A spare tire will always be needed in every vehicle. Not only do you not know when you will need it, but you also do not want to be stranded when you need it. Imagine you have a flat tire on a lonely road and there is no mobile network to make a call. What would you do?
You would need to bring out your spare tire, get down, remove the flat, and fix the spare tire into the wheel. But fixing it is not all, how should you drive on a spare tire. So, how fast can you drive on a spare tire?
You should not exceed 50 mph when driving on a spare tire because spare or donut tires are not the same as the normal tire you use therefore, it does not feel the usual way your normal tires feel.
What is a Spare Tire?
Essentially, a spare tire is an extra tire carried in a vehicle for the purpose of replacement. The tires in use in the vehicle might go flat, burst, or have an emergency. The spare tire is kept in case of such occurrences. A spare tire is known by other names. One of such is a “Stepney”.
Spare tires are hugely important in every vehicle. You have no idea when your normal tires will go flat or when an accident might occur. So, it is always a good idea to ensure that a spare tire is available in your vehicle always.
As soon as you start driving on a spare tire, you will notice that it feels different from when you drive on your normal tire. This feeling is of imbalance.
The purpose of a spare tire is to aid the movement of your vehicle till when the original tires can be fixed, but it creates an imbalance with the other tires in place. This can cause damage to the vehicle if you use it for a long period of time. As soon as you can get to a vulcanizer, please get your actual tire fixed and put the spare tire back in its place.
Advantages of Spare Tires
As small and little as they might appear, spare tires are of utmost importance to drivers. Here are a few advantages of spare tires:
- Invaluable in emergency situations: You have no idea when you will be in need of a spare tire. Spare tires can be time-savers.
- Get you to a vulcanizer shop: In the event that you have a flat tire, you can make use of a spare tire to get you to where you can fix the flat tire.
How Fast Can You Drive on a Spare Tire?
Spare tires are made to be used in emergencies. They are temporary tires and not the usual tires you have on a vehicle. It is recommended not to drive over 50 mph on a spare tire. You might experience what is known as a blowout. Spare tires wear off quite fast as well.
Also, the recommended distance you should drive on a spare tire is 70 miles. Anything more than that can cause severe damage to your vehicle. When you notice that you have driven your spare tire for more than 70 miles, it is high time you replace it.
As soon as you have issues with your normal tire, you can replace them with your spare tire but do not drive for too long on the spare tire.
Spare tires are temporary, designed to get you to a place where you can repair your normal tire. As soon as you have your normal tire back, replace it with the spare tire.
Meanwhile, asking how fast can you drive with a spare tire is like asking how long you can drive with a nail in your tire. You need to do the needful when necessary to avoid stories that touch.
What Happens if you Drive too Fast on a Spare Tire?
This is something no one wishes for but the sad reality of it is that a spare tire can fail at any point on the road.
A spare tire is meant to be used for a certain period of time and distance. You should drive slowly when you are on a spare tire. If you drive too fast on a spare tire, your vehicle might blow out.
Also, driving too fast on a spare tire is a disaster waiting to happen. You might lose control of the car when the tire blows out, and then you hit other cars on the road, you crash the car and a major disaster is created.
The risks of driving on a spare tire than on a normal tire. As stated earlier, spare tires cause an imbalance in the motion of the car.
If you drive too fast and a blowout occurs, you might lose control of the car and cause damage to other road users (motorists and pedestrians).
It is common sense to drive slowly on your spare tire since you do not want anything to happen to it. I mean, it is your spare tire, if there is another incident. You are in for a “long ride”.
What is the Recommended Speed when Driving with a Spare Tire?
The recommended speed when you drive on a spare is 50 mph. Try not to exceed this limit because anything greater than 50 mph poses a great risk to your car and to the driver of the car, obviously.
Important Things You Should Know About Driving with Spare Tires
Not all spare tires are the same, you know. It is important that you know the type of spare tire you have in your car. Some spare tires are large and some are small. These smaller spare tires are called doughnuts. You should not drive these over long distances; you should just use them to get to a vulcanizer where your actual tire can be fixed.
In other cases, the spare tire is the same size as the normal tires of the car. You can make use of it the same way as you would if you were using the actual tire, no restrictions!
If you are using a doughnut, you should know that you must not drive more than 60 – 80 km/h. You should also avoid driving on a spare tire on the highway. It is very risky.
If you have an actual tire that you use as your spare tire, you can drive at any speed limit (remain in the legal range though) with it.
A type of spare tire, known as a doughnut, is not supposed to be used over long distances. Do not overwork the tire so accidents do not occur.
It is advised to stay within 60 – 80 km when driving on a spare tire. Some spare tires can actually go further distances. It all depends on the model and type of the tire.
As you know by now, spare tires are meant to be used in times of emergency. The normal air pressure for a spare tire is 60 PSI. I know you will be wondering why it is so high. The thing is that spare tires lose air pressure over time. Why?
You do not use them frequently as other tires so it advised you put more air pressure into them. If you do not put enough air pressure into your spare tire, you might be surprised one day when you see that the spare tire cannot be used because of low pressure.
Final Thoughts
Since spare tires are not to be used as regular flat tires, you need to ensure that you do not drive so fast on them. Maintain the limit and do not drive for a long distance on spare tires also. Be safe.