spare tire

[Maggiac]

I just bought a 2006 X5.
the tire size is 255/255/18.
I took a look at the spare tire and its a 17" full size tire.
This didn't seem right to me so I called the dealership that sold it to me.
He told me that that is the way it should be. All there suvs have spare tires that are 1" smaller than the set on the suv.

Am I getting a line from him, or is that true?

Help!!!

[M62pwrdE38]

Not sure about all their SUVs having one size smaller for a spare, but it is not uncommon for the spare tire size to not match what is on the other wheels.

[mryakan]

I just bought a 2006 X5.
the tire size is 255/255/18.

WOW :eek:! I knew SUV tires usually have bigger sidewalls, but this is crazy.

joking aside :), if the rolling circumference is the same, then it should not matter other than that you can't use the spare as a permanent replacement or in the tire rotation cycle which BMW doesn't encourage anyway, so not surprising they did not consider it.
What size is the spare tire?

[samger2]

This is the way it's supposed to be. I work at a dealership and that's the size that comes on the spare on the X5's. I've seen it a time or two where a customer has the same size as you, so they think they can just put 3 new tires on and rotate the spare into the mix...not the case, since the spare is a 17 and the rest are 18's.

[Maggiac]

It doesn't make sense to me that the spare is not the same size but if you guys have experienced this I'll take your word for it.

thanks