I'm going to be running a 215/75/15 mud terrain tire on my outback. I'm tossing around the idea of buying one more tire to have a spare since my donut will be rendered completely useless at this point, but I'm concerned about uneven tread wear if I happen to need to throw the spare on way down the line when the rest of the tires are worn. I'm assuming this is going to do some pretty hard damage to diffs and maybe the tranny. Would you recommend I still order one?

I would definitely get one, especially if you do any wheeling alone. The extra expense can be worth the trouble of leaving your car stranded as you roll your flat, or bent rim down the road to hitch a ride.

 

Just rotate the spare onto the vehicle on your first tire rotation and let it get rotated at all 4 corners before rotating it out. It won't be a perfect match on diameter but this is what I did with my 5-AT2's.

 

Until I bent and fixed one rim and just kept it as my dedicated spare. Even then, I used it as a spare with probably %60 tread when the rest were down to %10. Got me home 80+ miles, never heard or had any trouble with drivetrain.

 

But that's just my experience

I think I'm gonna pull the trigger. How often are you rotating front to back / side to side? Apologies if this is a dumb question I've honestly never been a good car owner about my tire rotations. I'll be driving this car every day also

I always buy 5 or even 6 tires for off roading.   If you rotate them evenly, you can get a huge amount of extra life out of them. These days, I rotate the tires on my Jeep every 1000 miles.  You may want to do it every 3k miles.   Mark them 1-5 on the inside of the rim and rotate them clockwise.  

I like that idea thank you for that. I just went ahead and placed an order for an additional wheel/tire that I'll cycle through. By clockwise I'm assuming you mean if you're looking at the car from a birds eye view, front driver goes to front passenger, front passenger goes to rear passenger, etc

Edited January 10, 201511 yr by anchoricex

I almost always have two spares with me. Even on basic hunting trips I have needed two.

Cheers

i carry a spare when i go on a long distance wheelin trip but ive never needed it i usaly leave it at camp i found its usaly easyer to just fix the flat i carry a plug kit and a cheapie air compresor and a bfh even puting a rock though the side wall can be fixed with enuff plugs

 

I always have a spare.  Always.  But I've only had to mount one once while wheeling.  I still haven't used the spared (same size, different brand) spare that I bought off craigslist 10 years ago for the Toyota.

 

I do rotate the spare on my Jeep, and always did with my Soobs.  If you think about it, rotating your spare one from time to time should buy you 25% more tire life.  mmhmm.

Awesome thank you for that diagram.

Appreciate it everyone, happy wheelin!

Numbchux' diagram is cool, but is far more complicated and really only achieves the same as going clockwise or counter clockwise.  Eventually, each tire gets a chance at each corner and at spare which will wear them evenly.  Truth.  Much easier to keep track of.  Also truth.

Ive had a flat twice while I was offroad the first time I didn't have a spare and it sucked. I didn't have a spare tire and it was the weekend so I had to get a ride back into town and the next morning I had to bring a truck and trailer close enough to drive my car to it,and it still destroyed the tire...It was a big mess and a big hassle that could have been avoided-not to mention some additional hours wheeling had I only had a spare tire. Ive gotten 1 flat since then but I put my spare tire on and drove home..Notice I did not say matching spare tire,my first flat offroad could have been solved with a 2% tread, dry rotted to hell tire as long as it would hold air for 30 miles.Having a spare is much more important than worrying about it having matching tread,unless your rich and can afford nice things, unlike me

Edited March 19, 201511 yr by Uberoo

I hear that you should have all 4 tires within a quarter inch of eachother, or risk tranny damage. But I think if you're offroad where you'd slip enough to offset it, having a tire that's an inch off to get you to the trailhead so you can get a tow would be an okay thing in an emergency. Of course a full size spare is always better. I'd go for a pre worn tire from a junker. Cheap and closer to what your tires will probably be at than new.