One Spare Tire or Two?

[Iain_U1250]

Most likely they ran it under-inflated or and it over heated and burst. I suspect they had a slow puncture, and did not notice the starting to pull to one way as it happens over time. The bead locks would have kept the tyre on the rim until it destroyed itself. They should have tyre monitors - measuring the temp and pressure so that you don't run into problems like that. I have a TireDog TPMS on my touring tyres for the Land Rover, it constantly monitor the tyre pressure and temp and has alarms for both temp and pressure. I would not travel in a remote area without them.

It is amazing how quickly heat builds up as tyre pressure drops. I used to work for a research organisation and developed the VRSPTA - a method of measuring the stresses on the road/tyre at speed and did a whole series of tyre tests with everything from super singles, crossplys. and even aircraft tyres, Running too low a tyre pressure for speed and road conditions creates massive stresses in the sidewalls, which generate heat. The sidewalls then fail catastrophically from a combination of heat and flexing fatigue.

 

[Umtaneum]

One spare, and the tools and equipment to patch / plug and repair. I've driven solo more than 100,000km in very remote areas, and only ever had one spare. I've patched plugged plenty tyres, patched a few and even sewn a sidewall together. One only needs to drive in Africa to realise how some "bush mechanicing" can get you mobile again. If you are driving down the length of Africa with some oddball size tyre, then a spare casing would be wise unless you have time and a fair bit of money to wait for a week or two for a new tyre get shipped. If you are driving something with Michelin XZL, they are classified as "Military" tyres and might not be able to be imported into certain countries. Add availability of tyres to you list of things to research when planning your trip, and make an informed decision. If you think the roads are that bad you think you will destroy two tyres, then why won't they destroy t three or four tyres. Figure out the right tyre pressures for you truck for various terrains, drop them down or raise them up when the terrain changes and you will have a lot less punctures. Most important - learn how to plug and patch a tyre, get a proper bead breaker ( Tyrepliers work) and some tyre irons.


If you driving around the US with two spare tyres.......... ROFSheriffHL: Two spare tyres for a 4wd used for going camping for a week is just "4x4 bling",

Tire technology has improved very drastically in the last 30 years, so you might be right about "4x4 bling" in the modern era. I, however, have had situations TWICE when hunting in the US, when I absolutely needed the second spare tire. Once 10 or so miles in, once 20+ miles in, and both times it was chukar hunting in steep terrain with sharp rocks. Sliced the sidewall on a tire, put on the 'main' spare, then sliced another one later in the same day and had to use the stupid stock donut. In either situation I would have been walking out to either a paved road or to somewhere that a cell phone worked, without that second spare. With the second spare, it just meant cutting the trip short to head to town and get new tires. The truck looked pretty funny limping along on 3 big tires and one that looked like it came off of a wheelbarrow, but it sure beat walking.

 

[Ozrockrat]

I will be carrying 1 spare (tire on rim) and an unmounted tire. The tires I run are as rare as rocking horse poop and a mounted tire is just on 300#. So 2 complete spares is not feasible.



Now saying that we did spend a month in Baja with no spare. Just carried a plug kit, a tube that would sort of fit and all the gear to split the Beadlock rims if required.

In Australia both the troop carrier and the 6 wheeler have 2 spares. But the 6 wheeler just by the dual rear axle design is a magnet for punctures. The forward rear wheel kicks up sticks/rocks/nails and the rear wheel runs them straight through tread. I had 3 major punctures (sidewall rips) in 30ks on one trip. Used both spares and had to tie the tag axle up off the ground to limp it into the nearest town.