Folks,

Would any if you be so kind and check the side profile of your spare wheel and see if you also have the forward tilt.

I finally received my 5th tire/wheel combo and removed the oem spare with the tire cover. However, the spare seems tilted forward and I’d like to know if its normal or not as I never noticed it before.

see pics and thanks for any input.

 

That’s normal. Trust me, it beats the alternative.

I got rear-ended on I-5 yesterday.
Anyone recommend a good body shop in the greater Seattle area?

 

ah crap that sucks. Thanks for your reply, I studied it and as you confirm, it has to be normal since the wheel/rim is perfectly resting on the spare support bracket all around so it is what it is 👍

 

I noticed that too when I received mine and thought that it was a nice aesthetic touch - there are very few things in this world that are truly square, or parallel, or vertical, or horizontal.

If I had to guess for the reason for this other than aesthetic - I'd say it makes putting the wheel on the bracket easier for it wouldn't want to slide down, but there's something more essential than that - if you back into a wall, you get a gentle warning and torsion stress on the bracket first instead of a hard slap and stress on the whole tailgate structure.

Take it with a grain of salt, that's just my imagination.

 

The slight tilt forward allows water to drain and not collect in the wheel. Totally normal.

 

Actually, I don’t believe the engineers designed any tilt in the spare tire mounting to assist in getting the wheel back on the bracket, as there is a threaded post included in the rear under-floor storage area, along with the jack and lug wrench. This is used in both taking a tire off the vehicle and replacing the tire on the vehicle as well as aiding when lifting the heavy tire/wheel combo up onto the spare tire mount.

And I also think that instead of any ‘tilt’ being designed in as a ‘gentle warning’ when backing into a wall, the engineers went through the process of including multiple cameras and audible warnings to ensure that one DOESN’T back into a wall. Must be effective, as I haven’t backed into any walls in my nearly four years of ownership. I’ll stick to relying on the cameras and audible indicators instead of waiting until I feel my spare tire make contact with any walls to let me know I’ve gone too far.

 

<makes mental note to look for this threaded post next time I remove the spare>

 

If I may ask, what make and model of tire is on your Defender? I like the tread pattern, aggressive without being too ‘chunky’. How is the road noise with those tires? Any annoying drone at highway speeds?

 

Those appear to be the Goodyear Duratracs.