2 spare tires?

[Lovetheworld]

1 spare tire, a plug kit and a compressor. Going really remote should be incentive to buy a satelitte phone or gps beacon, not really a second tire.
Once you had a flat you seek a tire shop quickly. And a lot of tires are just going soft, so you can buy some tome with your compressor.
This workes fine for us, even though we were driving dry river beds in Mongolia and what not.

Airing down the tires and not taking too much weight with you is far more important.

 

[quickfarms]

My vehicle came from the factory with an air compressor and 4 spare tires

 

[charlieaarons]

1 spare tire, a plug kit and a compressor. Going really remote should be incentive to buy a satelitte phone or gps beacon, not really a second tire.

Excuse me, I thought you were smart enough not to stake your life on electronic devices with panic buttons (the “in” thing for the last decade or so for “intrepid explorers”), that magically make a SAR team or helicopter materialize like a deus ex machina. Except when batteries go dead or the device gets wet. And if it works, there’s a small bill to pay afterwards.
How did I ever survive walking 600 km in the Brooks Range in Arctic Alaska over the summers of 73-74? With only paper topo maps and maybe an analog compass?
My unmounted 2nd spare adds 0.8% to vehicle weight. Without 4 inflated tires the vehicle is only a stationary shelter. And yes, in the summer of 2007 I experienced a tire with a completely shredded inside (steel cord) sidewall. Definitely not fixable with a plug. In the middle of “nowhere” in Baja. If we’d had a 2nd unmounted spare we could have continued to La Paz, but as it was we turned around for Arizona.

 

[craig333]

Full size spare. Plug kit. Good for 99% of the stuff I do. I have a second spare I'll carry if I ever do anything I think might warrant it.

 

[Lovetheworld]

Excuse me, I thought you were smart enough not to stake your life on electronic devices with panic buttons (the “in” thing for the last decade or so for “intrepid explorers”), that magically make a SAR team or helicopter materialize like a deus ex machina. Except when batteries go dead or the device gets wet. And if it works, there’s a small bill to pay afterwards.

Wow calm down dude.
A gps beacon or satelitte telephone is not a Deus ex mechanica but it is a whole lot closer to a Deus ex mechanica than a spare tire.

We took a car (with two spare tires!) through Baluchistan. And our crankshaft broke. I guess I should have had a second crankshaft with me?
But what if the fuel pump failed? You can never take everything with you, you can never be prepared for everything.

But debating a second spare tire for remote trips if a gps beacon or satelitte phone is not being bought is stupidity.

Fun fact about the trip through Baluchistan, wether we had the right spares and/or gps beacon with us didn't matter because within 20 minutes there was a Hilux pickup with some casually dressed guys with AK47s. Nothing would have helped. Fortunetaly, they turned out to be cops/levies as well

More on topic: Don't forget wheel bolts/nuts. Just like ruining a bunch of tires with not enough airing down, you can ruin your wheel bolts that way too. Although this is more for hard severly damaged tarmac roads than offroading.

About weight: If we are talking about Landcruisers/Defenders/Jeeps/G-classes, they typically can way beyond 3 tons fully loaded but is typically very unwise to undertake long overlanding trips that way. You will just break more stuff. Compared to the original weight of the car (typically 2 tons) a spare wheel and tyre is quite heavy.

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Op, dump the little car tires and put good quality E rated tires.
This thread has gotten silly.

 

[charlieaarons]

I do carry an Inmarsat satphone these days. But it’s not a substitute for good preparation.

 

[Superduty]

You might need two spares if you run a street tire or an all season tire and drive in places where an all terrain or mud terrain tire should be used. Modern ATs or MTs are pretty rugged and can take a lot of abuse. A lot of good advice above. 35 years of 4 wheeling and I think I have had two flats.....both times were beads getting unseated. Once in the sand dunes (5 psi on non beadlocks) and another time was in Johnson Valley on Sledgehammer where a bead got pinched by a rock. With an onboard compressor I aired them back up and was on my way. A ratchet strap helped re seat the bead.

 

[Lovetheworld]

I do carry an Inmarsat satphone these days. But it’s not a substitute for good preparation.

Agreed. And in that sense a second tire is not a replacement for bad tire usage, or using the wrong tires.

 

[deserteagle56]

You might need two spares if you run a street tire or an all season tire and drive in places where an all terrain or mud terrain tire should be used. Modern ATs or MTs are pretty rugged and can take a lot of abuse. A lot of good advice above. 35 years of 4 wheeling and I think I have had two flats.....both times were beads getting unseated. Once in the sand dunes (5 psi on non beadlocks) and another time was in Johnson Valley on Sledgehammer where a bead got pinched by a rock. With an onboard compressor I aired them back up and was on my way. A ratchet strap helped re seat the bead.

Two flats in 35 years???

I've had 4 in one day. You must travel different roads than what we have around here. A lot of the ranch/mine pickups around here have two spares mounted in the bed. But then, to get anywhere around here it will generally be on a dirt road and at high speeds so rock breaks are common.

 

[twodollars]

I do carry two spares but they are for my trailer. In my experience trailer tires seem to attract damage and flats.

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

If I’m with a group, one spare (and a repair kit, of course) that matches my other ATs. If by myself, an additional spare, a street tire that was a blem takeoff from a local dealer. That should get me out.

 

[Gnarwhal]

My newb 2 Cents.. I carry 2 spares for 2 reasons..
1. Most of the trails in my area ( N to Central Utah and Southern Idaho ) can be very remote, and every trail has a sharp rock just waiting to jump out at you.
2. 99 % of the time I have my kids with me, and if I have the room, I am going to bring anything I can to make sure they get out of the desert safely.

Everyone on here makes good points about 1 spare, but you don't need it till you need it, and to me, I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. No stories or past experiences will predict what you might go thru in the future. Just how I see it.

Also, E rated tires will only get you so far.. they can still get punctures.

 

[billiebob]

magically make a SAR team or helicopter materialize like a deus ex machina. Except when batteries go dead or the device gets wet. And if it works, there’s a small bill to pay afterwards

Actually you can buy this as insurance..... not to rescue yer vehicle but to get yer body out of harms way should a domestic insurrection occur during yer foreign overlanding excursion..... yes, they send a helicopter with whatever backup you paid for.

And you get out of.... should list the countries which went from peaceful vacation to full out war overnight.

My sister was in Lebannon teaching during one of those... 2006 ??