<VV> Was: Compact Spare Now: Negligence?!?!

[Jim Becker]

I only gave the CD article a quick look.  The Mustang is sounding a lot more 
like my Catera story than I realized.

Jim Becker

-----Original Message----- 
From: roboman91324--- via VirtualVairs
Sent: Tuesday, September 03, 2019 9:31 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Cc: joel at joelsplace.com ; socalcorvairs at yahoo.com
Subject:  Was: Compact Spare Now: Negligence?!?!

Joel,
I stated that your previous post highlighted that I had missed something and 
I did.  However, something else was bugging me.  Actually there was 
something else that we both missed.  I went back to the C&D article and 
scrutinized it.  Something that we both missed jumped off the screen at me.
You stated that the tire in C&D's test was " huge compared to most I've 
seen."  There is a very good reason for that.  The test tire isn't what we 
commonly refer to as a compact or mini spare tire.  It is a tire that is 
built to standard specification for prolonged road use.  It is bigger, as 
you say but also has much deeper tread than a mini.  To meet federal 
requirements, it will also have more plies and other characteristics 
required by law.  What drew me to this conclusion is that the pictured tire 
isn't plastered with a warning label.  On compact spares, I believe this 
label is required by law and it is applied by the manufacturer.  It isn't an 
afterthought.  (Perhaps I am wrong about this.  I haven't owned a new car in 
quite some time.  Are compact spares still required to have warning labels? 
I assume so.)
I am told that the GT high performance tires will not fit in the Mustang 
trunk at all.  Ford had this spare tire designed as a true roadworthy spare 
that does fit in the trunk.  It is offered as an option kit including a 
scissor jack and mounting hardware.  It was probably designed to mimic the 
performance characteristics of the tires that come with the cars.  This is 
why the test performance re: g-force, braking, etc. was surprisingly good.
C&D refers to the test tire as a "donut spare tire" which implies that it is 
what we all expect of a compact/mini spare intended for limited speed and 
distance.  It is anything but a mini spare in the traditional sense.  For 
C&D to present this test as anything resembling reality is a travesty.  The 
intent of the article seems to be "Surprise, the spare runs like a real 
tire." when it should say, "Surprise, the spare tire IS a real tire."  I 
hope that subsequent to the publication of the article, they published a 
correction or retraction.  People like Jack are driving around on time bombs 
without knowing it.  I hope Jack is still following this thread and corrects 
the situation.  I am CCing him and hope he doesn't ignore it.
Drive safe,
Doc
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