Space saver spare tyre in Prius and being minus a spare tyre in Prius i-Tech (Australia)

Apparently there is another reference to the full size spare.

 

I almost never rotate mine either unless due to uneven wear or something similar.

 

Back in the day, when all cars were rear wheel powered and had cross-ply rubberware there was a need to swap the rubber around. These days, not so much. Particularly when they're mostly front wheel drive.

 

Sadly, many ecoboxes in the US do not have full sized spares, and more and more car manufacturers are even deleting the spare altogether.
Since I don't live in a dense urban area, I have to have a spare tire.

Period.

My work Prius has a small spare (we call them doughnut spares in the US) and I would only use it to limp the car to the nearest location that I could then call out fleet management services from and have the car repaired.
If I owned a Prius as a personal car then I would use a full size Corolla rim and tire as a spare.
I work evenings and nights a lot and even though I do not live in a crime ridden city, there are times when having a spare tire could be more of a safety thing than a convenience thing.

Tire rotations:
Could not imagine NOT doing them, and more to the point I cannot imagine people not doing them down under either.

Tires on small, front wheel drive cars will wear unevenly if not rotated, and this will result in "cupping" which can be felt and heard as you drive....especially at interstate speeds and in a car with very substandard sound insulation and hard rubber tires.
I can understand where this might not matter much in the EU where traffic density, photo enforcement, and ludicrously low urban speed limits will attenuate the "wha-wha-wha-wha" of badly cupped tires, but I often imagine that in Australia there are open stretches that one could actually drive decent speeds on.


Good Luck!

 

In all my front wheelers I've never had that occur and never rotated their tyres either. I believe you are overreacting

 

At least on our 2016 Prius v Three the Toyota maintenance schedule calls for tire rotation every 5000 miles starting at 10000 miles. Beyond that I have always rotated tires on all the cars I have owned...

 

Is Gen 4 more balanced?

 

Just a few thoughts:

1. The front tires wear appreciably faster than the the rears. And the rears, with camber that splays them out at the bottom, wear will happen faster on the inner tread edge. Both Toyota and the tire manufacturer recommend rotations. While it's not mandatory, I think it's good practice. In my case, swapping over to snow tires every winter, it's no extra labour. But even without that, I would still do rotation. The one thing I think: you could stretch the interval, even double it, and theoretically end up with wear more-or-less just as even.

2. A lot of owners with no spare seem to gravitate towards full-size spare. There are some advantages to this, they're more readily available, might even be cheaper, lol. OTOH, it creates issues: the trunk/hatch is likely more conducive to accomodating the thickness of a temporary spare. Keep in mind too: it's a temporary measure only. Temp spares have the same Outside Diameter, and are perfectly capable at reasonable speeds, for short distance.

3. Seems to be a lot of recent buyers suddenly realizing they have no spare. All I can say: do your homework beforehand; there's expense and hassle in retrofitting a spare. If enough buyers shun levels without spare, maybe Toyota will get the message.

 

A full-size tire will not fit in the "doughnut hole" in the Gen II, which always ticks me off when I have a flat tire and go ahead and install the mini-spare, only to have to leave the damaged full-size loose in the hatchback.

No problem with the mini-spare, it does a decent job for a temporary fix. Cautions on the tire on the Gen II say never to exceed 50 mph, but other than that, no issues.

I think I have probably put around 100 miles on the temporary spare over the years.

Rotating is recommended, but as said, nothing forces you to do it. As Mendel said, the front tires will wear faster. In my experience -- with front-wheel-drive, not necessarily the Prius -- the front tires will wear about at twice the rate of the rears if you do not rotate.

In that case, just replace the two front tires, moving the rear tires to the front and putting the new tires on the rear (btw, this always causes a debate -- here is what The CarTalk guys said about it.

Blog Post | Why should two new tires always go in the back? Find out. | Car Talk

RAY: But the logic is actually sound. Putting tires with brand-new tread on the front certainly would help you get started in the snow. But having worn-out tires on the rear could cause the rear end to slide out when you try to turn or stop.

TOM: And since you can steer the front wheels, you have a better chance of maintaining control of the car if the front wheels slide than if the rear wheels slide. Once the back end starts to slide, it's a lot harder to control the car, and an accident is often the result.

 

Keep one of those tire bags (the ones you often get when the tire places have to put swapped out rims/tires back in the vehicle) stowed on the car, it'll help at least to keep things clean.

Our daughter had a temp spare on a front location on her 4WD Pilot, for months. Drove to the States, at least twice that I know of. Where did I go wrong...

 

Yes, what I do. Except for the debate - if the tyre guy tries to argue, I tell him I'll go elsewhere - he'd rather sell me tyres than stand on his prejudices.

I have a letter from DUNLOP saying that the better tyres should always be on the back - I wave that in front of them - end of story.

 

The extra wear on front wheel drive tyres come, not only from the extra weight, but the lateral force caused by steering the car. Logic suggests to let them wear down and replace when necessary leaving the rears to wear more slowly. Of course climate can force types changes in snowy regions, but unless you drive like a moron on slicks you should not lose the rear end, because with lower pressure on the back tyres you will get higher friction. And those recommendations to rotate are just to cover their six.

 

TOM needs to turn in his auto expert card. I know from experience that if both front wheels slip, the car is going straight ahead. I remember turning right in an icy intersection. When the front wheels slipped, the car went straight ahead until the front tires got traction. The car then suddenly turned n the direction of the fron tires.

Perhaps a full size spare will fit in the Gen 4 (without the foam) since the manual references some vehicles having a full sized spare. I do not have another wheel handy to test.

 

In a front wheel skid, the recommended recovery option is to steer into the direction you're skidding, not hold the line you just lost. As soon as the fronts are spinning again you can try to steer again. Perhaps a bit more carefully.

 

And there are rules on how to steer when rear traction is lost. That does not mean it is any "easier" to control, just different.

 

I'll go with TOM - my only major accident (rollover) was because the rear tyres let go - and the GOOD tyres were on the front. I could list many where that's happened. It might be different with ICE - but, that's not going to happen here, short of an ice-age.

 

Lost traction many more times with rear wheels. A little scary since there was not much I could do. but, so far, no accidents resulted. Usually when I had chains on the front tires and took a turn too fast.

Front held, but rear whipped about a bit.