Second Generation Nissan Xterra Forums banner

33” tires but a 31” spare…how bad is it? And tips?

2K views 15 replies 14 participants last post by  gdavis9999 
#1 ·
With my hitch I can’t fit a bigger tire under there. Chances are if I ever need it I won’t NEED to be in 4WD. How bad is it driving on it short term?
 
#3 ·
After blowing my 285 duratrac on elephant hill I drove about 1.5hrs back to town on the stock spare. It was fine, I just drove the speed limit. I'd just say to make sure your two back tires are the same size and have one of the fronts be the smaller one.
 
#5 ·
another thing to consider is you could deflate the spare slightly to make it fit, just need to have a compressor on hand to fully inflate it before using.

alternatively, I wonder, if you had to run a smaller spare on a drive axle, would it make sense to lower the pressure in the larger tire to "Even it out"
 
#12 ·
Lowering tire pressure reduces the distance from the axle center to the ground, which changes whats called "effective rolling radius" or "rolling circumference".

This explains it far better than I ever could, if interested :)
 
#10 ·
Have you tried putting one of your 33” tires up there?

Also there’s plenty of previous discussions about this, some good info and links to more here:

 
#16 ·
You’re completely overthinking this. Yes, the rotational velocity will be offset somewhat but if you’re worried about the differential just imagine the different speeds of the wheels when you’re offroad. I stuff for 285 up there and your 265s will be just fine for a spare. I blew the sidewall of my tire on the Escalante Grand Staircase in Utah and drove all the way to Phoenix with a smaller spare no problems. 500 miles.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top