Sometime over the summer, the spare just ripped itself apart. A Firestone tire self-destructing - who knew? It was made in week 36 of 2002, never been driven on though I did install it a few times to help with rotations. Somehow it still had 30 PSI in it. I have no idea what happened here, friggin' weird.

Now I have to source a T125/70r16 tire, but so far the only one that looks readily available is a rather pricey Continental. At $114, Discount Tire seems to have the best price thus far. Does anyone know of an alternate option?
I suppose the moral of this story is that tires do indeed have a finite lifespan.