Aluminum Spare

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I was thinking of ways to lighten up my truck, and it occurred to me that my spare tire's wheel is steel. Does anyone know how much that steel wheel weighs? And how much does a 17" oem aluminum wheel weighs? Actually, is my spare even 17"? I guess I should climb under there and check it out. But this seems like a pretty easy and cheap way to shave a few pounds.
 

jsheahawk

Member
Jan 16, 2013
533
Kansas City
I'd say take your bathroom scale out to the garage, pull off the spare, then pull off one of your wheels. Let us know.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
The problem with that plan is that my spare tire is whatever skinny 245 tire the truck came with, and all the rest of my tires are 275 on/off roads. And I have no easy way to mount and unmount tires on my own.
 

carshinebob

Member
Jun 13, 2014
153
This has got me to thinking. Five years ago I was driving a Cadillac SRX. it had an aluminum six bolt skinny spare. I wonder if one of those would work? ~BOB
 

jsheahawk

Member
Jan 16, 2013
533
Kansas City
The problem with that plan is that my spare tire is whatever skinny 245 tire the truck came with, and all the rest of my tires are 275 on/off roads. And I have no easy way to mount and unmount tires on my own.
Well, hell.
 

djthumper

Administrator
Nov 20, 2011
14,950
North Las Vegas
Weight it with the tires on... You cannot fit too large of a tire under the TB anyhow. I have
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I'm sure the aluminum wheels with the new tires will weigh more than the dry-rotted old spare. Weighing them with the tires on really won't tell me anything useful.

But maybe theres an easier way. Is there a part number list for the various wheels? Including the spare rim? I could look up the weights online potentially.

Lastly, assuming I do determine that the aluminum wheel is light enough that it's worth the effort to make the switch, is an aluminum wheel used as a spare going to have any corrosion issues being under the truck like that?
 

Sparky

Member
Dec 4, 2011
12,927
My 02 had an aluminum 16" spare wheel. It wasn't in any worse shape than a steel wheel would be under there. Probably better honestly.
 
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northcreek

Member
Jan 15, 2012
3,310
WNY
Have you considered going with run flat tires and eliminating the spare altogether ? assuming that they make them in your size.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
My tires are new on-off road, so I won't be replacing them again any time soon. Plus I would assume run flats are only available on highway rated tires?
 

northcreek

Member
Jan 15, 2012
3,310
WNY
My tires are new on-off road, so I won't be replacing them again any time soon. Plus I would assume run flats are only available on highway rated tires?
No, I think Hummers have RF tires.
 

djthumper

Administrator
Nov 20, 2011
14,950
North Las Vegas
The weight of the rim and tire will tell you if there is a weight difference. YOu will also know the weight of your setup.
 

l008com

Original poster
Member
Feb 19, 2016
886
Massachusetts
I feel like I'm missing something. How is weighing the wheels & tires going to tell me if there is a weight difference, if the lighter wheels have the heavier tires, and theres no way to know exactly how heavy either of the tires are?
 

littleblazer

Member
Jul 6, 2014
9,265
Weigh the tire plus rim, look up the tire online and I'm sure you can find the weight and subtract it. There's your rim weight. I would think that the weight difference between the steel spare rim and aluminum oem rims isn't going to be much. If it's ten pounds I'd be shocked. Heck, I'd be shocked if it's five pounds.
 

C-ya

Member
Aug 24, 2012
1,098
My 17" aluminum wheel came in at 21 or 22 lbs, IIRC. Someone else asked before and I had just bought a stock set for my snow tires. I put an All-Season (on a stock al. wheel) under my truck as a spare when I switched them around last month since the steel wheel was rusted to hell and the spare tire was a Continental that was older age-wise than any other tire I had - although it looked damned good.
 

Mektek

Member
May 2, 2017
656
FL
I just salvaged two aluminum spares from 02 trailblazers. One inflated and didn't leak. The other was deflated for so long that dirt and water got between the rubber and aluminum. Corrosion and leaks everywhere!
I demounted the tire and cleaned up the corrosion. Now the tire and wheel is holding air. I'll see how old (but never used) BFG OEM tires hold out in the next few weeks. I tested for radial runout - both were perfectly round.
I'll be running two black lightweight rims while I'm testing the tires. The black rims look weaker than the regular rims so I'll switch the tires over to regular rims later.
It appears that GM didn't balance either of the spares.
So the first lesson is to be sure and keep your spare inflated!

Update: I got around to swapping the tires from the lightweight spare rims to the regular stock rims so I can tell you the exact weights.
Lightweight spare 16" rim: 16.9 lbs
Stock 16" rim: 19.6 lbs
Stock BFG tire: 34 lbs

I'm guessing that the spare is weaker than the regular rim, so you really shouldn't make them a permanent install. I drove with a pair of them for three weeks without issue. The small weight difference between the two rims won't be noticeable on a 4500lb + truck.
 
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