996_North

Does anyone have any experience with the rear mounted spare ? Im looking at Cayennes and this is the first one I have seen with a spare mounted like this. I'm curious about how it is mounted and if there are any issues with it long term.

Thanks

http://www.autotrader.ca/a/Porsche/C...howcpo=ShowCPO

steve_Cayenne

Ouch, my eyes!

Looks handy for hard-core offroading, but you won't get far with those wheels/tires.

Also looks like a pain, every time you open the hatch.

user 83838290

a couple of guys over here have it on their touaregs (same thing as on the p!g) and apart from that it's a real PITA to open rear hatch, there are no long term issues I heard of.

Carrera GT

I like it a lot!

I had an '05 Turbo Power Kit and always wish I'd had the wheel carrier.
It doesn't look ungainly and, if anything, it makes a Cayenne look more purposeful and less of a dainty grocery getter.
The engineering, design and functionality bring no complaints -- my only want would be a way to detach it when it's just dead weight around town (without just removing the wheel and running with the empty cradle.)
It certainly would encourage me to choose one car over another.
I think the first generations of Cayenne look better in lighter paint. I had the Titanium. Black is hard work, especially on an SUV with that much acreage to wax and polish. : )

ps. It occurs to me I have a set of off-road wheels, on-road 20's (or 21's?) and some studded snow tires, too ... must get around to advertising! (Anyone in the SF Bay Area?)

endless_corners

I think its really silly to have a spare tire holder when it looks like that... you can't even put oversized tires on it. Those things are for offroading not putting a spare low profile tire! IDK, personally i think its basically pointless given the application with stock tire size.

Carrera GT

These are common misconceptions.

An "oversized" off-road tire will not be a bigger diameter -- it can be as wide as the vehicle body and suspension will allow, but if it's a larger overall diameter it would raise the gearing ("taller") and that's the antithesis of off-road performance.

The advantage is cabin space and ease of access for a "hot swap" when stuck off-road. The rear-swing carrier is the best/only solution short of roof-rack carriers that add crippling wind resistance (loss of fuel efficiency.)

endless_corners

I have been running oversized tires on my ML for several years and it makes A HUGE DIFFERENCE in offroading. Not only do you get increased ground clearance but also increased comfort. I can't think of a serious purpose built offroader that doesnt run huge tires. Even the cayenne transyberia runs 30.5" vs 29" stock... so I dont know what you are talking about. Anyone that goes offroading runs larger diameter tires than stock. The difference in gearing is not a big deal nor is the slight amount of difference in the speedo. Just go try offroading your cayenne on rocky terrain with 29" tires and then try 31" with more rubber and air... I'm telling you it makes all the difference in the world.

Carrera GT

The ML and Transvestite are not off-road vehicles -- they're high-end consumer durables. I'm not suggesting anything related to a purpose-built off-road 4x4 ... that's not in the realm of Porsche, Mercedes, etc.

You might start at 30's or even 33's, which I have on an Excursion, and they're decent off-road tires in something like a Goodyear Duratrac that's designed to run at 8 psi with reinforced shoulders and sidewalls, but the stuff you're mentioning is metrics, they're "products" off 4wheelparts and tirerack.

My point is to say that the wheel carrier is functional and can carry a full-sized spare which is outside the cabin, accessible when the vehicle is fully laden and can make all the difference when it comes to exiting a nasty situation or emptying the whole cargo area ... or walking out. Plus it looks good to me and it's functional, not cosmetic. Add a decent set of tools, jack, pad, chocks, winch ... as I've done with an '05 ... and you've got a pretty good all-rounder, but not a Moab or Rubicon jalopy. Great in the snow with studded tires, very good on sand at Pismo, but don't even think about keeping up through the Sierras ... a 70's 4Runner will be going round these luxo-utes in 2nd gear, high range ... : )

As for off-roaders and 4x4's, without re-gearing the low-range in the transfer case, the only thing gained is axle height ... all of half an inch for 30-somethings versus factory metric sizes in overall diameter ... and the real meaning of "oversized" is 33's and 36's or larger ... high flotation, crawling ... it's just not relevant.

Anyway, my comments pertain to the appeal of the factory (wildly overpriced and absurdly over-engineered, but cool) wheel carrier. If I was choosing between two used Cayennes, I'd very likely choose the one with the wheel carrier. Even if I had 33's on a lifted Cayenne, and a smaller spare in the carrier.

endless_corners

Its all good.. I came off a little more incendiary than I'd like. It seems like a good choice if one is looking to solve that need.

While not purpose built offroaders and not quite a RR or jeep.. I still think the first gen cayenne and first gen ML both make capable offroaders. The current cayenne and last two gen ML's are definitely more "soft-roaders". But my cayenne has low range, center locking diff, decent underbody protection, decent clearance, etc and does pretty well for itself. When I need new tires I am going up 1" in tire size for sure. ok now truce!

NC 997

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit ..

Carrera GT

No conflict, so no truce required, and I appreciate civil discourse -- something that's a rare encounter on the Web these days.

I think "plus one" on a Cayenne is fine, just expect a discernible softening of throttle response and be cautious about tire weights. I really like the Goodyear Duratrac for medium to extremely heavy off-road (traction chains through mud and rocks.) They're also insanely durable even with a heavy, powerful vehicle, as well as stable when towing (something that can't be said of many off-road tires.)

I'm about to put on the Goodyear SilentArmor (where do they get these absurd names?) because I have more towing and less off-road ahead, but still need 10/10ths snow and ice traction. The Duratrac is the greatest tire I've ever used. It's just insanely good. I'm hoping the SilentArmor is the same, only with less NVH at highway speeds, especially after the first 10K miles of wear, the Duratrac was still silient, but as it went to 40K miles (an almost unheard of distance for me and road tires) they started to get noisy. Now at 40K+ miles, they're still only 80% worn, but too noisy at 75 mph. Anyway, most of three years and 40K miles, they've more than earned their place at the top of the honor roll. (pun)