AWD system and spare tire

[hotrabbitsoup]

Hi guys

I recently had a tire blow out (hit a curb) and had to use the spare for the passenger side front tire.

After putting the spare on (in the rain, of course), my cx5 made a howling sound a low speeds. I thought i had damaged the front hub bearing.

Today (50 miles of driving on the spare later) i got a replacement used toyo A23 on it to match what is already on it and the howling sound is gone.

This leads me to think the spare did not like the AWD system, maybe it is not the right size, which makes me think that Mazda are idiots, but we all know that is not true, Mazda's are the best cars nobody buys.

Maybe the answer is in my manual as my subie friends tell me they can't put the spare except for the on the back of the car and must make the car run FWD only while its on.

Thanks for any insights you could give.

HotRabbitSoup

 

[halfast3]

It's always best to put the spare on the rear, even if it means rotating the rear to the front. Not sure with our CX-5s but on some cars you can raise the jack high enough in the front position to change the rear tire.

 

[deepfriedsushi]

Could it have just been tire noise from the spare? Sometimes certain tread patterns on tires just make a lot of noise in general and get louder at certain speeds.

If the overall diameter of the spare is similar to the diameter of the stock tires, then the differentials/AWD system wouldn't have a problem.

Some car's spare tires are smaller than the stock wheels so some AWD systems or limited slip differentials in other cars get over worked and potentially suffer damage or premature wear.

I'd double check to see what the CX5 manual says in regards to what axles you can put the spare tire on.

 

[bamirault]

It's always best to put the spare on the rear, even if it means rotating the rear to the front.

Its not just best, but required according to the manual. Sadly, the jack raises only one corner of the vehicle at a time, making the rear-swap for a front failure more tedious.

Brian