Spare Wheel Covers

Hi Brian and Margaret,

What exactly do you velcro to what? I can understand why the wind keeps pushing them in and making them loose.

Regards

John and Jean

When you put a cover over your spare wheel, it is held in place by an elastic strap that holds it to the rear of the tyre. The cover when fitted is tight across the rubber tyre but because wheel rim goes in a long way, if you push your hand in the centre of the cover then with enough pressure you will be able to push the centre of the cover in until you are touching the wheel rim. When covers are fitted to the spare wheels on the front of a BT the force of the wind blowing on this centre section at 100kph is more than what your hand pressure is and hence over time it flaps and then gradually pulls on the elastic strap holding the cover in place until the cover comes forward over the tread of the tyres. This usually happens more on the outside edge where more wind pressure is hitting.
We solved this by sewing velecro straps to the outer edges of the cover beside the elastic straps on each side when in a horizontal plane and then joining them together behind the wheel. This prevents the wind from pulling the edge of the cover over the tread and eventually off the tyre.

Hi Steve and any Bogger tyre experts,

On the question of spare tyre protection, a possibly true "urban ledgend" has it that the life of a tyre, subject to sunlight and ozone (from the normal atmosphere), is about 7 years irrespective of the distance the tyre may have travelled on the road, IF ANY.

So, is there a recommended scheme for rotating the tyre "pairs" on a BT ?
In the ancient days of cross ply tyres there was a recommended scheme for 5 tyre rotation.
But with the advent of radials (plus non-continuous or temporary spare tyres on some vehicles), current car rotations indicate 'move front L to rear L and and vice versa; and front R to rear R and leave the spare in the boot'.

The situation with a BT having 2 rather expensive HD tyres sitting exposed and no road use is a little different.
Should one just move 2 x spares to the left; 2 x left across to 2 x right; and 2 x right onto the spares carrier?
Thoughts please from Steve and some tyre experts
Cheers,

Hello Paca People,
Look, the BFG 285 Mud Terrains on my Crane trailer are about 7 years old... As far as it goes, the rubber gets harder with age, but I see no other deleterious affects other than white chalkiness bleeding off the surface of the white lettering.... Obviously however, there is no definitive answer to your question as all tyres and types are different...

And I don't know about all the expense of useless rotations unless it was always parked in the same spot with one side sunny.... And, keep it as the Gospel, most tyres cannot counter rotate and have to always turn the same direction or they will delaminate the treads and have all kinds of problems... Anyways, a lot tyres have to always turn the same direction, so they cannot run side to side without turning them around inside out as well when you swap sides...

I have never bothered... But as tyres get worn, that is another question, and yes it pays to put the two new spares into action, pulling out two...
Just keep in mind the rotation, mark them.... Short term if you have a flat counter rotation not a problem. But long term tyre rotation, keep them turning the same direction for best results...

Cheers, stg