My G35 turned 8K recently and while I was draining the oil at its second change I decided to do a full five tire rotation. I like to do this to equalize the wear over all of the tires. The job went smoothly and a few days later we drove from the Atlanta area to St. Simons Island. That's about 450 miles from here. We logged about 1100 miles by the time we got home. After being home for a few days I was surprised to see the low tire pressure light come on. I checked all of the tires and they were at their usual 32PSI. Ok, what's going on here?
A call to the dealership got me the following info: There is NO sensor in the spare (full size) tire. Not only that but they want about $200 to put one in. No friggin way. Nissan has got to be super cheap. They charge about $250 for the (option) full size spare tire and wheel and then when you put it on the car it's not compatible with the system. Whazzupwiddat??
A long conversation with the manufacturer's complaint line got me exactly nowhere. I suppose that if/when the light comes back on again, I need to get used to looking at it becuz I have no intention of taking the wheel apart to add the sensor.

 

I can understand your frustration, but if you look at from another angle it isn't a big deal. The spare is a spare. Therefore it was designed to be used temporarily until you repair an existing tire. I'm not sure why you'd want to do a 5-tire rotation. Seems pretty pointless to me, expecially considering that most tire manufacturers recommend a standard 4-tire rotation (front to back). Front to back rotations are preferred in that they do not cause you to change the rotational direction of a given tire. Plus your tires will always be very close in wear on each axle.

With a 5 tire rotation, you are always going to have one oddball that isn't quite at the same wear point as the other tire on the same axle.

My recommendation is to put the spare in the trunk, as that is what it was intended to be used as. The nice thing about a full size spare is that you are not speed limited or handling limited should you need to use it. A full size spare isn't there to provide you with another full-time tire to work into your rotation cylce.

 

A 5 tire rotation used to be very common before these next-to- useless 'donuts'..... Now with some of the high end rides, the proper, full sized spare is returning.
Sure you get a slight difference with tires, but if done properly, that difference is minimal, and it extends the life of the set of tires.
I agree that Nissan cheaped out by not putting the sensor in the spare.
C.

 

I'm sorry but you apparently have missed the point of the post. My spare is not just a spare. It is a regular full sized tire and wheel combination exactly like the other four tires that were on the ground when I got the car. This is not the temporary "doughnut" that you may be thinking about.
Why would I not want to equalize the tire wear across five tires instead of four? What would be the benefits of leaving a brand new tire unused in the trunk? No, this time Infiniti is just too damn cheap to put the sensor in the wheel before it left the factory.
What good is a spare tire that is out of synch with the rest of the system?

 

I did not miss your point as I mentioned full-size spare in my original post: The nice thing about a full size spare is that you are not speed limited or handling limited should you need to use it. A full size spare isn't there to provide you with another full-time tire to work into your rotation cylce.

As for Infiniti being cheap I disagree. They designed the wheel to fit the application as a spare tire, regardless if it is full sized or not. It is meant to be temporary. Infiniti has given us an incredible value with the G35 and you are complaining that they didn't add in a sensor for an application that most people wouldn't take advantage of. There are all kinds of little niceties that were cut from the car in the name of cost in order to provide a great overall value.

Once again, I understand your frustration, but if it were me I'd only use that wheel as the temporary spare it is meant to be (even if it is full size). The value you have with your full size spare is that you are not going to be limited in speed or handling or safety should you need to use it on a long trip.

 

Damon
On this one we're gonna have to agree to disagree. The spare is not only for use as a spare. If I layed out all five tires for you to look at, you could not tell me which one is which. There is no difference. If you have one and have decided not to ever use it, that's just fine for you. Not me. I have no intention of leaving a brand new tire in the trunk unused. Thanks for your opinion.

 

I see both Streaker's and damonb10's points but I'm siding closer with damon's view. Complaining that the full sized spare in the trunk doesn't have a pressure sensor is a little like complaining that the front passenger's seat doesn't have the same number of adjustments as the driver's side. Except, in this case, you can actually do something about it. If you're set on a five tire rotation scheme, why not pony up the dough for the extra sensor? Damon's right, most people are going to leave the spare in the trunk.

 

+1

I'm very pleased that I have an identical wheel/tire to mount on the car when the need arises, and it already has in the short 5 months I've owned the car.

I prefer to leave the spare as the spare. It makes me feel more confident in its material condition. When I need it, I don't want to pull it out and find a chunk in the sidewall that I missed, a nail, slow leak, whatever. it seems more likely to happen (to me) when you're doing the 5 tire rotation. My spare comes out, gets used, gets removed, gets washed and waxed, gets inspected, and goes back in the trunk.

Just my point of view.

 

I could tell you which one. It will be the one with black rubber valve, and it will likely have very small differences in sorting marks.

Anyway, the tire pressure monitoring sensors that are on your vehicle, each have a specific ID, these IDs are programmed into the Tire Pressure Monitoring ECU. If the spare had a tire pressure sensor in it, and it was rotated in, the Tire Pressure light would still show a malfunction since the system doesn't know the fifth ID.

Generally most OEMs recommend a 4 tire rotation, even with a fifth full size spare.

 

Not so. Until this thread, I was under the impression that my spare functioned exactly as the rest of my wheels WRT the LPWS. My spare's valve stem looks exactly like the rest of my wheels..

Know what? It must function the same. I drove with the spare for a week while my other wheel was being shipped/repaired and I never got a LPW light. Either my spare has a LPWS sensor installed, or something odd was going on. I didn't think about it/realize it until just this minute...

 

That sounds most likely that the spare (full sized) would have the TPS in it.
That way,it could be included in a 5 tire rotation.
C.

 

Mine came as part of the Premium C, not as a stand alone option. Could that be the difference?

 

I think if you drive with the spare without a sensor, the car won't know because it is not getting a low signal from the tire-it does not know there is no sensor there. It only knows about sensors that have been registered, not tires without sensors, I believe. I suspect that the sensor only broadcasts when it is low. Please correct me if I am wrong (I know you will! ).

My problem with the (full-size) spare is that the stem is mounted down in the well making it a big project to check the pressure (empty the trunk, empty the items I keep in the spare compartment, loosen the spare, take it out and then reverse it all). Does anyone know where to get a long flexible, extension to attach to the valve so I can check the pressure without any trunk emptying? I've not found them at a number of stores.

How about keeping the spare pressure higher than normal to allow for leakage and then dropping it to the right pressure when the tire is needed?

Thanks,

Andy

 

DUHHHH. You're probably right. I didn't think of that. What a dumba$s I am. LOL..

My spare does have the full steel valve stem though - no black rubber as mentioned above.

I'm tempted to mount it and bleed the pressure to see if I get a light... Now I'm really curious. hehe..

I do exactly as you state - I only keep it at 40 PSI though. I pull it every month or so just to have a look and check the pressure (usually when I'm detailing) but I keep the trunk empty 99 percent of the time.

 

I'm sure you are not a dumba$s. I just checked the manual (O4) page 5-4 and it says that if a spare is used or a wheel is replaced "the low tire pressure warning system will not function." I presume they mean this only for the involved tire. I've read this before but didn't remember it.

It also says there not to use an aerosol sealant for flats as it could mess up the sensor. Well, that's one thing I'll be taking out of my trunk! Mine will never be "empty 99% of the time"! Maybe if I sell it someday it will be.