Change tires w/43k for road trip?

That depends on the nature of the trip and timing. I replaced tires shortly before heading out to Wyoming for Thanksgiving. That crossing of South Dakota with potential for snow & ice was best served by new tread.

If it was still Summer, those aged tires would have been fine. But the possibility of hitting winter conditions and discounts from Fall tire sales made it a wise decision to replace. After all, I would have needed to do it later during the Winter here in Minnesota anyway.

 

I'm in the woods a lot, and find old dumps regularly. the tires (and wheels) are sometimes very similar to these pictured old Firestones, Google says it's from around 1929. the condition looks similar on those tires to what I'm describing on modern tires. I don't know what else to call it besides dry rot... I'll have to grab some pictures next time I'm by the glass dump.... there are tons of old gin bottles and tires..

 

It is cracking due to age and heat......and sometimes cheap construction.

Real "rot" results in a condition where you can poke the tire with your finger and large pieces of the outer shell FALLS OFF, sometimes turning to powder.

 

I found a donut spare in brand new condition on EBay for about $100 shipped to my home. I removed all the styrofoam cutouts and used soft packing foam to fill in the voids, then just a few well formed bathtowels to wrap up the tools, jack, etc. Works great for minimal cost and now I don't have to worry about that tire inflator goop.

 

Checked up on the latest from Toyota.com (US site): for Prius model year 2022, there's ONE level, the base level no less, that comes with a temp spare. Just nuts...



Doesn't seem like they're exactly proud of it: "Temporary" sounds more lowly than "Tire repair kit".

 

As long as I'm on a roll, this is Toyota.ca, the Canadian site, screen grab from the website:



Link:

2022 Prius Specifications - Toyota Canada

And this is flat-out goofy: says ALL levels get a temp spare AND a tire repair kit. I actually emailed them about that, and got a response, basically saying they couldn't see anything wrong with that page...

The pdf brochure isn't much help: for the base Prius, the "exterior" section of the spec page says nothing, neither temporary spare nor "tire repair kit". All the other levels DO say "tire repair kit", so reading between the lines I suspect the base still has a spare.

@Tideland Prius ?

 

Someone’s getting paid above their skill level, when they’re fine with a web page saying all levels have both systems.