No matter how carefully we drive the vehicle, we still cannot wholly avoid problems on the road, especially issues with tires. At such times, spare tires will be your savior by keeping the car moving just enough distance to get home or to the repair station.
So, how fast can you drive on a spare tire?
Unlike the main tire, the spare tire has some problems that make it impossible to travel at speeds up to 60 or 70 mph as usual. So what is the main reason for this restriction? Find out in the article below.
How Fast Can You Drive On A Spare Tire?
The performance of the regular spare tire will not be as great as the high-standard versions. Therefore, pushing it to the top speed is not a smart choice.
Don’t put yourself and others in dangerous situations when traveling at 60, 70 or 80 mph with the spare tire on.
Instead, try to keep the speed below 50 mph to be on the safe side. You can move a little above this in practice, but try not to go over 55 mph.
To avoid unfortunate accidents, you will need to adhere to this limit when driving on normal roads or highways. On bad roads such as standing water leading to slippery, snow-covered, or a lot of debris, you will need to slow down to 40 or even 30 mph.
Of course, the travel time will increase, but in return, we will not need to worry too much about the hazards.
What Should The Optimal Speed Be?
50 miles is the maximum speed at which you should operate the vehicle, not the optimal speed, so that most of the hazards of using extra tires can be eliminated.
Theoretically, you can drive at any rate as long as it is less than 50, but many tests have shown that 40 is the appropriate level for extra tires. Because this speed allows us to handle problems more efficiently and avoid creating too much friction on the tire surface. Besides, you can lower the rate to 30 mph when traveling in a crowded city.
What Will Happen If You Drive Too Fast?
There are many differences between the car’s wheels so far and the spare wheel that you have just installed. And it is from there that instability will appear with extremely high frequency.
If commonly, we feel that controlling at high speed is not easy, then the extra tire’s stability problems will make managing the vehicle much more difficult.
One problem you will encounter if you exceed the maximum speed when using backup products is the high risk of failure. The spare tire itself is a replacement for the main tire in the event of a problem, so it would be a nightmare if the entire unit failed to function.
The extra tire inherently has a very different surface condition than the other 3 tires, so the force and friction will be put a lot in this area. And when we run too fast, the harmful factors will have an even more substantial impact.
How Long Can You Use A Temporary Spare Tire?
Usually, the manufacturer’s documents will specify the spare tire products’ time or mileage to ensure the best performance.
However, if the information cannot be for some reason, you can limit tire use to 50 miles or 1 hour of continuous operation.
In fact, this number may vary slightly, but you should not exceed 55 miles. Because it will be hazardous if we drive a car in a condition where the wheel can be damaged or even explode at any time.
Is Driving With A Spare Tire Harmful To The Car?
As a temporary solution to deal with problems along the way, driving with a spare tire will negatively affect the vehicle if we do not take action soon.
Besides, moving too fast will make bad problems worse when the influence of friction, force, and many other factors is added.
Stability is inherently one of the most important factors when driving. However, a strange extra tire will create deviations during vehicle operation.
Because the spare tire will undoubtedly be very new, it also means that the product’s edges, spikes, or grooves have no signs of wear due to friction.
While this may seem like a positive thing, this perfection throws off balance between the auxiliary equipment and the other components of the vehicle.
The consequences of this mismatch manifest themselves in many ways. The first is that the spare wheel will be subjected to more force and friction. The difference in revs also causes one side of the vehicle to be out of balance, leading to misalignment of the differential, brakes, and the steering system in general.
So instead of trying to move because finding a place to patch a tire is still a more reasonable choice.
Is It Difficult To Drive With The Spare Tire?
As mentioned above, a spare wheel will make the vehicle’s operation unstable and lose the balance of many other parts. But we all know that stability is one of the essential factors when operating any vehicle, not just cars.
So for sure, driving with a spare wheel will be a real challenge. Whether the distance is short or long, the process of moving a vehicle with a skewed center of gravity or a faulty steering assist system is a disaster.
Notes When Driving With A Spare Tire
The first and most important note for operating a vehicle with this device is that you need to find a stop as soon as possible, like when encountering a transmission leak.
Of course, it could be your own home or any auto repair shop as long as there is a place for us to quickly take action to avoid driving the car under an unbalanced state. This puts yourself and those around you at risk.
The next thing you need to pay attention to is to avoid too substantial or sudden impacts such as sudden braking, sudden acceleration, or sharp cornering. These actions will create a large amount of impact force and friction, which in turn can lead to damage to the spare tire or, worse, unbalance the vehicle.
Is There Any Type That Can Replace The Spare Tire?
You can use Run-Flat tires as a measure to avoid having to use a spare tire. The feature of this product is that it can still move quite a distance even though the surface has a hole leading to a leak. Of course, we cannot abuse this method, but it is still an excellent alternative to backup products.
Conclusion
After the information contained in today’s article, we hope that you have gained the right knowledge to answer the question, “how fast can you go with a spare tire?”.
Thanks for reading!
