Betis

Do you all have them in the car. Mine looks like the rubber is ancient. So I removed it. Do they sell a replacement tire? Do you guys keep the spare in the car?
Thanks in advance

z driver 88t

I've wondered the same thing but never really heard a response - leading me to believe there is no real replacement available. On occasion some new old stock (NOS) will surface, as detailed in this restoration:

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...kmFy9Fnin9cBZw

But that rubber is still ancient. And can be difficult to find a shop that will mount it. A friend of mine at Discount Tire said they had a policy against mounting a tire more than 10 years old, and honestly, I don't know that I'd trust a spare that was riding on 40 year old rubber.

I'd love to find some alternative. I take a fair number of road trips in my 928 and it's often in the back of my mind that I have no spare tire.

GT6ixer

There was a thread floating around here somewhere where I thought a guy had found new rubber to mount on the spare. I could be mis-remembering that though.

As for keeping a spare in the car, that's been debated here before. Some don't and are proponents of just using a roadside service. I chose to keep it in my car for two reasons. First, I have broken down before where there was no cell service, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night. Not having the option to use a spare, no matter how old the rubber, to limp to civilization, is not an option for me personally. Secondly, I keep it in because part of the fun of the collector car hobby for me is driving a car in as close to the condition as it was when it left the dealership when new. And back then my car would have had a spare, a jack, an electric compressor and tire pressure gauge. I like that.

z driver 88t

I've also enjoyed the privilege of waiting for several hours on a tow truck with AAA, even with good cell service. I'd rather spend 20 minutes and change it myself and be back under way. Hopefully someone chimes in that has found an alternative.

polecat702

Petza914

I enjoy the Sharkwoofer in my spare compartment much more than I would a spare tire. Instead, I carry a tire plug kit, compressor, and my AAA card.

RET

I carry a plug kit and a small compressor (the oversized original compressor rests in storage) as well as the spare tire.

The 928 had a flat tire from a deeply cut sidewall that could not be patched or repaired by me or by any method that road service could provide, so the car would have either been flat-bedded home or to a place where a new tire could be installed (... and at night, or far from home, this could be really aggravating...). I like to avoid being at the convenience and mercy of tow truck drivers, so I will keep a spare tire in the car.

Parenthetically, the original spare would not fit on the front because of the larger brake caliper (it had never occurred to me to check fitment...), so I had to put the spare on the rear and the rear tire on the front when needed; fortunately the rear 275 width tire did not cause any problems mounted on the front. The original spare has been replaced with a spare from a GTS that will fit all four corners.

FWIW, using the original jack requires caution and a good deal of faith....

Geza

I have found that a 986/996 (probably all newer models) mini spare fits my '87 S4 just fine, and mounts using the existing lug nuts. Obviously, it doesn't fit in the spare tire well, so stowing it would have to be addressed.

Bigfoot928

I look at the spare from a different angle. If I have a tire failure, it may not be someplace that I want to sit for a couple of hours waiting for roadside. (dangerous corner, sketchy part of town) I look at it from a "how much do I like my wheel"? do I need to drive 25 miles so I can get some sleep or get to a safe place? Would I rather rash up a very expensive Fikse wheel or would I rather rash up a spare tire/wheel? If I put the spare on and it tanks then I trashed a spare. Maybe it gets me to a place where I have good light, and can plug the road tire. I just now realized that I have not tried to fit my spare on the front. I doubt it would fit on the F50 front calipers.....

I like the aspect of having options.

Petza914

That's what CWPs are for. Forgot to add that and a 9mm to my list of plug kit and compressor.

Honestly, anything that's going to happen in that part of town will happen during the 20-30 minutes or more you're getting the jack out, jacking the car up and swapping the wheels, especially if parked there in a Porsche.

Padhammer

Is anyone running run flats? I have them on my 325i and am very happy with them. I haven't checked availability for 928 sizes. And, yes they'r e no guarantee - but belt and suspenders.

Bigfoot928

I'm not sure how you change a tire, but it's a 4-5 minute job tops. especially in a questionable area.

polecat702

They were on the rear of my 89 when I bought the car. It rode like a brick, and noisy, but they were worn out, little if any tread left.

Petza914

Now that's a video I'd like to see - a 4-5 minute total tire change from the time you open the hatch to get at the jack and tools, get the car jacked up, get the lug nuts off, swap the wheel, get the new one put on, nuts tightened, and then get everything thrown back into the car, even if you don't put it away properly.

Seriously, post it up, it would be fun and educational for us to see, me at least.

oldfrat

My 1981 sat for a lot of years with very few miles in a warm part of CA. I've had to replace almost every bit of rubber on it in the 4+ years I've owned it. Thus I have no faith in my spare tire.

I keep it for three reasons -- all of which may be untrue. A desire for the crash protection previously mentioned. A suspicion that the Porsche engineers took the weight of the spare into consideration when they tried to get the handling benefits of 50/50 weight distribution. The hope that, while the spare may not stand up to rigors of road driving, it might help to load the car onto a flatbed.

Brad