So just bought my 14 GC back on Halloween. This is my luck with cars, 2 days after buying it went out and found a nice screw in my rear driver side tire. Got that patched and plugged and since been good. About a month ago I was driving on on the highway and something popped my driver side front tire. Put the spare on and was able to get that tire fixed as well. My question is when I was at the tire shop I have the stock 17" wheels and I noticed my car sitting awkward. I went out and looked at the spare and it read a 18" so my whole Jeep isn't sitting right. Does anyone else have that same size spare with there 17" wheels. I curious if I need to contact the dealer and get the correct size spare. Reason being can't drive on 2 different size wheel without jacking up the suspension among other things.
The size of the wheel doesn't matter...it's the total diameter of the tire touching the road that counts. A slight variation of the spare from the "regular" isn't an issue because spares are supposed to be used temporarily. That's why "donuts" are used for that on many vehicles. That slight difference exists even for those of us with 20" wheels normal...the spare with the 18" wheel is "close" but not exact, but fits in the available storage space.
Your spare mounted on a steel rim should be the same size tire and wheel as the rest of the wheels that came from the factory.
Sounds like you have the incorrect spare. I have the 20" wheel package and my spare is the same tire but is mounted on a steel rim. Both 20".
I believe the all 14's have the full spare. As I said mine is the same tire and size as the the other four. It's mounted on a steel rim. I do have the tow package but I understand all 14's have the full size spare.
I believe the spare he has is incorrect as it sounds like it is a regular tire mounted on a steel rim. Not a temp spare. Driving a vehicle with one tire a different size can be very unsafe. That's why manufactures place a warning concerning speed and driving to long on a temp style spare tire manly because the temp style spare is a different size. It changes the vehicles dynamics especially in hard braking and steering.
Not sure about the US spec cars, but the full sized spare is an 18" mounted on a steel rim, not an OEM 20" wheel that the car comes with.
The 18" spare has the same rolling diameter as the 20", so it is suitable as a spare.
This is the same for the SRT, but the spare only fits the rear due to the brakes, so if you have a front flat, you must first swap out a rear with a spare then use the rear for the front.
I forget but doesn't the spare have to be mounted in the rear or the front for some reason to do with slight difference in height and what parts of the system can tolerate the difference better and perhaps what might be safer. But I forget if it should be front or back.
I need to comment on my post from last night concerning the size of a spare on a 14 GC. I was at the dealer again today and looked at several 14's to see what they had as spares. Then I proceeded to the parts department to check what they do actually come with.The 14's do have a full spare tire. The 14's that have the 20" upgraded wheel and tires do have a 18" tire and wheel as a spare.
At the time of delivery my GC was missing the spare. The dealer for some reason replaced it with a 20" spare. Today I actually looked at it closely and to my surprise it is mounted on a 20" aluminum rim like the other four on my GC. The trays that are around the spare from the factory are missing but I guess I lucked out with the aluminum rim.
Sorry for any confusion.
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