Replaced OEM Spare Tire Today

[trymes]

The original Bridgestone folding spare in my 1994 NSX was heavily dry rotted and cracked after 20 years of heat treatment behind the radiator. I didn't check to see if it would hold air, but even if it had, I would have been unbelievably nervous driving on it. 20-year-old rubber is scary enough, heavily cracked 20-year-old rubber is more than I am willing to risk.

My wife and I are driving the car back to the east coast from Seattle, so a dependable spare was a must. I asked my friend Google, which brought up this thread and this thread, among others.

Armed with that information, I found a Mercedes 165/80 Vredestein Space Master folding spare on Craigslist and asked local friends for shop recommendations. This led me to Group 2 Motorsports in Seattle, who had never done such a swap, but were willing to give it a try, so long as I knew that it might all come to tears in the end. Chris at Group 2 gave it a shot while I watched, and I can confirm that it was a completely uneventful process. If you live in the Seattle area, I would highly recommend them - great people with a beautiful shop full of special cars.

The Vredestein is slightly larger than the Bridgestone, but I may be able to rectify that somewhat by using a strap to force any remaining air out of the tire, but I am not going to worry about that until I get back home. For now, it is now safely stowed up front behind the radiator, and I am quite happy to know that I have a tire that I can count on if I need it.

If any of you still have your OEM tire, I would highly recommend that you perform this changeover.

Tom

 

[LMR]

Good find, I may have to do this too since I daily mine.

 

[trymes]

Any tire shop willing to try can do it. What does your original spare look like?

 

[shawn110975]

well since most of the tires and tire selection the walls on the tires are so thick its practically run flat.

I will never use my spare and AAA is safe enough

also you forgot to tell us how much was this service and tire?

 

[trymes]

Sorry, Shawn, I can't quite make out what you mean. Are you saying that most tires that fit our cars are run-flats and that you'd rather buy run-flats, or that the original spare is practically a run-flat itself? I assume it's the former, but I do not like run-flat tires, so a good spare is more to my liking. YMMV, however.

As for cost, I overpaid for the tire because I needed it right away, but I imagine that you could locate one at a reasonable price ($100 or less?) if you were to hunt around for a little while. Swapping it over was just the normal cost to dismount and mount a tire. I am going to ask around to see if there is a way to buy new tires, but all indications are negative so far.

- - - Updated - - -

I forgot to mention that I also prefer the spare because I don't like waiting for AAA, especially considering how dangerous waiting on the side of a busy road can be. More importantly, we are bound to find ourselves in very remote places as we drive from Seattle to NH this week, and calling AAA is not going to be a very good option. For less than $200, it sure does seem like cheap insurance.

 

[nsxtasy]

Just be careful if you're considering buying one of those tires used, rather than new from a tire store; it may be as old as the one you're replacing due to age. (Even if I were buying one new, I'd check the date of manufacture on it, as indicated here.)

 

[Brooklynzson]

Nobody makes a new collapsable spare tire?

 

[vivanshah]

Vredestein still manufactures them but they aren't sold at retail afaik. So it is probably off someone else's car and could be old for that reason

 

[shawn110975]

no what I meant was that the walls on the normal tires are so thick that they are practiclly run-flats well BF Goodrich KDWs

the walls are like 2 inch thick