This is a question I asked myself before our Pan-American trip. Then, after we started traveling, other people began asking us the same question.
I want to share my experience, and then it’s up to you and your style of traveling to decide whether you really need two spare tires or if one is enough.
I heard a lot about the quality and technology of new tires — that they are far more advanced compared with the old days, that they hold up better, and so on. People often use these arguments to convince each other that one spare tire is enough.
For us, this proved to be a rather naive way of underestimating what long-term remote travel can really be like.
I had next generation “high tech” so called tires and from the famous BFGoodrich American brand when I geared up our Troopy for two years of full-time living and travel. I also carried two spare tires on a dual-wheel carrier.
Here are some of the reasons why our trip proved to us that carrying two spare tires was a much, much wiser decision for us.
First of all, my tires are 235/85 R16, and each one with its stock Toyota rim weighs about 30 kg, so they don’t add a huge amount of weight.
Having two tires also helped balance the weight at the rear of our Troopy.
I designed a good cavity door to use the inner cavity of each spare tire for storing dirty stuff.
We had this setup on both tires, so quite a few items could be stored inside them.
On top of that, we had two tire bags fitted over the spare tires. So even while carrying two spare tires, we still had plenty of storage space inside and around both tires.
Another important point is tire rotation.
Rotating six tires every 10,000 km helps extend tread life significantly. Eventually, you can travel much further before needing to buy a completely new set of tires.
The tire size, brand and tread type should all match as closely as possible. This helps with fuel consumption, tire life and overall performance. Having six matching tires also gives you a huge advantage when it comes to tire rotation.
And believe me, finding the exact same tire size, model and brand in third-world countries and remote places is not as easy as you might think. Searching local markets and trying to find a matching tire can become a huge headache.
I’ve been there. Days and days of searching in strange countries!
And finally, don’t think modern tire technology means your tires will magically last forever.
I drove over 82,000 kilometres, and I changed my set of tires almost twice.
If you do a lot of off-roading, dirt roads and backcountry travel, the road will eat and eat and eat your tires. Sooner or later, you will find yourself in the hunt and looking for new ones to be able to carry on on the roads safer.
If your trip takes you hundreds of kilometres away from any human settlement or tire shop, and you punch a tire, being that far from civilisation will definitely affect your plans.
But carrying two spare tires gave us peace of mind. We could continue with the route we had planned without having to change our plans or search for a tire shop immediately.
During those 82,000 kilometres, I only had one puncture and yes, that might sound like nothing. But having that single puncture while driving for days into nowhere was enough to create a lot of stress and potentially force us to change our route if we didn’t have a spare.
And believe me, that is not fun when you’re in the middle of a remote region, it’s cold and rainy, you’re tired, and suddenly you have to make a long detour just to find a tire and loose your time for it for sure,
Fortunately, I had extra spare, so I simply replaced the tire and continued the route we had planned for that region.
And believe it or not, the puncture wasn’t even caused by a huge nail or a sharp rock.
A single bush spine caused the puncture on our famous “high-tech” BFGoodrich tire!
On top of that, two of my tires developed sidewall surface cracks after a long, extremely stony off-road section while travelling through Peru. This forced me to put them aside as spares until I could eventually replace them with new tires.
So, that’s why I now believe that carrying two spare tires is a must for long-term travellers who live full-time in their rigs and plan to explore remote areas of the planet. having two tires is like carrying a winch for extra insurance, I never thought I would use my winch but I used it two time for others and one time for myself to dig me out a side road slippery ditch.
I hope this post makes you more aware of this subject, and that our real-world experience gives you a better perspective when designing and preparing your rig.
All the best, and keep exploring! 🌎
Cheers / Amir & Azadeh
