Tires: putting spare on when replacing tires, emergency maneuvers, exhaust system

Question
Hi,  I need to replace my tires at 35,000.  Is there any reason not to use the spare and only purchase 3 new tires?  The spare has been stored underneath the back end.
Thanks

Answer
Tammy,

Let me give you the reasons why not, because I'm sure you can supply the other side of the argument!

1)  There is an age limit to tires and 6 years seems to be a value that folks are focusing in on.  So if the expected removal of this tire would be 6 years or more from the date the tire was manufactured, then it would exceed the time limit.

2)  During the aging process the rubber gets hard, so when you brake really hard, the old tire will skid first and might throw you out of control.

3)  If this spare is different than the new tires than you may have some handling issue, especially during emergency maneuvers, just when you want the vehicle to behave predictably.

4)  If the tire was stored near the exhaust system, the portion of the tire near the pipes will be artificially aged more than the rest of the tire.

OK, that's some fairly good discussion points.

Hope this helps.