Best (cheapest) spare for 35x12.5R20 tire setup?

Fellas, I have 20" Rotoforms with Toyo Open Country R/T 35x12.5R20 tires on the main 4 but have the stock P275/55R18 on the spare. A near 5" delta from my mains. So I'm looking for some advice, some probably painfully obvious but want opinions none-the-less:

1. Should I replace the tire on the spare rim to match the diameter of the main tires at 35"?
2. Recommendation on where to look for the best (cheapest) option for getting a new tire?
3. Other issues to think about or situations to avoid? I don't have any issues with having to run a spare with the same diameter on the mains but on a 2" smaller rim but maybe there is something to think about there...?

According to tiresize.com i should be looking for generally 3 different tire sizes:

1. 35x12.5R18
2. 285/75/R18
3. 305/70R18

I get a bit worried about putting anything too wide on the stock spare rim.

In some light searching most tires in this class are $300+ and it looks like moving down to a 17" rim would present cheaper options for tires. Should I consider a steel rim/tire combo in the 17" range and just sell off the current spare setup?

Thanks!

 

Offer up

 

What lift do you have? Your stock spare steelie might not fit anymore.

 

I haven't actually nailed that down yet. It's a suspension FABTECH lift in the 4" range. Previous owner had it done at Les Schwab in town and I need to get my butt over there and have them dig it up in their records. I hadn't considered this.

 

Need to do same, so many tire shops here in town (used ones) gonna find me a good one plus cheap wheel, also gonna have to cut brackets where stock goes cause new used spare won't fit

 

For this reason I carry 2 jacks!!! My OEM spare will ONLY fit on the rear axle now. Due to the Lift, the new knuckles will not allow the old wheel size to clear.

Hoping I never have to change out a front tire. Lol. It would require a 2 tire swap.

 

I’ve been thinking about it because I want to have 35’s all around on a 17” wheel and my plan is to buy 5 wheels and tires and rotate the spare in so I don’t waste money buying a spare that never gets used. Buy the same 5th wheel and find a used tire shop that has good deals on a good used tire. I like uniformity, don’t want to use a spare that looks different from the other wheels.

 

This is my dilemma right now too. My stock spare is useless due to lift. I am running Grid GD5 wheel in 20x9, +15 and Toyo AT2 35/12.5x20.

A) Buy 1 more matching wheel and tire ( honestly I dont think I would do the 5 wheel rotation )
B) look for a cheap new or used non matching wheel of either rim size 17, 18, 20 to make a spare. Dont care if its same, its for temp/emergency use.
C) Change Wheels completely, I have been thinking I want to do SCS wheels and still run 35" tire.

 

Used tire shop - why didn't I think of that? That's where I'm headed next week.

 

Look for a decent one with the most tread u can find, some places might have a same size wheel as you do too

 

Haven’t found any steelies with the Toyota bolt pattern let alone a +18 offset to fit with lift.