I am building a custom rear bumper and am leaving room for a larger spare tire in the stock location. I believe I can fit a 255/85R16 tire under there. But I am concerned about how close it will end up to the exhaust tailpipe. It looks like there will end up being about 1.5 inches of air space between the tire tread and the exhaust pipe.

Will this be enough space? Or will it be too close, and the heat will damage the spare tire?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thanks,

 

I think that 1.5" will be adequate

 

Thanks for the feedback. Anyone else have any experience with this?

 

I had about that much clearance on my '85:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/TailPipe.shtml

You can always wrap that section of the tail pipe with some heat insulation (or even a few layers of alum. foil) if concerned about the tire.