brulaz

Looked at the new Titan XD with the Cummins and spotted an Alloy spare identical with the other 4. Was told that's standard in Nissan trucks.

So asked if Nissan people do 5 wheel rotations, and the answer was N0 because the spare lacked the tire pressure sensor. Now that's stupid. If you're going to do it, do it right.

Hackker

Exactly this. I'm picky about a lot of things, but I understand that the purpose of a spare is for emergency use. It isn't meant to be a fully fledged tire replacement.

Ricktwuhk

The issue of the spare being on a plain steel wheel is not a new one - my 1998 Explorer was that way. While it makes economical sense to rotate all 5 tires (I used to always do this), the cost of a matching wheel makes it not make sense - hence the spare eventually is dry-rotted and cannot be used, unless you have your tire shop remove the tire from the rim and mount it on another rim, and move that tire to the spare rim each tire rotation. Given the likelihood of damaging your nice rims, that's not really feasible.

The newer issue is that if you get tires that are bigger than standard, the spare is the standard sized tire, and therefore you have both a steel wheel issue and a smaller tire issue.

As a spare, it's fine. It gets so beat up under the truck anyway that it never would be presentable enough for a 5 way rotation.

Feathermerchant

I guess I'm old school. Time was when all wheels were the same and all tires were the same. Your owners manual showed how to rotate all 5 tires. As far as using your truck as a truck, you want the spare to hold whatever you are carrying so it had better be a real tire. If you have 4WD and/or LSD the spare should be the same diameter so you don't hose your drivetrain. If you never use your spare, how do you know it is any good? Especially if it has been sitting there 6-10 years? When you buy new tires (different size) do you buy 5? Or just buy 4 and hope you don't have a flat?

screamineagle

Be glad you have a spare at all. A guy I know bought a new Kia Soul, his spare is a can of fix a flat. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ford and others follow suit to save a buck.

BassAckwards

This is more and more common to save every pound of weight to meet CAFE standards.

screamineagle

Makes you wonder what's coming next, single ply tires, plastic body panels "Saturn returning from the dead". As long as people feed the government I see no end in sight!

Raven2210

Maybe it's just me, but I have never seen any American made vehicle in my time of being around vehicles from say 1975 on to ever have a spare that matched the drive wheels. They are always on smaller steel wheels and are usually 9 times out of 10 a different brand. Unless you specifically asked for an extra matching tire and wheel and paid extra for it, it's not happening.