I have one of the few sportages I've seen that has neither a stock tire carrier nor a roof rack. That tire in the cargo area is a little in the way. Any ideas about how to tote the tire that would be a little more convenient? What about a roof rack?

The roof sounds good, but you might want to get a used tire carrier for the rear and go that direction. I think it would be hard to get the tire from the roof in case it needs changing, especially if it's raining. Can you imagine trying to put the other one up there afterwards!!!

Hay,

I just happened to have one. Holler at me if you are interested. Does it have the latch on the bottom?

Keith
937-2967 (cell)

Keith. The thing is the car came without the tire carrier. No lower latch, and probably a different rear hatch. I will probably be looking for something other than a stock tire rack, maybe something designed to bolt on. Thanks, though. My father in law hung his spare on the front bumper of his 3/4 ton pickup.

if it came without, your looking for trouble to try to mount the stock one. it requires some internal supports in the d-pillar and some threaded brackets. i would just have something made custom at a local bumper shop. there are some that are made for old blazers and cherokees that bolt to the frame under the bumper and have a hinge down low at bumper height. the tire is a little low, in these carriers, but they work, nonetheless. there may also be a lack of supports in the roof for a roof rack, but i don't know that for sure. if it were me, and in fact, it will be as soon as i have a large enough spare on a wheel with the proper bolt pattern, well, if it were me, i'd build a full custom bumper with a trailer axle spindle as the hinge for the tire carrier and go from there. in fact, i would use nothing from the original design of the stock carrier. not that it's a bad design, but that it has some annoying things about it.

Have you thought about putting a rack on the hood? I have considered that if I was going to carry an extra spare ( thats 2 spares ) then I may put it on the hood.

I dunno....

Mark

Holy crap that'd be annoying. This isn't a flame, I just detest the idea. I know it would annoy me. I'm with Dave on this one - get one fabbed. The lack of the internal support for the tire carrier would make the adaptation of a stock Sportage carrier very... difficult... and stuff... Plus a custom bumper would certainly add some character to your Sportage, and that's always good.

Or even one that slides into a hitch undernieth and sticks up the back. Kinda like a bike rack that plugs into the hitch.

those have inherent problems too, the hitch is not made to take the shock of a bouncing tire and wheel, nor are they tight enough to keep from rattling like all hell. if one were to go this route, do 2 hitches one on each frame rail and a a rack that plugs into both, but go one step further and make 2 hitch pin holes in each to keep the rack from pivoting slightly and rattling all the way down the road.

or, get a custom bumper fabbed with a hinge and a rack off of that.

Ive got a small Yakima basket on my roof. If I'm out traveling some distance to go 4xing I will carry my 2nd spare in it. Last Summer I went across most of the Oregon desert using nothing but dirt and gravel roads. I tell you, it felt nice to have that extra insurance bolted up there.

Edit: If fact my avatar pic is from that same trip. you can see the tire.