Spare Tire Solution?

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LeftieBiker said:
It would probably fit an S or S+ - they come with the old 16" wheels. (AFAIK the newest Leafs also still use the old 17" wheels.) As for whether or not the 16" wheel would work for short distances: maybe, but what if you have to drive much farther than expected with it? What you'd need to do is determine the actual height of that spare, and if it's close to that of the 17" tires, decide if you want to do this experiment...

I found an ex-LEAF owner selling a donut spare and bought it without paying too much attention (silly me...). It turned out to be a 16 inch wheel coming off a 2016 S+ and my '22 SL+ runs 17 inch wheels. I'm guessing running a smaller diameter wheel in the rear should not cause major drama but the front might be a different story with the drive train getting a different rotation count and constantly having to adjust. Any thought on this being a viable emergency solution for very occasional (I hope) use? If no go I will try to find a 17 inch Rogue donut and sell this 16 incher off to anyone who might need it.

Thanks for your insights.
 
frontrangeleaf said:
Not something I would do, either front or rear. Front definitely the bigger worry.

Thats what I'm thinking. Will list the 16 incher on proper forum section...
 
So do you folks also have a jack and wrench etc to remove wheel. that is a lot of stuff to store in the space where the aircompressor lives?
any issues with rattles?
 
Not much sense carrying a wheel without the tools to swap it out. Nor to carrying an ancient spare on an older car, should that be the case. Tires age even without use. If your spare tire is more than 7-8 years old, time to consider replacing it, even if never used. Regular tires should be replaced at no more than 6 years, IMO.

To be clear, we don't carry a spare in the Leaf because we never drive it out of the urban corridor. We didn't buy it for long distance travel. I do carry a can of Fix-a-Flat. Yes, I know that can mess with the wheel pressure sensors, but it's a rare circumstance, and I'm not concerned about it.

If I find a tire down in the driveway, I'll use my compressor to pump it up enough to get to the tire guy. No need for other measures unless I'm quite a ways away from home and suffer a serious pressure drop.

Definitely carry tools and spare on our family vacation mobile/camper tug/mountain car. That's a different use case entirely. Not to mention the camper itself.

Our roadster, however, is also a "no spare" vehicle by design. I'm OK with that as well.

YMMV
 
This is my first car ever with no spare or option for a spare, not sure how I feel about it but do have a small tool bag in trunk with a plug kit, plyers, knife, and compressor to fix if its just a nail in the tire. For anything else I do have 100 mile AAA towing and would just get towed home or a tire shop if more than 100 miles from home.

I have a full size spare in my truck and jack and tools needed but it went flat when my daughter was driving it. I had her call AAA and let them swap it for her and I plugged it in the garage after the fact.

I usually have one older vehicle in my fleet so paying for AAA is worth it so for now that I guess will be my plan.
 
If you have AAA, then that is good reason to carry at least a donut spare, as the tow truck driver can usually install one for you. I doubt that they would plug a tire for you.
 
This is our 3rd car with no spare. We had a 2015 Leaf, and now have a 2019 Tesla and a 2018 Leaf. I haven't had more than a slow leak in over 25 years, but 2 years ago, my wife pinched a sidewall in a pothole, in the dark. That meant 4 new tires. (we were about to sell it, and wanted it to look good). Last month, my wife hit something on the interstate and ruined the tire. I'm retired, so I am AAA. And at the end of that month, I got a screw in the sidewall of the Leaf. In that short time span, we got 3 flats! Rotten CARma?
In the cars, I always carry a pump, plug kit, and tools. Maybe a jack, on a trip? After reading about the horrors of finding a tire in the boonies, for our next road trip, I got AAA premium. It will pay for food and lodging while you wait, and you get a longer tow.
I've never used the fix a flat. I don't even carry it. I think it causes more problems than it solves. And when I was a mechanic, I was often shocked about how much metal people had in their tires. For the most part, it didn't cause a leak, and went undetected.
 
Bumping old thread, but my 2022 Leaf has R17 tires. Most of the spares available are 16”.

What are the options I can buy? Preferably a used donut, but the ones listed as compatible with my Leaf are 16”.

Are there other vehicle models I can search for on eBay to find one that fits?

I saw Rogue mentioned. What year of 17” donut would fit?

Here’s an example of what I’m finding on eBay. I’m not that familiar with tires so any help would be appreciated. https://www.ebay.com/itm/314287803984?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=AfN_fLNNS0K&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=yekaitj-TXa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 
But would it be safer to use a 17”? The rogue donuts are even cheaper so what would be the disadvantage?

As long as the rogue donut is a match for the 2022 leaf.
 
The donut wheel just needs to have suitable offset and be large enough diameter to clear the brake calipers on the front so you can use it in place of any wheel. The car will not handle as well with a smaller tire, but you can drive carefully to get home or to a tire shop.
 
I understand that, but why not just get a 17” donut if they’re available? I can buy a 17” rogue donut and then get an appropriate jack vs getting a 16” donut where the eBay listing says compatible with 2022 Leaf. It would also be a bit cheaper so seems like a win-win.

I just need to know what donut I can buy. Would the one I linked previously work? It was previously mentioned in this thread that a rogue donut might work.
 
If you want to match diameters, you want to look at the outer diameter. You are quoting the rim diameter. The complete tire size includes the rim size in inches, the aspect ratio in percent and the width in millimeters. You can figure out the outer diameter from that.
 
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