General Discussion

Hello terrific community – we’re looking for a little wisdom as we embark on our 2026 RV excursions.

Sorry for the TOO LONG introduction but I thought context might help in understanding my questions.

Eileen, our chocolate lab “Mozart”, and I (retired empty nesters) currently travel from our home in Miami in our 2024 class C LTV Unity FX. Before that, we traveled in our 2020 Winnebago MB Sprinter camper van. We use a Tireminder TPMS to monitor tire pressures as we’ve had our share of tire catastrophes on the road?

Our LTV is currently on front Alcoa aluminum wheels, rear outer Alcoa aluminum wheels, and rear inner Mercedes-Benz steel wheels - I replaced originally delivered 2 Alcoa Aluminum inner wheels after 1 too many road repair issues & have them stored. We now also travel with a spare set of valve stems (both Alcoa & MB). From our experience, Emergency Road Services we used seldom had the proper valve stem we needed for the Alcoa wheels, even if they had the tire (which often caused another issue down the road). We have never traveled with a spare tire in our RV’s because of space considerations.

While we are semi experienced RVers from short trips (weekend to two weeks) throughout southeast US, we are now planning longer trips. This year we are planning to travel to Idaho, Texas, and Vermont in the spring summer and fall. Consequently, we have recently purchased and installed a “Let’s Go AERO” GearSpace 34 enclosed cargo hitch storage carrier to provide us more storage space and the opportunity to carry a spare tire.

WOW😳 WHAT A LONG SETUP 😂

Here’s my multi part inquiry :

1 - do you mount the spare tire on a spare wheel?

2 - if no, do you take a spare wheel?

3 - if yes, what type of wheel?

4 - if yes, do you inflate the tire?

5 - if yes, do you have it balanced?

6 - if yes, what valve core is best to use on the spare inflated tire when traveling in a MB sprinter 3500 dually

NOTE: in our current RV, each pair of tires has a different steel valve core

- [x] front pair - Alcoa aluminum wheels w Borg slightly curved valve core;

- [x] rear outer Dually Alcoa aluminum wheels w Borg “U” shaped curved valve core;

- [x] rear inner Dually Mercedes-Benz steel wheels w Borg straight extension valve stem we stabilizer to mount to outer wheel

If you read this far, thank you so much for allowing my OCD display. I would love to hear any of your thoughts as we plan for an exciting 2026.

I hope you are all safe and staying warm. Take care – Ruben and Eileen