I priced tires the other day and was stunned to find that to replace the ones I got on there go for about $200 a piece. The guy at Goodyear said I could save 25% buy using the spare. Good idea I thought...

Today I cranked the spare down (only the second time in two years) and found it had a bunch of burn marks in it from the frame. The were exactly symmetrical and lined up perfectly with the frame.

Anyway, I thought I'd warn y'all.

 

I took my spare down to use after 3 years. It had several "marks" from the frame. Don't exactly know what you mean by "burn".

Anyway, I used it anyway. It cleaned up good and after about one week the marks are undetectable.

 

I don't know what else to call them... If my pinkie finger were a hot dog, it would fit in there like a bun. Eight little burns...

Maybe a photo is in order as well as a visit to the Ford dealer.

Joe

 

I also was very suprised to find that my spare had 8 frame burn marks in the sidewall. Apparently mine were worse that yours becuase mine were all the way down to the cord making my spare unuseable. I had purchased 3 new tires and was planning on using my spare that had never been lowered as the fourth tire. I guess that is now out of the question. My dealer said they had never heard of the problem before and it was not coverd under warranty.

 

Yes, it's very typical. I've read posts about this, every once in a while, since I've been a member here. If it's cranked up hard, it makes deep grooves. If the spare is not maintained, it will lose pressure and rub as it moves. After I read about it the first time, I sandwiched some rubber backed carpet on my truck, cranked carefully, and closely maintained the spare.

 

Try placing some 1"x3" pieces of wood on top of the spare between the tire and frame and then crank the spare back up.... I did this a couple of months after buying my truck and the spare is fine...

 

put my truck up on hoist to do the oil change @ 45000 kilos
no spare cable broken not rusty or anything spare gone
must have worked loose then snapped
mitchykins