Unfinished wheel for spare

[whiskywizard]

I suffered a tire failure, and when I pulled the full-size spare out from under the vehicle I saw it was yellow. It almost looked like the wheel was made from some kind of composite material. What I found was, it's a full size normal alloy wheel the hasn't been fully finished and polished. Is this normal?

 

[MarkWalker]

Yep, mine (2011 LE) is the same yellow...

 

[Foques]

yeah, the idea is to make owner want to fix the wheel asap... since some idiots keep driving on their speed limited spares.

 

[mtbnole]

yeah, the idea is to make owner want to fix the wheel asap... since some idiots keep driving on their speed limited spares.

isn't the point of a full size spare that you can use it at normal speeds?

 

[westwind77]

yeah, the idea is to make owner want to fix the wheel asap... since some idiots keep driving on their speed limited spares.

isn't the point of a full size spare that you can use it at normal speeds?

Yes, it is a full-size spare with matching rim on the LE's - they just put some kind of 'protective' coating on the rim. Not sure why others jump to the conclusion that it is 'speed limiting', makes them look like those people running around on those SL rims.

 

[Slag]

Is the yellow coating some kind of anti-corrosion coating?

 

[whiskywizard]

yeah, the idea is to make owner want to fix the wheel asap... since some idiots keep driving on their speed limited spares.

Why? It's a full sized matching Geolander tire. I'd rather be able to use it and pit it into the normal tire rotation.

 

[whiskywizard]

Yes, it is a full-size spare with matching rim on the LE's - they just put some kind of 'protective' coating on the rim. Not sure why others jump to the conclusion that it is 'speed limiting', makes them look like those people running around on those SL rims.

I never considered it could be a protective coating. I'll look again.

 

[Foques]

Why? It's a full sized matching Geolander tire. I'd rather be able to use it and pit it into the normal tire rotation.

I was talking in general.
Toyota is using the same puke-yellow color on nearly all of their Vehicles.

While WE are lucky to have a full size spare, most other spares are narrow, and limited to be driven only on a side roads.

 

[rjaudi]

I think they paint the spare yellow for visibility reasons when you are changing the tire.

 

[K O]

I think they paint the spare yellow for visibility reasons when you are changing the tire.

If that were true, why not neon orange or use reflective paint? I think they just don't want you driving around on it - it's their way of encouraging you to get your main wheel back on the vehicle so you always have a working spare.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

It is a cost cutting measure. It is cheaper to not finish the wheel properly. The 4th gens had full size matching wheels (not painted) so you could do a 5 tire rotation. I just bought a 2011 Avalon and it has a full size matching spare (not painted).

 

[byrden]

They probably wanted to make it ugly so you'd want to fix the tire ASAP. I'd bet the spare doesn't have a TPMS sensor (to save a couple dollars) and for liabilty reasons dedicate the non TPMS monitored spare as a spare tire only.

I doubt it costs Toyota much less if any to paint the wheel yellow versus any other color, the cost savings is from not putting a TPMS sensor in the spare.

 

[whiskywizard]

They probably wanted to make it ugly so you'd want to fix the tire ASAP. I'd bet the spare doesn't have a TPMS sensor (to save a couple dollars) and for liabilty reasons dedicate the non TPMS monitored spare as a spare tire only.

I doubt it costs Toyota much less if any to paint the wheel yellow versus any other color, the cost savings is from not putting a TPMS sensor in the spare.

Correct - the spare doesn't have a TPMS sensor. And it is Fugly!

 

[whiskywizard]

I should have mentioned earlier - my local dealer couldn't get a replacement tire. Well, he could, but he said it would take a month!

I really wasn't pleased.

I couldn't leave my wife without a spare for a month so I purchased the tire through Tirerack.com. I had it in 3 days.

Very few tires are available in that size.