SQOD Squad - Stupid Question Of the Day

[dudemancool1904]

The five tire rotation is new to me as well but it feels almost wrong. I’m used to replacing Michelin PS4s or falken azenis 615/yoko a052’s at least once every 12 months/15k miles. Meanwhile the a/t’s on my 200 are 2.5 years old with 30k miles and I can see myself easily getting another 2 years/25k out of them with 5k rotations and proper inflation.

 

[Sajan]

I believe you are 100% correct.
Robustness of the drivetrain renders this a non-issue.
I've always done 5 tire rotations.
A few years ago when I got my LX450; the spare was never used. It had to be tossed because the date was a decade too old.
I can't see throwing away 20% of anything. (Wearing 4 tires when 5 are available = 20%)

look into used tires from here. as with anything used, it takes some effort to find a tire that's not patched and has a recent date code.

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I wish I could figure out how to make the TPMS work without the spare in the back. i truly don't understand why TPMS has to throw a code and not display any of the tire pressures because 1 tire (a freaking spare) is missing. what a dumbass design.

 

[bloc]

Assuming I upgrade from stock LC200 wheels to the TRD BBS Forged (PT960-34200-02), am I safe to buy 4 wheels and keep the spare stock? If it matters I’m planning to upgrade all 5 tires to Defenders.

I don’t want to cheap out per se, but at ~$1,000 a wheel I’d rather not get the fifth one. And I figure that the only downside to 4 wheel versus 5 wheel rotations at oil changes is reduced tire life.

Anything wrong with this plan?

One advantage is the rubber bumpers in the spare mounting location won't wear holes into the powder coat on the BBS, like they often do on the stock wheels.

This makes sense to me but if you are only using the spare in emergencies to get to a shop then does it really matter? This platform is so robust I can’t imagine you’d cause serious damage.

The manual says something along the lines of "avoid significant tire diameter mismatch".. no solid numbers. We did some math a while back and a worn vs a new tire is a very small difference, and especially when considering due to the axle diff and center diff the effective diameter difference where it matters (the torsen center diff) will only be half of that diameter difference.. it's a non-issue.

But..

If you do 5-tire rotations and get a flat that can't be repaired, you still have four tires that are all the same wear state (and possibly model, if yours gets discontinued).. throw a new tire onto the spare wheel and move to 4-tire rotations on the old ones. That new tire can become part of the new 5-tire set when the other 4 wear and get replaced. The more worn the 4 are, the more this applies, as you're more likely to replace them in the next couple of years.