So I was repairing my 1998 owners manual today, yes, my owners manual, the cover and one of the pages detached and the binding was coning apart, so I used some archival glue and put it back together, yes I’m a book nut, so that was bothering me.

Anyway, while I was waiting for the glue to dry, I noticed something weird, the section talking about the spare tire specified a compact spare, and also noted that it used a different rim than the other tires and that they were not compatible, and that the spare needed 60 psi. I thought the Blazer used a full sized spare? And how could a 4x4 get away with using a compact spare anyway?

I’m missing my spare so I’m not sure what’s supposed to be there. I’d have replaced it but I am having trouble finding the right rims, 3 of my tires have matching rims and one is different, I had assumed that that different one must have been the old spare, so I was planning on getting a new matching one, when I can find one, then using the mismatched one for the spare, but now I’m not sure that will work. Will a full size tire and rim fit the spare tire carrier under the truck? Also, if the manual was wrong, what rim did the spare originally have? Was it the same as the others? Assuming I can fit a full size tire in the carrier, what is the largest size that will fit? My tires are slightly larger than factory. If the spare is slightly smaller than the others, would the short drive to a tire shop do too much damage to the drive train?

As an aside, unless I go to a junk yard, I’m not sure where to get a matching rim, all I have found have had a ridiculous price on them. I’m hesitant to go to a junk yard because all the local ones do not have a website so I have no idea what they have or how much they cost and the nearest one that does is about 2 hours away and won’t guarantee parts availability as they only track what vehicles are in inventory and not what parts have been taken off them and I really don’t feel like driving all the way out there to find out the parts are missing.

Also, and it’s a dumb question, what color were the original rims? Mine are black but they appear to have been painted.

 

I've only seen full size spares on the blazers, but the new age ones have "donuts", dumbest idea ever...

 

What do your rims look like? If they look like the ones I have in my garage, I'll give you one for the price of shipping.

 

Maybe I'm remember wrong, but I could have sworn that I've seen a 2 door 2wd that had a compact spare mounted inside along the driver's side of the cargo area? But I could be wrong, could have been a full size.

 

I believe the colour of the rims are aluminum. I used a can I had laying around for my center caps, and they matched the rims fairly closely

 

I would greatly appreciate that, though I’m seldom that lucky.

Here is what they look like:


That’s the best looking one, I can’t tell if they were finished black and have road rash or if they were aluminum and got spray painted.

They seem to measure about 16 inches.

 

The tires, FYI, are 235/75R15s, I believe that’s slightly larger than factory if I’m remembering right, would those fit the spare tire carrier? I still have one of the old smaller mismatched ones they took off when I replaced the two fronts (they neither matched the rears or eachother). The new ones are the same size and make and the tire shop assured me the diameter was the same, but I’m still nervous about those things; I just noticed when taking the pictures earlier that the remaining old ones are 4 years old and have some dry rot, though the treads visually look about as deep as the new ones, should I replace those, or do you think the tire shop was right and they may still work? Tire change was about 500 miles ago.

When they were replaced the tire shop moved my old rears to the front and put the new ones on the rear.

 

Those are not stock black. Been painted for sure. Looks like the earlier 2nd gen rims. They had a two tone I believe....

 

I belive there was also a gold two tone set... dont quote me

 

Hmm, says that is 15 inch though.

Also, you see what I mean about price, seems high for what it is.