Hi, I recently acquired an '08' LR2 SE - it's actually my ex-wifes, she bought a newer one and I bought her original one from her to use as a 2nd car (dog wagon). So, I've 'known' the vehicle since it was new...

Here's my question: I see that the vehicle has a full-sized spare, but that it is mounted on what looks like a donut rim - the tire is a P235/60/17 mounted on a black steel rim (with round cutouts for a design - typical 'donut' look) and a yellow sticker warning not to drive over 50KPM when on this tire...

What is odd is 2 things - the tire is NOT a donut, so why the limitation? Yes, it's a cheap rim, but it's a full-sized tire? Secondly, this LR2 came from the dealership with 18" spoked rims mounted all around (the standard LR factory option rims you see on most SE's) - but the spare is a 17?? As I said, this car has been 'in the family' since 2008, and the spare has never been needed until this week.

OK, last question - If I want to make this 'spare' work for this LR2, what size tire do I need to mount to replace the current 235/60/17 currently on there (so smaller than the installed 18 tires installed) to make it the same circumference as the P235/60/18's in all 4 corners?

Thanks!

-kjo

 

The speed limitation is probably because it's a smaller size tire (17") than your regular tires (18"). While driving, your transaxle gets confused because it thinks one tire is turning more than the other and it tries to compensate in ways that might damage the transaxle if driven for a sustained period of time. So it's not just a spare, but a spare for temporary use.

I haven't looked at my spare tire compartment in a while, but you will want to check if it's a tight fit in the well that holds it. The diameter might not be wide enough to store a larger 18" tire.

 

I found somewhere that the speed it also lower/limited because the spare wheel is steel but the nuts are for alloy wheels. Apparently if you buy an extra set of nuts for steel wheels you can go as fast as you want.

To match the circumference of your other wheels the tire size on your spare tire should be 235/65/17. With that size on your spare the difference in circumference between the spare and the other wheels will be small (only 0.3% according to https://tiresize.com/tyre-size-calculator/)

And the bigger tire should fit in the spare tire compartment without problem. When I bought my car it came with a full size 19" alloy in the compartment.

 

Upon closer inspection, the spare is a '65' sidewall - which gives it the correct circumference on the 17" rim... Thanks for the info! -kjo