The Importance of Carrying a Full Size Matching Spare Wheel & Tire

Hi Y'all, Sporky here.

I'm in Houston for Memorial Day Weekend.

My FL5 is still on my Winter Setup, which is Honda Pilot HPD Bronze 18 X 8.0 SUV wheels, plus 20mm Eibach spacers, on Pirelli Winter Sottozero 255/40 R18 RF tires. The RF stands for Run Flat.

Yesterday, Saturday, May 23rd, 2026, I drove my FL5 up to Kingwood (I-59 N) with a buddy of mine for a day trip to see another friend. Around 7:00 P.M. we were heading back to my hotel, which is in the West Houston / Bunker Hill area on I-10 W.

While driving about 63 or 64 MPH in the far left lane on 610 North Loop, Westbound, as I was passing the I-45 interchange, I saw a wide pothole up ahead in my lane and braced for impact. I let off the accelerator but I did not brake. Speed was about 61 MPH when the tire hit the pothole.

BOOOOM! It was LOUD.

The pothole was really deep, probably at least 3 inches. The impact was so loud that I thought the frame of the car scraped the edge of the pothole. My FL5 is still stock height and stock camber.

I didn't consider the possibility of a blowout, which is really the first thing that should have come to mind, because I thought the car may have bottomed out on the asphalt. I still need to get that checked once I get back to San Antonio.

The drive after hitting the pothole was not noticably different than before impact, so I kept on truckin'.

We made it the rest of the way back to the hotel just fine. After I parked, we checked for damage.

There is a big ass tear in the sidewall of the tire, but somehow, no major visible damage (so far) to the wheel.





Run Flat.


Tire damage.

I'm really glad that whenever I shop for wheels, I always buy 6 matching wheels and tires. The first time I did this was when I bought custom Foose wheels for the Wrangler.
The idea is that you always carry a spare in the vehicle, AND have a spare for your spare back at the house.

A "Full Set" to me, is 5 wheels and 5 tires.

A "Full Set +1" is 6 wheels and 6 tires.

Upfront cost is high, but the peace of mind is worth it.
Buy once, cry once, ammiright?
This way, if one of your wheels ends up completley FUBAR, you still have a proper matching spare.

Up until just last week, I had the spare in the trunk, a breaker bar, torque wrench, and proper fitting sockets and the key socket for my lock nuts. Everything except for a scissor jack.
This past week I threw the scissor jack kit from my Wrangler in the trunk of the FL5, just in case.
Boy, am I glad I did.

While having coffee this morning, getting ready to go out to the parking lot and swap my wheel, I went ahead and ordered a Honda scissor jack kit from HondaPartsNow.com .

It will be nice to have a dedicated scissor jack for each vehicle I own.

Glad everyone is safe and you dont have to wait to be able to get around again!
I have tried to email dealers by me about the spare tire kit (the fk8 one that fits the fl5) but none of them have responded. I just need to call and/or go up there .. maybe this will motivate me to do that this week lol.

After ordering the Honda scissor jack kit, I went out to the parking lot and changed out my wheel.
I got lucky, too, because the spare tire has the V tread facing the same direction as the busted tire!



Wheel swapped. Good to go.

marcusm86 said:

Glad everyone is safe and you dont have to wait to be able to get around again!
I have tried to email dealers by me about the spare tire kit (the fk8 one that fits the fl5) but none of them have responded. I just need to call and/or go up there .. maybe this will motivate me to do that this week lol.

Click to expand...

Thanks!
Yeah I'm still not sure whether having thiccc heavy SUV wheels and / or Run Flat tires may have saved me from a REALLY bad day...

The combination of the two, maybe ???, prevented potentially much worse damage.

I had a similar pothole experience.
The wheel survived, but the tire sidewall was pinched between the rim and the tread, just like yours. I only had the mini-spare and the blown tire was the right front.
So, I jacked the car until both right wheels were off the ground, took the right rear off, put it on the front, and put the mini on the rear.
I was only about 30 miles from home, so I drove home on some back roads rather than the highway.
Where were you carrying your full-size spare?

Damn! That sucks. Smart thinking having the spare though! I am driving to upstate NY in a couple of weeks and I decided it was finally time to buy the spare tire kit, though I only have a little donut spare which isn’t ideal, but better than being stranded. It’s amazing that potholes like that even exist. Like how long must have it taken for it to get to meteor crater status? Where are the 7 highway department shovel leaners to spend 5 hours filling the hole? Not that it will do any good, but you should report that hazard. Shit, there are probably a couple of missing children down there!

MoodySara said:

I had a similar pothole experience.
The wheel survived, but the tire sidewall was pinched between the rim and the tread, just like yours. I only had the mini-spare and the blown tire was the right front.
So, I jacked the car until both right wheels were off the ground, took the right rear off, put it on the front, and put the mini on the rear.
I was only about 30 miles from home, so I drove home on some back roads rather than the highway.
Where were you carrying your full-size spare?

Click to expand...

I just carry the wheel right in the center of the trunk, Velcroed down with elastic straps.
Went to Home Depot and bought some cheap locking oval rings and 4 elastic Velcro straps. The Velcro straps have built in loops. I cross the front straps underneath the wheel and Velcro them to the straps over the top of the wheel at the opposite corners.
The Tire Tote protects the wheel from getting scratched by the Velcro straps, hopefully.
This setup will keep the wheel at the back end of the trunk secure to the floor and keep the wheel from sliding side to side.
The red Craftsman bag holds a pair of jumper cables. In the white bag is the scissor jack kit for the Wrangler.

All the tools in the trunk, however...
I still need a good solution for that. Maybe a nice duffle bag.



Oval locking ring.







I keep a pair of wheel chocks behind the wheel.





Obviously, all this stuff in the trunk puts space at premium.
Most of the time it's just me and my dog, so I'm not too worried about the space saving right now.
Eventually I'll have to get some proper feng shui going in the trunk at some point.

I’m going to do the same with my donut spare. I bought the entire FK8 kit with the replacement load floor, but it’s not a perfect fit (though close) without adding extra blocks around the perimeter for even support across the floor. Plus it raises the floor up a lot and the whole thing seems flimsy. I’d rather just have the tire strapped down and have the ability to move it behind one of the front seats if I need the trunk space for a hitchhiker or something.

When I’m driving around town I don’t bother with a spare, but I do throw one of my track tires in the back if I’m going more than an hour from home. So far I haven’t needed it.

I bought a compact spare off eBay for my FL5 and a Honda minivan spare for my son's FK8. They raise the trunk floor a bit, but OEM trunk liners hide that. The spare is fastened by the thumb bolt from the minivan tool kit (in foam organizer).
I have a cheap 5mm spacer so the spare fits on the front. I know it's best on the back, but I'll have options in an emergency.

Holy smokes! Glad your safe sporky, this forum wouldn't be the same without you.

On a lighter note, those run flats are a life saver. Your advice is also great,.I should buy a spare FL5 wheel and throw a ps4s on it as a spare. Kinda hard tho since no one wants to sell just one wheel lol.

What the…..OUCH!!! Did you spring for the wheel and tire coverage? It’s covered

BEST PART, you’re ok! Rim is ok!! Love the spare setup.

Happy Memorial Day everyone.

Thanks for all the support, Y'all!

Yes, first and foremost, we are very glad that no one was injured or hurt in any way.
Also glad that no other property or vehicles were involved or damaged... because that would be a whole other can of nightmare worms.

So, I did not spring for any extra warranty coverage on either my wheels or my tires. Maybe in the future I should.

I was looking at wheels and tires like I look at a new cell phone:
Just buy the protection myself, rather than paying extra for something that may never happen.
With a cell phone that means that rather than paying an inflated phone bill in order to cover a "What If", I buy a nice glass screen protector and a medium to heavy duty case.
In the case of wheels and tires, it means buying two spares.
Coverage on tires I don't see as vital since tires wear.
Still, coverage on the wheels is probably a good idea, since those are supposed to last indefinitely.

The Pilot HPD wheels I bought from College Hills Honda and they were a pretty good price at under $350.00 per wheel.

The Pirelli Winter Sottozero tires were on deep discount at Tire Rack at the time, I think about $170.00 a tire vs. well over $300.00 a tire. This set was "New, Old Stock", meaning that they were new, but made in, I think, 2021, so Tire Rack had them on Clearance.

It was for any potential unforseen mishap like Saturday's that I went with the Full Set +1 (5 +1) methodology when buying wheels and tires. You hope it never happens to you, but you have to know that there is always a chance it could.

Cueyo said:

Holy smokes! Glad your safe sporky, this forum wouldn't be the same without you.

On a lighter note, those run flats are a life saver. Your advice is also great,.I should buy a spare FL5 wheel and throw a ps4s on it as a spare. Kinda hard tho since no one wants to sell just one wheel lol.

Click to expand...

Man, that really means a lot to me, brother. Thank you for that comment.

So, are you talking about the OEM FL5 wheels?
Maybe you can go in halfzies on a set of 4 wheels with another member on the forum, and then you can both have 6 FL5 wheels.
Or maybe 4 of y'all can go "quatzies" on a set of 4 wheels, and at least then have a full set of 5 wheels each.

It's an option.

Could work with something like Advan and Rays wheels, as well, since they are usually sold by the 4.

Getting 2 people to agree on a matching wheel spec is one thing.

To get 4 people all agreeing on the exact same wheel spec AND color, however? ...