Kind of pissed at Toyota today

Last night I was in the edge of the woods and ripped a hole in my sidewall. The truck has 3000 miles on it. When I changed the tire I learned that my new truck with TRD option just has a regular black steelie as a spare. This is my third toyota and first one without matching wheels for my spare. I always do 5 tire rotation so now I find myself looking for a TRD wheel.

just venting

 

Never had a matching spare on the four Tundras, one tacoma, and three SR5 trucks

 

well, maybe I have been lucky My FJ had it and my 4Runner does. So I must be one of the few that does a 5 Tire rotatation.

 

Yeah, I for sure only do a 4 tire rotation. Working several years at a tire shop that's all we ever did. Even though our trucks aren't AWD, it still would bother me to no end knowing that 1 tire had a little more tread on it than the other 3.

 

The wife's 2013 Highlander Limited has the full matching wheel. My 2000 4Runner SR5 had a steelie spare. Who knows.

 

Steelie spare for me.

 

I have steel spare as well. Have never heard of a Tundra coming with a matching spare...

 

I've never had a full size truck with matching spare wheel from the factory.

 

Great post

 

Thats very common. Toyota has done it for years. One issue with 5 wheel rotation is the TPMS system.The computer only tracks 4 tires so doing a 5-way would require some re-programming of the computer assuming your spare even had its own sensor.

 

Never had a full size matching spare in any car.

 

there is a TPMS on my spare on my runner, not sure on the Tundra yet. I'll check that out this weekend

 

Thats interesting. I wonder if one of your drive wheels is getting ignored? I do know that I drove around without my spare for a few days and the truck never nagged me about it. Of course mine is a Gen 2, so there may be a difference there.

 

Did your venting help?

 

Not so much, still need to buy a wheel after buying a new tire

 

If you're anal enough to be pissed at Toyota , perhaps you should have crawled underneath it before you purchased it and got the dealer to install what you wanted. I'm sure they would have been happy to charge you for another wheel-tire.

 

My previous pickup (S-10) had a donut spare. I went to a wrecking yard and bought an alloy rim that matched the ones on the truck. I only had one flat while I had the truck, but the matching rim and tire meant I could carry on after I changed it without a problem.

As I type this, it occurs to me that I probably have a steel rim for a spare and alloy on the ground. I also seem to remember that those two require two different lug nuts. I have a little checking to do this afternoon.

 

When I put my steelies on my FJ I needed new lug nuts, the lugs from the alloy worked on the steelie but it felt wrong since the lug was so long to engage the alloy. The wheel also said it was for temporary use only even though it was a full sized matching tire.

 

3rd Tundra never a matching spare and that's my story and I am sticking to it.

 

You guys got me curious, so I went out and looked and lo and behold I too have a non matching full size spare. That kinda stinks, but I still love my Tundra. I do not blame Toyota as they have to save money somewhere. A lot of new cars today do not even come with a spare tire, so I feel blessed to have a full size spare to get me somewhere to have my flats fixed/replaced.

 

I have never had a matching spare....except my quad...but the spare is in my garage.

 

Our 99 Lexus has a full size spare, but it's on a steelie. I don't know of any auto maker that gives you a matching alloy. I doubt an alloy rim would fair to well sucked up under the truck by a steel plate anyway. The lug nuts work just fine, they just look funny. They are tapered on the ends, so they seat into the tapered holes in the rim just like an acorn nut does.

 

I take back the nobody gives you a matching alloy. Jeeps and others with the rim on the back door do. But only because people can see it. Older rav4's didn't have it, they put a cover over the steel spare. So people couldn't see it.