champignon

My new-to-me 2003 996TT came with the space saver spare tire and tire kit, however it is the original tire and I have little faith that it would work if ever needed in an emergency situation. I would like to either find a replacement NEW rubber tire that could be mounted on the rim, or just give up on the whole thing and recover some space in the Frunk. The tire size is 165/70/16, on the sidewall.

As far as I can tell by searching, no one sells a new rubber tire of that size that could be mounted on the existing rim. I have seen several tire and rim combinations for sale on ebay and other sites, but they are quite expensive and come out of salvaged cars and hence are no more likely to function, after all these years, than the one presently in my car. I am not interested in spending $600 for a new rim and tire from a dealer; I am a AAA member and get towing for 100 miles for free (or included in my membership).

Has anyone found a solution to this issue, or is the consensus that you should just get a Slime green goop kit for the frunk, and forget about the vestigial spare tire altogether?

Thanks.

Orphan

I have same issue. My Techart body kit makes it useless due to the spare size. Still I keep it in the trunk, for sheer necessity of weight distribution. If you remove it ,, you will notice bouncy front as well as rear 60 forward 40 becoming rear 70 or so. I also keep an inflatable can but will only use it, in a dire,, rather rely on insurance towing.

champignon

It can't possibly weigh enough to make that sort of a difference. Even so, if you used the space for something more useful, it would not be hard to offset what little weight in the front is lost by the absence of said tire.

Orphan

My experience.. having had 5.. 911s
3 of them 996es and two of them turbos.. the spare tire weight off front makes quite a difference. I know that many agrees as well.

champignon

Why not just weigh it and be sure that you have at least that much weight in there where the tire was? That's an easily testable hypothesis.

In any event, all things being equal, I'm not looking for deadweight in the frunk, what would be nice would be to find a not too expensive source for a replacement spare rubber tire to get mounted on the existing rim.

Orphan

Indeed.. when I used to live in Monte Carlo.. comimg down from Monaco CC off La Turbie.. the bounce was so annoying.. I put two 10kg sand bags, in the trunk. It was a brand new C4S.

champignon

When I used to live in Monaco, I drove a Ferrari Pininfarina. I took the Prince with me in the passenger seat once :-)

Orphan

You with fat Rainier.. me with Caroline or sometimes with Roger Moore. RIP

champignon

I'm not a name dropper, I'm only interested in the money :-)

Orphan

Feel sad for you..

champignon

could we possibly get back to tires, the subject of this post?

Orphan

Spare tire issue has been discussed time immemorial.
Rim size use..
Weight distribution effect..
Safety benefit in case of an accident...
I have explained my findings.. on the down hill, or on the cornering.. the front feels light, without a spare or extra weight.

champignon

Well, that's funny, being as I did a lot of google and other searching on this issue and did not come up with anything answering the specific questions I posed, ergo my post here on this thread.

While I am very delighted to hear your comments on this issue, and about your prior experiences in Monte Carlo, I would like to open up the floor for comments from some of the other thousands of participants on the Rennlist forum . . . .

jtt99

FWIW Last fall while driving my '91 964 the left rear went down. I coasted into a convenience store and proceeded to put the original space saver on and drove 15 miles home without any problems. Left it on the car in the garage for four days until the replacement tire came in and didn't loose any air. Cleaned it, deflated it, and put it back in the car with hope to never have to use it again.

Macster

The spare (space saver) tire doesn't age like the regular tires which get heat cycled and in normal circumstances the spare/space saver tire sees very little use.

If you are worried about the space saver tire it is easy enough to "test". Remove the space saver tire from the car and inflate it to its working pressure and let it sit. If it holds pressure over say 24 hours it is good.

"Test" the air pump that comes with the tire to make sure it works. Be advised if you use this pump my experience is the engine should be running.

The spare tire that came with my 2002 Boxster still holds air and is fine. With the tire fitted I think speed is limited to 50mph and I'm ok with that.

I haven't bothered to check my 2003 Turbo's space saver tire but I have no concerns that in the event of a flat tire the space saver would prove not up to the job.

However, I have a premium car club membership just in case.