“Just Empty Every Pocket.”
A Boston, Massachusetts woman bought a Jeep Wrangler. Then she realized that there would be an unexpected expense before cold weather hits: all new tires.
Aimee (@aimee.evers) posted a question to other Jeep drivers. “What is something no one warned you about before getting a Jeep?” she asks. “I’ll go first.” It has since drawn more than 7,172 views, and her caption gives her own answer: “Big tires are cute until I have to replace them.”
“I have to replace my tires before the winter and I’m about to be broke,” she says. “I think I knew bigger tires were expensive, but I really didn’t take into consideration getting four of them.”
The comments presented some bad news. “Four? You get five. This is expensive,” wrote jturner1320. Lees_deals_on_wheels, in the most-liked comment on the video, put it as advice: “You should replace all five and rotate the spare.” The Wrangler carries a full-size matching spare on the tailgate rather than a temporary donut, so it can go into the rotation with the other four, in which case it will wear at the same rate.
The Light She Had Been Chasing For Months
The other discovery was the one she flagged as useful. “My tire light has been on for months and I kept putting air in one of my tires thinking it was low because the sensor was on,” she says. “And I went to Jiffy Lube and I guess it was my spare tire. I didn’t realize that the sensor could go off on your spare tire. So the more you know.”
That claim drew skepticism. “The sensor can’t go off from your spare, your sensor went bad,” wrote lees_deals_on_wheels. Torchedred was more precise: “Your spare won’t show low unless it’s actually rotating, if it even has a sensor in it, my 2024 certainly doesn’t.” Aimee told a commenter her Jeep is a 2017.
This disagreement might arise from the regulation that governs the system. The federal standard for tire pressure monitoring requires a vehicle to light the warning when pressure drops far enough “in one or more of the vehicle’s tires, up to a total of four tires.” Whether anything watches the fifth is left to the manufacturer, and the same standard requires the owner’s manual to state “whether the tire pressure monitoring system functions with the vehicle’s spare tire (if provided).”
Jeep does fit one on the model Aimee is describing. Trade guidance for technicians working on Wranglers of that era, published by Modern Tire Dealer in 2017, states that “a TPMS sensor is installed in the spare wheel if the vehicle is equipped with a matching full size spare wheel and tire assembly.”
‘Just Empty Every Pocket’
Commenters enumerated other costs associated with owning a Jeep. “Just Empty Every Pocket, J-E-E-P. How did you not know?” wrote angiebee00. Geojcat wrote: “I spent as much on accessories as I did on the purchase price of my Jeep.” Aaronmw6485 was briefer: “Modding a Jeep becomes an addiction.”
Tt300760 reported, “My Jeep was a money pit. My mechanic told me Jeeps make him a lot of money.” Gerald_miller72 wrote scathingly, “Jeeps are not made to be your primary source of transportation. It’s a toy and should be treated as such.”
Others mentioned additional unwelcome surprises. Phillies80 had bought a two-door and “did not realize have no cargo space.” Corgipowered said they “are noisy going down the highway,” which Aimee confirmed, writing, “Especially with the soft top, it’s loud during long drives on the highway.”
Asked which tires she was buying, Aimee replied, “I’m not sure what tires yet. Open to suggestions.” Asked whether the tires were the worst of it, she elaborated, “Unfortunately I learned that the hard way. There was a lot more that needed fixing even prior to this.”
Motor1 reached out to Aimee via TikTok direct message for comment. We’ll be sure to update this if she responds.
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