997_rich

I can second the fact that modern sports car tires are extremely hard to auger out (even when using the string type plugs). I'm a pretty athletic guy and last time I could barely drive the auger through the hole using all of my strength (the hole was small, caused by a trim nail). After some frustration I ended up taking a small drill bit and augering using a cordless drill (risky, but worked well in this case).

Edgy01

Glad you remind people of this fact. This is not work for the weak. And you should be familiar with the effort it takes. But it will save you from hours at the side of the road.

stevepow

WTF - why is this a worse problem now than it was 40 years ago? Where's the tech innovation when we need it? And no, the pump and goop - 3am-infomercial-clever as it is - is not it. No spare - OK, something better, or at least as good, needed then.

997_rich

Well... I haven't been stuck due to a catastrophic tire failure since the years when I drove $500 cars with $50 tires. So I would say that it's probably somewhat rare anymore if you are using the high quality tires that will fit on this car. Most of this issues you'll encounter will be slow leaks even if you get a nail all the way through the tire. You'll likely be able to drive home or use the goop and get home if it's not too far.

With that said, I still carry a spare tire and a plug kit.

LlBr

Yes. Me too because I don't like being treated like a statistic.

Porsche figures only [insert low percentage number here] of guys with flats will get their days effed up in a major way without a spare ( btw new tires usually have to be shipped in).

According to Porsche THOSE guys' PITA is a price worth paying to claim a few tenths (hundredths?) of MPG improvement gained by less weight.

WOW think of how many MILLIONS of barrels of gas are 'wasted' every year by people carrying spares?! We should make carrying spares illegal! Oh wait: compare to the BILLIONS consumed every hour.

OH! WAIT! How about the 10mpg that the tow trucks get coming to pick up people who can't get themselves back on the road! Lost productivity from missing jobs or appointments? Injury and death and property damage by being stuck on the side of the road for a few hours?

My bet is the omission of a spare serves ONLY Porsche. Also, after purchase, OCD and track guys worried about weight can take their spares OUT of their cars and leave them in their garages!

Okay, fine. Be treated like a statistic. Me? I refuse: bought a spare, I want to drive reliable cars.

sorry for the rant. I feel better now.

Edgy01

Recall that Porsche has never been satisfied with the performance of the run-flat tires so we will never see those heavy things on a Porsche until they are improved. Then much of this discussion becomes moot.

Coochas

Which is interesting since Nissan figured out how to use them on the GT-R, love it or not. I think for street applications Porsche should be able to figure this out.
People that spend a lot of time at the track could either opt out of a run flat or get a 2nd (read 3rd) set of wheels.
I gotta say that giving us a can of Fix-a-Flat is kind of ridiculous given how much these cars cost.