Spare Tire Cost
 

How much have people paid for their spare tire kit, tire and mounting labor? My dealership wants to charge me some $287 for the kit, $181 for the tire and ANOTHER $360 to mount the tire on the rim. WTF? That's about $828 for a freaking spare. They claim the tire is very difficult to mount on the rim. That sounds like someone screwed up design-wise. Feedback please!

IMHO better get a used original wheel & tire for a spare.
There are some out there. They use a lot of space though...

I purchased the kit from Trussville, installed it myself, bought the tire from Tire Rack for ~100, and had it mounted for $5 at a local tire place... The large tire shops around me said they did not mount spares...
The guy did say it was a pain to mount, and it does seem like a tight fit because the tire is shaped totally different after it is mounted.

My dad is a automechanic , and I've worked for him for couple years. Mounting tires on the rim is not a very hard process and it should not cost freakin $360. They are ripping you off dude.
It only should cost no more than $10.
Use a little grease on the edge, and it'll fit right in..
those mechanics at dealership are dumb..

dumb, or greedy?

GREEDY and DUMP!!!!

Thanks for the replies so far. How much are people paying for the tire and kit? Also what size is the tire. My sales guy said 125-70-17. Is that true? Can't find that size on tire websites. Any suggestions?

I'm selling a kit if you're interested.

Yes that is the correct size, however it would most likely be a special order from tire places since it is specifically a temporary spare tire. Most of the tire places I called weren't able to get it, they told me to try the dealer (which didn't have it either), but TireRack had it and it did not take long either. You have to email or call them up b/c its a special order.

Yeah, $360 - what's it take somebody a whole shift to mount the thing?

But, a big NO on the GREASE. Don't use petroleum-based grease on rubber. Soapy water will do the trick, or whatever slippery stuff the tire-mounters use but it is NOT grease.

spare tire
 

Hey Rabinado, I am interested ... how much are you selling your kit???

While in College, I worked for a large farm and mounted a lot of tractor and truck tires. The prefered stuff to use is Murhpy's tire soap. It is Murpy's oil soap but extremely concentrated and has the texture of a heavy grease. It does 2 things: makes the the tires slip on and then seals the gap between the tire and rim while inflating. The gap is not a problem in car tires but when you try to inflate a large floater tire, it makes a big difference.

I got mine off of ebay for $228 uncluding mounted tire. Installation was trivial once the seller and I figured out that I needed to get the brackets hidden underneath the side carpet.

Warning: the tire really sucks up usable trunk space.

I would also be willing to sell mine if anyone is interested. It came with the car I wanted and I really have no use for it. In fact, I have taken the tire out so that I can have more trunk space. The spare tire is collecting dust in my garage. I don't know what a fair price is but if you are interested then PM me and we can discuss.

I have a post in the parts for sale section. I was thinking $350 since Trussville sells it for $380 something with the mounted tire. I live in Miami, so that's probably where it would be shipped from.

I sold my spare and mounting kit for $325 last fall. The buyer came to my house and we swapped side by side. It was useful as he could see how it was installed before removing mine, plus we exchanged trunk liners. This kept him from having to cut holes in his liner, and now mine is whole, with no mounting holes cut in it. It was a good deal all 'round, and my trunk is big enough now there's never been anything I needed to carry that i couldn't (occasionally calling the rear seat into service.) With no spare, trunk space is a non-issue; if it's an issue for you, you shouldn'ta bought a sports car in the first place. :-) With a spare, trunk and opening are pretty darn tiny.

ok i got it from mazda. the tire kit does not include a peicer of rubber. (tire) it is just the mounting hardware and the wheel .

The mazada dealer here charged me another 45 dollers for the tire and 10 bucks to mount it..


the Spare tire kit from Mazda cost around 350.00 (no tire on that wheel )

I bought mine for that reason. just in case...

I keep it in the garage.. and I did not mount it at all..

I really just wanted the tire just incase. if i take a long trip I will figure out some where to pack it away in the car. But mostly i keep the trunk empty and free of weight to get better mpg.

if you just lay the tire down in the trunck you can still fit a few bags and such in the trunk.. IF you Mount it like MAzda wants it then you loose more than half the space..

Just keep it and if you need to biring it thow it on the floor of the trunk.

Candian owners dont have problem. They HAVE to run snow tires. use one of the mounted snow tires as your spare.

Snow what the Hell is that ..

Santa Barbara is always 70 F and perfect year round :P

eat your heart out..

What is snow? :D

Thew-been to SB once-was happy to go north to SF-too many snarks in SB. We got snow here, but we dont have to drive eith our windows up and doors locked to keep carjackers out.
I dont know where in the US Xtasy94 is-plenty of places that have snow there-just an observation.

WTF?

we dont have to drive around with the dorrs loked or windows up here.. SB is a very quiet sleepy town. not to much crime here

Thew-ingnore my post please:just feeling a little testy tonight. :-(