How Cheap is That? Ford Skimps on Spare Tire Lettering
I'm on vacation up here in Oregon and I was checking out my uncle's F-250. I noticed that one of the tires didn't have the raised white letters like the other three did. My uncle said that he had cut one of the original tires and that he had to use the spare tire. Now the spare is full size and has the exact same tread as the other tires, the only difference is that it doesn't have the raised white letters. This means that if you wanted to maximize your tire life with a five tire rotation scheme or like my uncle ruined one of your original tires, you'd have an "odd man out" tire showing most of the time. That seems like a rip off to me. I used the 5 tire rotation method on my Rover and it greatly extended the life of the tires. According to one Ford owner, the owner's manual of his truck even describes the benefits of 5 tire rotation making the non-matching tire even more aggravating. While my uncle was having the tire mounted on a matching wheel, the tire installer at Les Schwab also remarked that it was "pretty cheap" of Ford to skimp on the spare. It's a small issue and most folks would probably just get the original tire fixed or replaced and stuff the spare back under the truck, but to me when the Monroney "full sized spare" I take it to mean "identical tire."
Thursday, August 24, 2006
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2 comments:
1. Would you rather have a mini (space-saver) spare or a full-size spare with black lettering?
2. "4-tire rotation" is less relevant on cars (and trucks) with directional tires. This is becoming the norm on coupes and sedans > $35k.
i don't think it's a case of mini verses full sized on a full size, heavy duty truck. a mini-spare wouldn't really work. what i take exception to is that if you are told that you are getting a full sized spare, i don't think it's too out of line to expect that tire to match the other four especially since the spare is 95% percent there--it has the matching tread, it's just missing the white letters. unfortunately since the white letters stand out, it's becomes really obvious when you are running your spare. how much more could it cost? more than likely it is a case that they have one "full sized spare" running down the assembly line for each tire size and they aren't going to bother matching them up to whether or not they have white lettering.
as for the tire rotation scheme: i say if you have a full sized spare why not bring it into the mix? business owners who are watching their bottom line on a "work truck" can get a lot of extra mileage on a set of tires by rotating in the fifth tire. the ford owner's manual quotes a 20-25% additional life for the set. then when you buy your next set, you can leave one of the old tires as spare and go back to a four tire rotation.
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