A rear tire went soft (nail), and I found the tread of the spare was rotten. Luckily I was wasn't too far from home since max speed was 10 MPH. Some of the outer tread disappeared.

This is a heads up for anyone else using a 28 year old spare.

Can the 3rd seat in the wagon be removed to carry a full size spare, and get rid of the mini tire?

TIA, Bill

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Dear B.B.

Hope you're well. Tires - even those never put on a rim - are time-expired after a maximum of ten years. Some tire shops won't mount a tire older than six years.

Rubber deteriorates with time (exposure to oxygen). Heat accelerates rubber deterioration.

So, the factory-supplied "doughnut" tires should long ago have been sent for recycling.

I'm pretty sure the third seat can be removed. If it is not present, i.e., if the factory original load-space floor panels are present, there's plenty of room for a full-size spare tire.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Hi Spook,

That's good news! That doughnut is not a great substitute for a real spare.
I tried to get prices on a replacement and most places don't have that size including Tire Rack. A few places came back with offerings at prices higher than a real tire. Hopefully the 3rd seat can be removed without a sawzall.

Thanks, Bill

Dear B.B.,

Hope you're well and stay so. The third seat is bolt-in, so should not require a power tool to remove.

The factory-original doughnut tire was made for Volvo. I'm not surprised that tire suppliers do not have anything that size. A full-size tire is far safer.

BTW, you're very lucky the spare failure was a low-speed matter. A high speed failure could have been truly bad!

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Thanks again Spook,

The directions for using a full size spare are under the jump seat bottom.
Just spin off two 13mm flange head nuts and the seat pad comes right out.
A full size spare drops in nicely. The seat back has two brackets aft,each with three hex bolts and there are spring loaded pins at the base of the seat back that snap into welded brackets. Maybe channel locks are the best tool to compress those pins to remove the seat back and make some more room?



Cheers, Bill