<VV> Was: Compact Spare Now: Negligence?!?!

[roboman91324 at aol.com]

Joel,
I stated that your previous post highlighted that I had missed something and I did.  However, something else was bugging me.  Actually there was something else that we both missed.  I went back to the C&D article and scrutinized it.  Something that we both missed jumped off the screen at me.
You stated that the tire in C&D's test was " huge compared to most I've seen."  There is a very good reason for that.  The test tire isn't what we commonly refer to as a compact or mini spare tire.  It is a tire that is built to standard specification for prolonged road use.  It is bigger, as you say but also has much deeper tread than a mini.  To meet federal requirements, it will also have more plies and other characteristics required by law.  What drew me to this conclusion is that the pictured tire isn't plastered with a warning label.  On compact spares, I believe this label is required by law and it is applied by the manufacturer.  It isn't an afterthought.  (Perhaps I am wrong about this.  I haven't owned a new car in quite some time.  Are compact spares still required to have warning labels? I assume so.)
I am told that the GT high performance tires will not fit in the Mustang trunk at all.  Ford had this spare tire designed as a true roadworthy spare that does fit in the trunk.  It is offered as an option kit including a scissor jack and mounting hardware.  It was probably designed to mimic the performance characteristics of the tires that come with the cars.  This is why the test performance re: g-force, braking, etc. was surprisingly good.
C&D refers to the test tire as a "donut spare tire" which implies that it is what we all expect of a compact/mini spare intended for limited speed and distance.  It is anything but a mini spare in the traditional sense.  For C&D to present this test as anything resembling reality is a travesty.  The intent of the article seems to be "Surprise, the spare runs like a real tire." when it should say, "Surprise, the spare tire IS a real tire."  I hope that subsequent to the publication of the article, they published a correction or retraction.  People like Jack are driving around on time bombs without knowing it.  I hope Jack is still following this thread and corrects the situation.  I am CCing him and hope he doesn't ignore it.
Drive safe,
Doc