If I'm running with Goodyear MTRs, does my spare have to be the exact same or could I get another make, but same size?

 

How long you planning to run on your spare?

 

just needs to be the same size unless you plan on doing more than just limping to a tire shop on it, like Cebby said.

 

Ditto to keisur's point.
I myself prefer to have all the same but that is just me.
Then I am not in an emergency to get to the tire place to get a new one.
Especially important if you take long road trips.

 

My plan is to use the spare, if the tire can't be plugged, to get home from the trail. Most trails are within 2-3 hours away.

 

Just as long as its the same size you will be alright.

 

If you have a limited slip and are running different sized tires you are asking for it. Those clutches are going to be burning every inch of the way. Lockers cause problems too. The simple solution is to move same tires to the axle with the limited slip or locker. if you have 1 in each axle, I RECOMEND A FULL SIZE SPARE. "Advanced" 4 wheel drive systems like on the Grand Cherokees or new 4Runners can really get screwed up because they always think a tire is slipping. Once we had to swap all the tires completly between my friends Jeeps, sure looked funny with little tires on that big Jeep and we really had the big ones stuffed under the other, we had to unload everything from his XJ and cram it in the 4Runner but we finished our trip and had fun, learned a little too.

PS: if you don't have onboard air, keep close tabs on the spares preassure, learned that the hard way.

 

I bought (5) Tech 1 rockcrawlers and (5) 285/75/16 MT/Rs so I have an equal spare so if one goes out off-roading I don't have to limp home or worry about it being of lesser quality or performing poorly. It will also look "kewl" on my custom rear bumper if I ever get it fabbed. An equivalent size tire on a steelie rim to match what you got would work just fine. I certainly wouldn't want to not have a spare that was just as dependable as my regular tires/rims.

 

My 2000 JGC came from the factory with a donut spare, not a full size.

 

I don't know why any 4x4 maker would give anything but the best in full size spare tires with the new rigs but If your jeep came with a doughnut spare that is not thre end of the world. You can drive with mismatched tires, it's just not good for the car and a mini-spare is only to get yoy to a place where you can buy a new tire. The problem seems to be worst with aftermarket limited slips with a close bias ratio but WILL mess with traction systems too. Not too farmiler with Jeeps, what type of transfer case do you have, and do you have the Quadra Trac system, older GCs didn't. it was designed by Dana Spicer himself only a few years ago.

PS: If you want to read up more about spares and offroading, get the book "SUV and 4WD Owner's Handbook". Harry Lellewen of ECO4WD wrote it, best $25.00 I ever spent.

 

I just bought a new 285 MTR from Data. Thanks all for the input.