Spare tires

This time we are not talking about the spare tire around your middle. We will save the tire for another day. Today we are discussing your vehicles spare tires. A friend was up on the hill hunting last year and some how had a blown out tire about 15 miles from the paved road. He did change the tire; it was a good thing that he had a ‘real’ spare tire to put on instead of the normal undersized ‘idiot’ tire that is only good for 50 miles IF that. To be on the safe side he did go into the nearest town to have the tire fixed. Unfortunately the tire was beyond repair so he had to buy a new tire. They did not have the same tread pattern as was already on the truck so he actually bought 2 tires so that they would match on the axel.

With the economy doing as well as it is this year [tongue firmly in cheek] it may be hard to afford at this time, but it is easier to do ahead of time, go ahead and get 2 rims that will match your other tires. If you are buying a new vehicle you can order it with 6 rims [4 on the vehicle and 2 spares] with matching tires and the price will be rolled into the total price. If you are not getting a new vehicle you can still order the extra rims from the dealer or an after market supply house. A more economical source for rims is at the ‘junk yard or ‘U pull-it” place and get rims and maybe even reasonably good tires to act as your spares. Generally it costs less than ¼ the amount for rims and tires doing it with the u pull it route. One person that I know went that route and got 6 [six] full sized rims and decent tires for his vehicle so that he had basically 2 complete sets of wheels / tires and he would have a one set of studded snow tires for the winter and regular all season for the rest of the year.

Another alternative with that idea is to have them all the same and then you can rotate them and if you are out hunting [or post SHTF] you will have the extra as spares when you may not be able to get good tires mounted. When the economy gets worse than it is now you will have already bought your next set of tires ahead of time and most likely for way cheaper – just like food storage.

Years ago a family friend [Little Wink is what he was called] made his own super studded tires for out in the forest. He took a well used set of tires for his truck and drilled holes all around the tire in 4 rows. He then took ½ inch bolts and large washers and put them in the holes that he had drilled. When he went into the woods he would put those tires on and even though it did take a little bit of extra time and work to do that he never had to dig his truck out of the snow and mud because he was stuck. His system worked way better than chains. I am not sure how well it worked on dry pavement but he also never got stuck going to town during or right after a snow storm.

www.PrepareSurviveThrive.US