How many spares tyres to carry........

[weeds]

I run the same rims and tyres on the tug and CT...........all 235/85/26's

For short trips around SEQ I have the one on the tug and one on the trailer

For my trip next year I was thinking a third spare onto the roof rack.........but...... am I likely to get a flat on the trailer?......the two on the front of the tug will go to the trailer to make make way for new ones, this makes the camper trailer tyres only a few years old.

The trip next year will have some long stretches of high speed dirt between Brisbane and Brocken hill

Rd to Hungerford
The dowling track
Darling River Run


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[D4D]

26's much bling

I have the same wheels/tyres on the tug/camper also, for more remote trips I'll take a spare tyre carcass as well rather than a whole wheel.

If you're prepared to leave your trailer on the side of the track I wouldn't bother with a 3rd spare. In this case you would have to be pretty unlucky to go through 2 spares then be onto the trailer tyres.

A good tyre plug kit can fix most common tyre problems.

[treads]

I'd concur. A decent plug kit and two spares should be plenty; but if you really wanted to be safe a spare tyre (rubber only) up on the roofrack doesn't weigh much.

[FODFA]

3 spares is overkill, 2 spares is probably overkill 95% of the time.

Take our most recent trip as an example, 11000km, 5000 of that on dirt including the Gunbarrel hwy, Rudall river and around the Pilbara. We had one puncture that was a slow leak from picking up a nail. That was on the trailer and was fixed with a plug in a few minutes. We came home without touching either of our spares.

The above pretty much sums up what has happened on all our outback trips, rarely do we even get a flat and have never destroyed a tire. Tyre pressures are everything, get them right and you'll be right.

Cheers Andrew

[Bird]

3 spares is overkill, 2 spares is probably overkill 95% of the time.

I agree with that.

[SteveandViv]

Me to. Have done tons of remote and never had a puncture on the Car, one on the camper due to a nail at the Tip a few years ago. A plug kit will do you most of the time. I also have a spare inner tube and tyre pliers that have side wall patches in the kit. I also take a spare carcass. 

[speewa158]

Run on the best rubber you can , carry 2 tyres only & the usual spare on a rim . Hopefully they will be only ballast & not needed 

[Crimso]

I drove the Dowling both directions from Hungerford to Kilcowera near Thargominda, no problems with that road, the road to Hungerford through Currawinya was pretty dam good. That was July though. Only had one spare for the trailer & the truck & didn't have one flat. The worst road was from Roma heading east. Don't know if that helps.

[bodgie]

One for the trailer and two for the tug depending on where I'm going. I do this more because it is easier to carry 2  than replace a single tyre in a lot of places.

I also lower my tyre pressures

[_Gecko_]

I carry 2 spares, one for the panelvan and one for the trailer.
But i have just found out one of the spares has been stabbed through the side wall...
Never had a puncture the whole time i have owned the car but thought better safe than sorry.
Also i run Goodyear Light Truck tyres on it, best LT tires in the wet and good grip on them.
Toyo's i had on the van went to the trailer they are ok.
But the kelley LT tyres are crap! Had more grip from PVC pipe tyres on a drift car!
Have them as emergency spares. they made driving fun when they were on the back thats for sure.
Gecko

[heath74]

Two spares is enough, if you are really worried throw in a tyre only as a third

[08 Ranger]

personly I'd take three
Two for tow vehicle one for trailer Not sure how everybody can travel
so many k's and not get flats I get a bunch of them including a few side walls
Try to run reasonable pressures but S#^t happens to me at least.
Norm

[rodw]

Spare tyres are one of those things you carry for years and never use and one day you will get a run of flats. My best was 5 in a day. I carry 2 on my Hilux and 1 on the pop top. They are all interchangeable.

If you want to cut back, consider carrying a tube and a sleeve. Probably not road legal but if you have a sleeve big enough to cover a hole in the side wall, the tube will get you home. This of course implies that you need to carry tyre changing gear and some kits weigh almost as much as a rim so why not take the extra spare? I just carry a couple of tyre levers as I know how to break a bead.

[weeds]

thanks guys............

i have changed too many tyres by hand to carry a spare tyre without a rim.....sometimes i had to replace a tyre and i could see a tyre changing machine down the street......

one on the tug and one on the CT is a given.........will see what my gut says the night before about a thrid spare

[Redback]

We carry an extra spare for the car, 2 spares on the car and one on the trailer, which makes 3 spares, been down the road of having two punctures, thankfully we had the extra, a total of 3 punctures for the trip, all in the sidewall, so no chance to fix with plugs, not that concerned with punctures on the trailer, I can still tow it with a flat if need be.

Baz.

[rodw]

thanks guys............

i have changed too many tyres by hand to carry a spare tyre without a rim.....sometimes i had to replace a tyre and i could see a tyre changing machine down the street......

one on the tug and one on the CT is a given.........will see what my gut says the night before about a thrid spare

O'Tooles law ( which states in part that Murphy is an optimist) will apply. If you take 3 you won't need any but if you take 2, you are bound to need 3! Or far more likely, you won't need any.

We carry an extra spare for the car, 2 spares on the car and one on the trailer, which makes 3 spares, been down the road of having two punctures, thankfully we had the extra, a total of 3 punctures for the trip, all in the sidewall, so no chance to fix with plugs, not that concerned with punctures on the trailer, I can still tow it with a flat if need be.

Baz.

Unless you have a tandem, eventually the rim will be on the ground and forward progress will cease. If you have a tandem, the extra weight will almost guarantee you will end up with two rims on the ground looking for 2  spares instead of just 1.

[krisandkev]

Our camper and car have different wheels so we always carry two spares for the car and just the one for the camper. We carry the second on our roof rack and it is very comforting to have it when we have had damaged tyres.  When you are travelling remote you really do appreciate having the second spare. Also carry a puncture repair kit and have used it on the camper.  Have had other travellers say to us that they have never had damaged tyres so don’t need to carry second spares, but maybe they have just been lucky or don’t go where we like to go. So it does depend on where you want to travel and how lucky you feel, but having your camper and car match is the way to go.  (We even picked up a puncture driving on 80 mile beach in WA on our last trip!  And that was with new tyres!) You should be good with just two spares. And don’t believe you will not get a puncture in a camper, this happened to us outside Coober Pedy.....   Kevin

[TOPNDR]

I now carry 3 spares, 2 on the Q, 1 on the Cruiser.  All 9 rims are the same dimension and all 9 tyres are the same size.

In. '09 travelling around Lake Eyre and into Birdsville we had a flat on the then Kimberley Kamper. By the time I noticed the tyre was shredded.  A spare tyre in Birdsville was exorbitant so I took the risk and decided I'd get one back in the big smoke.

Almost at Betoota on leaving Birdsville, I had a flat on the patrol, so now I had NO spare and had to pay even more for a tyre from Mt Leonard station enroute.   

We optioned our Q to have 2 spares rather than the standard 1, so that when travelling remotely we have effectively 1 spare per axle.  Only needed one so far on the odd occasion but I KNOW that things have to get really desperate for me not to be able to drive out, and worst case scenario, I can rob tyres of the camper to get to a town and affect a rescue.

[Redback]

O'Tooles law ( which states in part that Murphy is an optimist) will apply. If you take 3 you won't need any but if you take 2, you are bound to need 3! Or far more likely, you won't need any.

Unless you have a tandem, eventually the rim will be on the ground and forward progress will cease. If you have a tandem, the extra weight will almost guarantee you will end up with two rims on the ground looking for 2  spares instead of just 1.

Beauty about having 5x120 PCD, our second vehicle is a VW Amarok, the rims on it will fit as an emergency, it has two spares also

[benny_jahmin]

I am carrying two spares for the tug and one for the camper, this is because I can't fit 33's to the camper and I just bought 6 mud hogs for the truck as we plan on living on the road for the next year or so then rotating the 6 tyres should see an extra 50% of mileage out of them.

As far as punctures go my folks have clocked up about 80,000 km in the last 3 years and haven't had a puncture with the coopers which have been recently replaced.

[Silvo]

I carry one spare for the truck and one for the camper. I carry a plug repair kit and a spare tube. I also run a TPMS. My view is that prevention is slightly better than trying to cure one. The aim is to identify a tyre that has been damaged as early as possible, pull over and do a repair. Check tyres every time you stop, ensure your pressures are right for the conditions. I've done enough remote touring and have picked up nails, cuts etc that would destroy tyres should you keep driving on them.

I've saves many tyres using this method and in my opinion the TPMS has paid for itself.

Dan

[Pipeliner]

.........but...... am I likely to get a flat on the trailer?......

In many '000s of kms towing around Australia I have had two tyre failures - both on the camper.  One was a nail pickup on the Plenty, mended with a plug, the other was a complete blowout (cause unknown) on the way into Echuca.  Never had a failure on the Jeep.

[Barry G]

I have 10 matching rims for the Jackaroo and will be altering the Heaslip to run the same tyres as the Tug.
So, 5 Yoko Geolandars on the Tug, will be getting a 6th for rotation purposes, which will fit on the draw bar rack.  Spare for the camper will go under the rear of the trailer, giving 3 spares in all. The tug will be running the wheels and tyres which were on the Jackaroo Equipe when I purchased it. These are Goodyear ATs.  Will eventually rotate the current Geolandars to the trailer and fit new Geolandars for the Equipe to the trailer rims. 
With 10 rims I could carry a 4th spare on the roof rack...

[cetacean]

Just got back from 6 months around Oz, didn't get a puncture fot the first 20 000 odd k's and then got 2 on the camper in the space of 30 km's on the Plenty H'wy. Tyres shredded both tomes too.
I was very glad that I was carrying 3 spares at the time and that my spares fitted both the tug and the camper.

[muzza01]

I carry 3 spares. 2 on the back of the Cruza and 1 on the back of the CT. my rims  and tyres all match the tug and CT. I don't think I really need 3. The roads and tracks are much better now. I remember shredding 2 tyres between Cairns and Cooktown nearly 30 years ago. The track was a lot different then, bitumen all the way and 3.5 hours. Used to take about 10 hours on the old track depending on the time of year.