Spare wheel Age

[KentMike]

Just had the van serviced and the tyres are now recommended for replacement due to age (so i'd guess 5 years - vans 4years old).

The one thing i was wondering about was the spare - it's never been used - and as it's an avondale - sitting inside the van in a hole in the floor (so not exposed to road or light). So whilst it's 5 years old too i'm not sure that going to be worth paying for a replacement on ?

 

[rob_jax]

That's a difficult decision, you haven't needed to use the spare - so why spend money on replacing it?

Well, even though your spare is stored out of the light, it will still degrade from Ozone and other atmospheric pollutants, but slower than the same tyre in direct sunlight...

So I'd suggest checking the spare for micro-cracks and any deformities - and in particular the valve, because these are much more likely to fail from ageing than the tyre. And certainly change the spare the next time.

If your tyre fitter is a decent guy, you might ask them to replace the valve on the spare (means the tyre needs to come off the wheel).

Robert