storytime:
i recently went on a family vacation and got a flat when were were almost to our destination, 800 miles from home. the tire was trashed with a 2 inch gash in the tread. we get to the resort and start calling around. no one had a replacement in the area. finally ordered one online and had it shipped to the resort. got the tire and went to get it mounted. before i took it into the shop i noticed whatever i ran over that gave me the flat also poked the wheel(we have the 20" wheels) which put small dent in the center of the wheel. well, it had a very small crack where it was dented. so i had the shop remover the trashed tire and i go on my merry way. i called all the service shops, wheel supply houses, welders in the area, dealerships, junk yards, custom car shops and no one had a replacement OEM or aftermarket wheel just to get us home. having already put about 250 miles on the spare donut, i wasn't about to make the 800 mile drive home on it. this is where it gets sketchy after i exhausted all options. my last option was to put some JB weld over the small crack so it would hold air. went to home depot, got some JB weld and some sand paper and JB welded the inside and outside of the wheel where it was cracked. following day, next problem, nobody would mount the new tire because of the liability which i can understand. finally got a shop to put the tire on after i kinda hid the "patch" carrying the wheel into this one shop. i told the tech about it when he went to put air in it to get the tire on the bead so he wouldn't blow my JB weld off since i didn't know how strong it would be. well their balancer was broke so i had to find another shop that would balance the gimp wheel. well luckily i found another shop that was just getting ready to close and i sweet talked them into doing it for me. so i check the pressure in the parking lot and the patch is holding. i put the wheel with new tire on the suv in the shops parking lot and start our 800 mile trek home. as much as i didn't want to drive on a jerry rigged wheel, i had no other options. i took it slow the whole way home and we made it safe and sound.
now that we have replaced the damaged wheel, i want to replace the spare with something that you can actually travel a long distance on. i did a search and didn't find much. i read that the spare tire carrier holder won't fit through the center bore of the factory 20" wheel which is what i would like to replace the OEM spare with. i also read someone modified the tire carrier holder so it would work with the 20" wheel, but didn't say what he did to make it work.
so my question is: does anyone know of a roadworthy replacement spare tire, or how the modify the tire carrier holder to work with the factory 20" wheel?
thanks in advance for any info!
oh yah and, I'm ready for a vacation!
EDIT: my solution and how to do it is in post #6
i recently went on a family vacation and got a flat when were were almost to our destination, 800 miles from home. the tire was trashed with a 2 inch gash in the tread. we get to the resort and start calling around. no one had a replacement in the area. finally ordered one online and had it shipped to the resort. got the tire and went to get it mounted. before i took it into the shop i noticed whatever i ran over that gave me the flat also poked the wheel(we have the 20" wheels) which put small dent in the center of the wheel. well, it had a very small crack where it was dented. so i had the shop remover the trashed tire and i go on my merry way. i called all the service shops, wheel supply houses, welders in the area, dealerships, junk yards, custom car shops and no one had a replacement OEM or aftermarket wheel just to get us home. having already put about 250 miles on the spare donut, i wasn't about to make the 800 mile drive home on it. this is where it gets sketchy after i exhausted all options. my last option was to put some JB weld over the small crack so it would hold air. went to home depot, got some JB weld and some sand paper and JB welded the inside and outside of the wheel where it was cracked. following day, next problem, nobody would mount the new tire because of the liability which i can understand. finally got a shop to put the tire on after i kinda hid the "patch" carrying the wheel into this one shop. i told the tech about it when he went to put air in it to get the tire on the bead so he wouldn't blow my JB weld off since i didn't know how strong it would be. well their balancer was broke so i had to find another shop that would balance the gimp wheel. well luckily i found another shop that was just getting ready to close and i sweet talked them into doing it for me. so i check the pressure in the parking lot and the patch is holding. i put the wheel with new tire on the suv in the shops parking lot and start our 800 mile trek home. as much as i didn't want to drive on a jerry rigged wheel, i had no other options. i took it slow the whole way home and we made it safe and sound.
now that we have replaced the damaged wheel, i want to replace the spare with something that you can actually travel a long distance on. i did a search and didn't find much. i read that the spare tire carrier holder won't fit through the center bore of the factory 20" wheel which is what i would like to replace the OEM spare with. i also read someone modified the tire carrier holder so it would work with the 20" wheel, but didn't say what he did to make it work.
so my question is: does anyone know of a roadworthy replacement spare tire, or how the modify the tire carrier holder to work with the factory 20" wheel?
thanks in advance for any info!
oh yah and, I'm ready for a vacation!
EDIT: my solution and how to do it is in post #6
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