Abstract: A tire carrier includes a mounting frame which can be fixedly attached to the undersurface of a vehicle and a tire receiving frame dimensioned to receive a tire usable on the vehicle. A parallelogram suspension arrangement extends between the mounting frame and the tire receiving frame to permit the tire receiving frame to swing between a storage position in which the tire receiving frame is directly beneath the mounting frame and an extended position in which the tire receiving frame is in a position in which the tire can be extracted or inserted. A latch mechanism is provided as well as an over-center spring mechanism to assist the user in moving the tire receiving frame between positions.