Spare Tire
 

Today I used my Goodyear road hazard protection plan again. This time I was 20 miles from home and had a flat. Called Goodyear and they used AAA for road service. Fast service and my spare was changed in minutes. It was over 90F with high humidity and I was glad I had the plan. It cost $12 for each stock tire for the plan, and this is the second time I've used it. The first time, Goodyear replaced a Eco-Plus with sidewall damage. After waiting two weeks and driving on my donut, I decided to buy a FEH stock rim and spare Eco-Plus tire. It paid off today and I feel much safer and my FEH doesn't look like a POS driving down the road with that donut.

I'll drop off the tire in the morning and let Goodyear fix or replace what will most likely be my spare now. If a new tire needs to be ordered, I"ll have them put the donut back till I get things replaced.

GaryG

Re: Spare Tire
 

Gary, did you equip the spare with the TPMS sender? I found out the hard (expensive) way that the system only holds four codes, so putting the sender on the spare was a complete waste of money.

Re: Spare Tire
 

I haven't needed to change a tire yet -- but when you lower the donut down from it's carrier under the back of the car, will a full-size tire fit under there, or do you have to put inside the car?

Re: Spare Tire
 

In the owners manual... or maybe somewhere else ...(the instructions with the jack?) I believe it specifically tells you to stow the flat tire on the carrier where the donut comes from. So it should fit. Additionally in a thread on "full size spare" several people have ordered an extra rim and put a full size spare in there and it fits fine... hangs down a bit more, but they do on all vehicles with full size spares, not just the escape.

Re: Spare Tire
 

Curious what you paid for the FEH rim & tire (individually)

I've been debating this for 3 months now, but $200-300 + from Ford seems high just to match. Esp when I only drive 6 miles to work. But for a lot less I'm thinking I would. I hate the thought of using a doughnut spare. I always have full size, Expedition, F-150, '66 'Stang...

I've seen some 05 rims on "special" for $50ish. Thinkning of getting one of those, even tho it's not a match, it is full size.

Re: Spare Tire
 

I actually haven't gone that route myself. If I did I think I'd get a cheapo steel rim and not use it in rotation.... Why? TPMS sensors. The '06 has them and the '08 probably does to (I think it has to by law). The system has to be programmed to recognize the tires and only seems to hold 4 in memory at a time. So you'd have to get another sensor or you'd have a Tire Pressure warning constantly... you'd have to program the tires every time you swap the spare in, which makes rotation of all 5 tires a pain....I'm not even sure someone has worked out how to do it without a dealer being involved.

So if you aren't rotating all five tires now when you do use the spare.... well its not worn evenly and thats not good. So you'd likely just want to use it for a certain amount of time until a repair... just like you would the donut. So why care what the rim looks like?

Re: Spare Tire
 

It was well into $500 for both the tire, the rim and a core charge.

The '05 doesn't have the TPMS system and an extra sensor would add to the cost.

It was a big expense, but so is an accident. The way I look at it, an unmatched rim is just that. It has no value over the donut, can't be rotated, and IMO is not safe either. Every style of rim has different sizes and may set closer in or out from the axle and fender than the next style of rim. I wanted to be able to do just what I did this time and replace my spare with a patched tire I wouldn't feel safe with. I run 50psi in my tires and I want them equal . With a patched tire, I would not press that limit and would have to reduce the other tires also.

It was also about timing in my decision. Goodyear replaced one tire with sidewall damage. This left me with 3 tires with wear and a new one. Buying one more new tire and rim to match the other new tire was a choice I made. It turns out now, the spare has about the same wear as the other front tire. When I was waiting two weeks for a new tire, I didn't know how long the next wait would be.

There were many reasons I choose to shell out $500 bucks and peace of mind was included.

GaryG

Re: Spare Tire
 

If you are looking for good used OEM parts, use these guys. I have bought rims, seats and a few other parts from them. Great company. I found them on ebay.

http://www.lkqcorp.com/home/home.asp

Re: Spare Tire
 

Like new OEM rim was under $100 on eBay. Tire was also under $100 from Discount Tire. TPMS sender (which I wouldn't buy again) was $125 from Ford dealer.

Re: Spare Tire
 

Got both tires and rim from a local greenhybrider for $185. Got the tpms from ford dealer for $130....and keep getting the tmps senor tripping...like econoline say, dont get the tmps for your full size spare...UNLESS your ford dealer has the address reseting machine and is willing to do that 'resetting' for FREE EVERY TIME you rotate your tires.