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Tires on my Jeep Cherokee

rick snagwell

rick snagwell

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Feb 12, 2011
3,749
102
alta loma, ca
First off, I don't know anything about tires. please help!

I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. The rear right tire is low, i will fill it up with air, and approx 2 days after, it always goes low. So I need to replace.

Now, all the tires on the vehicle now are P255/65/16. The spare is a P245/70/16. So I'm assuming I just can't throw on the spare due to the different sizes.

I don't have the money to replace all 4 with new ones. Can I just buy another tire matching the spare size and throw on the rear left? So the rear tires are the same size, and the front tires another size.

Or can I just throw a can of that sticky stuff into the low tire and wait till I can afford all new tires?

Thanks.
 
rick snagwell said:
First off, I don't know anything about tires. please help!

I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. The rear right tire is low, i will fill it up with air, and approx 2 days after, it always goes low. So I need to replace.

Now, all the tires on the vehicle now are P255/65/16. The spare is a P245/70/16. So I'm assuming I just can't throw on the spare due to the different sizes.

I don't have the money to replace all 4 with new ones. Can I just buy another tire matching the spare size and throw on the rear left? So the rear tires are the same size, and the front tires another size.

Or can I just throw a can of that sticky stuff into the low tire and wait till I can afford all new tires?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I would take it in to any decent tire shop and have them take a look. It's possible you only need one new tire but generally they should be replaced in pairs at a minimum. If you really shop around you should be able to find a decent deal.
 
rick snagwell said:
Or can I just throw a can of that sticky stuff into the low tire and wait till I can afford all new tires?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Use some soapy water and see if you can find the leak. If it is a nail, screw, or other puncturing device, your local tire shop will fix it for $5 or $10.
 
drewsof07 said:
Use some soapy water and see if you can find the leak. If it is a nail, screw, or other puncturing device, your local tire shop will fix it for $5 or $10.
Click to expand...

This would work great if your tires are still in good shape and have tread left. If they're bad it would be better to just get a new tire because you'll be back soon anyways.
 
Take the wheel off and dunk it in a huge bucket of water. You'll be able to see where the leak is coming from.

Or just take it to a tire shop and they'll figure it out. Could be the valve stem, a hole in the tire, or rust on the wheel is stopping the bead from sealing correctly.
 
If you for whatever reason can't make it to the tire shop, the tire can be temporarily repaired. If the leak is on the tread you need something but I can not remember for the life of me what it is. If it is on the side of the tire it can not be repaired.
 
If you can get it fixed, that would be the cheapest. I have the exact same car and you can get a set of 4 tires for 4-500. Try craigslist as some people may sell their take off wheels from new cars cheap, picked up a set of 4 for 200 last time my Jeep needed tires.
 
Alloy Wheels

Does you jeep have the chrome alloy wheels as these suffer really bad from corrosion and the lacker pealing off. I am a tyre fitter in the UK and had this loads of times not saying this is the problem.

And yes you can put that spare on as 97% of cars and mostly 4X4's have a different size spare to save weight.
 
He's right, alloys can become porous and leak, but taking it to a tyre fitter nearby will get you your answers easily enough.

Don't cheap out on them, it's all that is keeping you on the road...
 
steviem said:
He's right, alloys can become porous and leak, but taking it to a tyre fitter nearby will get you your answers easily enough.

Don't cheap out on them, it's all that is keeping you on the road...
Click to expand...


What can often happen with older alloy rims is that the porosity & leak occurs right along the tire bead ... this can be solved at a good tire shop by them unmounting the rubber, cleaning up the rim at the bead (grind/polish), and remounting / rebalancing the tire. Total cost should be under $50.

Even if there's not much tread left on the rubber, which merits replacing the tire, the rim's bead should still be cleaned up in this fashion on older alloy wheels. Make it a point to ask at the tire shop if they're going to do this cleaning before you agree to pay them for any work.


-hh
 
rick snagwell said:
I have a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. The rear right tire is low, i will fill it up with air, and approx 2 days after, it always goes low. So I need to replace.
Click to expand...

As others have pointed out, it might be the tire, and it might be something else.

Now, all the tires on the vehicle now are P255/65/16. The spare is a P245/70/16. So I'm assuming I just can't throw on the spare due to the different sizes.
Click to expand...

Sure you can. Those tires aren't very different in size, you won't have a problem. People in cars use "donut" spares all the time, which are tiny compared to their standard tires.
 
-hh said:
What can often happen with older alloy rims is that the porosity & leak occurs right along the tire bead ... this can be solved at a good tire shop by them unmounting the rubber, cleaning up the rim at the bead (grind/polish), and remounting / rebalancing the tire. Total cost should be under $50.

-hh
Click to expand...

Just had this work performed for one wheel on my Jeep a few weeks ago. It was a slow leak and needed air every week or so. Total cost was $26, and it took about an hour to have it done.
 
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