dmm993

(The good news is, no one got hurt and the 993 appears to have ZERO damage, including the wheel! I just wanted to mention that up front.)

Sooo...I experienced what it is like to get a flat tire while driving my new 993. Perfect timing too, since I had just passed the 1000 mile ownership mark yesterday. Ha!

My wife, 2-year old son, and I were driving home from a two hour trip on Saturday night, around 11:30 on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, when we started to smell rubber burning. I was driving around 65mph and felt or heard *nothing* that indicated my tire had just blown out. We actually thought it may have been from one of the trucks that just passed us. A very short while later, I finally felt the thumping feeling of a flat tire, and quickly pulled over in the safest spot I could find. The right rear tire was shredded. We think we may have ran over something a few miles back, but we are not 100% sure.

Since I had just purchased the 993 in June (this is my first Porsche), I had no experience in changing its tire. (I have, however, changed tires on many other cars in the past.) While I was unloading the trunk to get to the tire and tools, my wife was calling AAA. We were amazed at how quickly they, and a service truck from the Turnpike, arrived on scene. Both guys were extremely helpful and careful and we even all laughed a little bit (as best we could) at the situation, this being their first time to service a Porsche and me being a little too nervous.

We ended up having to use their jack, since we could not get the factory one to safely lift the car. The AAA mechanic was very careful to jack it up in the right spot under the car, as per the owner's manual.

All three of us were amazed at how the spare tire worked. Quite frankly, I was a bit nervous watching it inflate, since it had never been used. In all their years of helping motorists, they had never seen a collapsible spare tire like the one that is in the 993 (and other Porsches, too, I assume?)

Fortunately, it appears that the 993 had NO damage and even the wheel looks to be perfectly fine. Surprisingly, there was no damage to it either. Whew!

I spent a ton of time on the forums here today, researching what I should do next. I am going to order four new tires (Sumitomo HTR Z III) tomorrow from Tire Rack and have them all replaced at once. The tires that came with the 993 are still in good condition, and they passed fine on the PPI, but I figure I might as well replace all four right now, just to feel safer.

Based upon the great information I read in the forums, I am going to replace my stock 993 jack with the 993 Turbo jack (996 721 211 00) instead. I am also going to add some items to the toolkit, along with other emergency supplies, just in case I need them in the future.

With all of this in mind, I have a lot of questions that suddenly came up over the last 24 hours...

- Can the collapsible spare tire ever be cleaned up and collapsed again, to fit back in the spare tire well? Or, is it possible to buy a new one, exactly like it? We were less than 20 miles from home when the flat occurred, so the spare should still be in usable condition, right?

- The owners manual said to inflate the spare tire to 36 psi, but I did not see a gauge on the air compressor or in the toolkit. (I may have missed it in the dark.) I was planning to buy a tire gauge anyway. Any recommendations on a good one?

- Where can I get a replacement large, HEAVY DUTY, clear plastic bag to keep with the spare tire? It's very heavy-duty and I used it to hold the wheel and shredded tire that we removed. I am guessing that it came with every 993, as part of the tool kit? Does it have an official Porsche part number?

- Any other advice or things I should think about in the future, if this ever happens again?


THANKS everyone!

-Dave

______________________

1996 993 Carrera Coupe
Guards Red/Black

craig001

You can let the air of the the spare and collapse it without problems. Of course it's easier if you find a shop to pull a vacuum fro you. I did it by hand a few years back when I had a blow-out in my 964.

Smiles

Stay off the PA Turnpike! That road is the most expensive piece of crap imaginable. It's constantly under repair, although it's never fixed properly.

I'm glad you suffered no damage, and that you and your family are safe. Hopefully it'll never happen again.

TomF

Glad that you and your family are okay. I had a blowout on my 87 cab on the way to a wedding on a hot raining August day a few years back. Not a fun experience. I was about three miles to home, so I got a family member to load up my AC floor jack and tools and bring them to me. A shower and another suit later and I was only slightly late for the wedding.

The spare reluctantly will collapse if you coax it. The vacuum idea is the best, however. Incidentally, if you have tires/wheels that have very close tolerances in the wheel wells, make sure that you be very aware of tire pressure. A loss of moderate pressure in a tire can make the tire contact all sort of things in there and cause a catastrophic failure. I am running 285s on the rear of my 993, and if not properly inflated, I am guessing that they will rub.

CADguy

Hey Dave,

Glad to hear that you and your family made it through ok, and the 993 also!

I am also a new 993 owner (March, 2008) and have read the Owners Manual cover to cover. I also have the 993 "bible" (Porsche 993 The Essential Companion).

I believe the Owners Manual says that when you have a flat on a rear tire, you should transfer a front tire to the rear flat location, then mount the spare on the front. Is this correct? Did you do it this way Dennis?

Also, the bag to put the flat tire in did come with the car. Not sure where to get the replacement, I guess a Porsche dealer could get it for you. Or, maybe you could just clean it up if it didn't tear? I think the tool kit should also have included some sort of tire gauge, but not 100% sure (I'm at work, the car is at home).

Here is the tire gauge I want for my 993:

http://www.paragon-products.com/prod...na36110002.htm

I also wondered if the spare is still good to be used after eleven years of just sitting in the trunk. I guess so, since it worked ok for you.

That reminds me (you having the flat at night), I still have to get a small flashlight to keep in the 993.

Glad to hear it worked out pretty good considering!

Gary

centerpunch

If you take the valve core out of the spare tire valve stem, the tire will return to its tiny size in a day or so. (Then put the valve core back in!)