. Car was safely parked in my shop while I got to the steering column repair.

Good idea to rotate the tire periodically. Maybe at the same time you check the inflation now and then. I keep the spare "inverted", that is, turned over so that the bowl-shape of the rim is pointed up instead of down so you can store stuff in there like spare fluids, parts, tools, etc. It's a good thing I had to remove the tire from the front trunk to check the air, or I probably wouldn't have discovered the blown out section. Much better than discovering this on the side of the road. Another reason I check a car completely before taking it on the road after sitting for some time (around 6 months this time?).