So, I Thought I Heard A Shotgun Blast!

[De-marko]

This actually happened a few weeks ago and thought this was crazy.

I was cruising home from work one afternoon with the music up and in some heavy traffic. While driving I hear BOOM! I instantly turn the music down and am looking all over to see what is going on, holding tightly to the steering wheel and seeing if the car is ok, if there was a wreck or someone actually shooting out his road rage etc!! I thought I may have had a blow out also...and I did but not on the driving tires.

After getting home and everything checking out seeming ok I blew the incident out of my mind. Well, a couple weeks ago I'm cleaning out the car and get into the trunk and find my spare totally blown out!! ah ha!!

I've had this LS pushing close to 3 years already and have never used the donut. The tread on the tire still has the nubbies on it and aside from the gapping hole looks factory fresh. I've never had this happen before.

 

[joegr]

You are not the first. There are other tales of exploded LS spare tires. This is one of the reasons that I dumped the mini-spares from both of my LSes. (I got some LS wheels off of e-bay, and I now have full sized spares.) I think that any tire over six years old is suspect and any tire over ten years old must be changed.

 

[jsaleen]

That's what my spare looks like LMFAO. I bought the car just over a year ago. Few days after the purchase I notice the spare looking like that. And to this day have wondered what the hell happened to it. Thanks for the post.

 

[De-marko]

Well, if there are mutiple stories that doesn't give me much confidence in the donut spare I picked up from the salavge yard!!

I'll have to pick up a full size as well!

 

[G-RELL]

Probably marginal COP's...

 

[Telco]

Probably marginal COP's...

Excellent!

That is really wild though, never even heard of this as an issue before. Makes sense though, donuts run at what, 60PSI? Can't imagine they're made of the best rubber either since they aren't designed to go very far. I agree, replace with a full size spare. I've driven mine with the donut on before and it makes for a squirrelly ride.

 

[eots44]

Lol that reminds me of when I was filling up one of the kids bike tires with air, I turned the compressor on and turned my head for a few seconds then BOOM! The tube explodes a foot away from my face, it scared me half to death, and I was deaf for a few minutes after.

 

[De-marko]

Lol that reminds me of when I was filling up one of the kids bike tires with air, I turned the compressor on and turned my head for a few seconds then BOOM! The tube explodes a foot away from my face, it scared me half to death, and I was deaf for a few minutes after.

I bet! Well it shocked me good...surprised I didn't feel it in my ears!

Excellent!

That is really wild though, never even heard of this as an issue before. Makes sense though, donuts run at what, 60PSI? Can't imagine they're made of the best rubber either since they aren't designed to go very far. I agree, replace with a full size spare. I've driven mine with the donut on before and it makes for a squirrelly ride.

Yeah they suck!!

 

[RigsLS]

Honestly, I really thought I had seen it all! Amazing.

LOL @ G

 

[Kumba]

Donut spare tires are like real tires. Really bad borderline unsafe tires. Have to remember they are engineered to ONLY be good for 50 miles at 55mph or something like that.

Replacing it with a full size regular tire is your all around best option. I've never used one on the LS. The one time I had a tire go flat I was able to pump it up with an air compressor and drive it to the tire shop. They pulled the nail and patched it. To be honest the only time I've ever had a tire failure where I needed the spare was when I was broke and running on bald tires. Every other time it's just been a tail or something and a slow leak. The little cigarette air compressor in my trunk was always able to pump it back up enough for me to get to a tire shop.

 

[2002_lincolnLS]

I found mine like that, i had never used it and then I went to check it one day and it looked like this. It must have happened when I was not in the car because I heard nothing

 

[G-RELL]

thats wild this has happened so many times (just with our small pool of LS owners)...

wonder if it rubs somewhere in the cradle?

Went to full size spare a few years ago....

 

[joegr]

I wonder if it relates to moisture in the tire well and/or unvented aftermarket batteries?
I suspect that Kumba's comment about the tire being designed for only 50 miles of use is a big factor.

 

[Kumba]

I suspect that Kumba's comment about the tire being designed for only 50 miles of use is a big factor.

They say right on them "For temporary use only". Design spec is 50 miles at 55mph. Even then it will be less if it's on the front (steering) end of a car. They are really on to be used when you have a tire blow-out. If you just got a slow leak you are better off pumping the tire up and taking it to a shop. That's why I keep a small portable air compressor in the trunk. Almost all the tire issues I've had were small slow leaks from things like nails or whatever got stuck in the tire.

If you do have to use the spare for more then just a few blocks I would move it to the back of the car. Those things are squirrely on the front of a car at best.

The spare in my car is still in seemingly good shape from what I can tell. It does rub against the tire well at the front which might explain why they fail. Years of vibration might just cause the plys to separate and eventually blow out.

 

[Telco]

They're squirrelly on the rear axle too. When I had to use mine it was on the rear, and I had no choice because I had a really long nail that went in the tread and came out the sidewall.

 

[1LoudLS]

yeah its really dangerous wherever you put it... if you put it on the front, it locks up the brake all the time and the ABS fires when you stop, or if you put it on the back it spins all the time and causes the advancetrac to fire...

 

[FDR]

*adds sport rim to list of junkyard items to look out for*

My LS might be the only car in the family without a fullsize spare. Maybe the Fusion. We crammed full size steelies into the Tauruses (and raised the stupid carpet 2"). I actually have my mom's full size from when she traded in her 03 Taurus, which has the right bolt pattern, but I don't think it cleared the brakes on the front. The LS is not a fan of steely design.

 

[2002_lincolnLS]

You should never run the spare on the back of a rear wheel drive car. You should switch a front tire to the rear and then put the spare in the front. If you have staggered fitment in either width or diameter you should call a tow truck. While not as bad on an open diff, it is still not the best approach to run the spare on the back.

 

[Kumba]

They're squirrelly on the rear axle too. When I had to use mine it was on the rear, and I had no choice because I had a really long nail that went in the tread and came out the sidewall.

Yeah, you're kind of screwed if anything gets into the sidewall. Too much flexing to hold air for more then a few blocks.

You should never run the spare on the back of a rear wheel drive car. You should switch a front tire to the rear and then put the spare in the front. If you have staggered fitment in either width or diameter you should call a tow truck. While not as bad on an open diff, it is still not the best approach to run the spare on the back.

I've used the spare donut twice, one time was on the front of a Crown Vic. I was not driving hard, around 50mph, and only had to go about 10 miles down the interstate to the nearest tire shop. I'll never do that again. Car pulled hard, was incredibly unpredictable, felt like it was spinning around while stopping, and the damn spare looked like it had rolled over on the rim by the time I got there. Unless you have some sort of posi traction in the rear end I would always put the spare back there and just drive like you are afraid of the gas pedal. I'd rather risk "maybe" overheating the diff versus "definitely" making the car unpredictable.

You shouldn't be looking at the spare tire as anything more then something to get you from where you are to the nearest tire shop anyways. Your best option is finding a spare rim and putting a cheap tire on it as a full size spare. If you can find a rim the same size as what is on your car then you can just use the best of your old set of tires as the spare.

Either way I'd recommend giving up on the donut tire as anything you can really rely on past an emergency situation like a blow out on the interstate.

 

[joegr]

The mini-spares for the LS are the same outer diameter as the stock tires. They won't cause any problems with the differential or the traction control (other than they will have less traction than the other tire.) I've used them on the back before. They're fine as long as you take it easy and don't go too fast. I had to use two on one car once. Of course, there are a few reasons that I now have full size spares in both of my LSes. (Actually, in all four of my vehicles.)

 

[G-RELL]

does it not say somewhere that once it's used, it must be replaced? ...maybe i'm thinking of another car.

 

[joegr]

does it not say somewhere that once it's used, it must be replaced? ...maybe i'm thinking of another car.

There is a statement in the LS manual that the spare should be replaces as soon as possible. I think that means that you should take the spare off and put a normal wheel on as soon as possible, not that the spare tire itself should be discarded and not reused later.

 

[Kumba]

I'd say that what usually happens is by the time you use a spare tire it's so old and dry rotted that it's essentially a use once throw away. That's been my experience every time I've used one anyways. They were garbage by the time I got to the tire shop. Then again these are spares that have been in the car for years before I used them.

The sad part is that the spare tire itself aren't that cheap. They're anywhere from $60 to $100. A full size el-cheapo tire is around the same price, minus the cost of some sort of rim that'll fit on the car.

 

[joegr]

I bought two (one for each car) full size rims off of e-bay. Then, the next time that I needed new tires, I had them swap the best of the old tires to the e-bay rims to use as spares.