stevepow

Yes, I called them immediately after my 1st call with RA. Nothing much they could do apparently - I tried. They talked to RA, but came up with nothing - the tow policy is pretty firm and RA does not even allow us to pay the difference between a tow to Mont'y and ATL.

Do tell - I think we all would love to know a better way of dealing with this.

Tcc1999

The second picture with your wheel/rim face down - that has to be the cleanest inside rim I've ever seen! I'm torn between being impressed (about your fastidiousness ) and embarrassed (by my lack thereof).

LlBr

It's a joke. Porsche's playing the statistics game thinking Stevepow, who is now officially a statistic, is a forgiving guy who will buy another spare-less Porsche product anyway.

So funny how the game has changed. My father would NEVER drive a car unless a well-maintained spare was in the trunk. It was a given. Driving without a spare was considered INSANE.

Then and now? I don't think cell phones make a difference today unless they guaranteed the roadside wait is going to be 15 minutes minutes or fewer. Oh, that and a GUARANTEE that each and every Porsche dealer kept a set of tires for each car IN STOCK and gave guys with flats a PRIORITY in the shop!

tincanman99

Is it because of space or cost? Or both?

I dont get the comments about them being out of touch with American drivers? I have been in Europe in a bunch of places and there are some pretty rural areas that if you got a flat you are totally screwed just liked here.

I dont get it. Ok the tires are huge but why cant they engineer a space saver tire to fit in the front of the car.

I know BMW's dont have spares either which I understand even less because most of them have a pretty big trunk. But at least they have run flats though they ride like crap. Same with the Mini Cooper and the Corvette.

I hate to say this but I live in the northeast and where I live is densely populated but you would have a long wait here as well because of the business of the tow trucks here.

They are always busy and not just any tow truck can tow a Porsche either. Though it wouldnt be over night but I could see it here being 4-5 hours at rush hour. Easily.

LlBr

Porsche saves money, they get an extra .01% gas mileage and a lighter car to advertise.

There is NOTHING in it for the buyer/driver. Well..., the spare I have takes up the space of one bag of groceries. BUT that's an after-purchase spare in a trunk NOT designed for a spare.

As you may know it is illegal to sell a car without a spare tire in some countries: not the USA.

My plan: take ten roadside minutes to slap on my acquired-after-purchase-spare, drive the car home, park the thing and deal with the flat when __I__ feel like it.

I'm not even going to mess with the pump & goop cr*p.

alexb76

That is indeed a flat tire story! Just a question, WHY couldn't you use the fix-a-flat provided to temporarily fix your tire and drive off?

I was stuck almost the same way, TRACKING down in Portland, and managed to use the fix-a-flat, drive the rest of the weekend and drive 300 miles back home with no issues. The Porsche road side assistance was a bit of a Pain on the weekend however!

EDIT: I just saw where the nail was, probably cause it's on the sidewall, the fix-a-flat wouldn't work?

stevepow

Yes, you can see the fix-a-flat has leaked out of the sidewall and onto the ground, repairing only the turf...and most likely creating a sticky mess for the guy later changing the tire.

stevepow

Here's a couple of other things that came into focus for me with this experience:

1 - I had just taken my 80 yo mother home from ATL and was returning. What if she had been in the car and had to endure this 24 "vacation". And where in the wrecker would a second person ride? Would my wife have to break out the Lexus and come and save us? In a word, yes - there would be no other solution. One has to realize where I was, there are no rental cars, taxis, etc.

2 - and what if I were traveling with my wife? not as bad, but I bet she'd never take another trip in this car again - and she still might not, as the "fun" factor may just not be worth the gamble of being stranded. And then, no one to come rescue us either.

3 - now we have the spare, but much less storage for any luggage...and with luggage, space for the damaged take-off is probably non-existent.

Maybe I'm just slow and should have snugged up to this reality sooner, but these cars are not made for serious transportation, just fun driving close to home...unless you are looking for more randomness in your life.

I still love the car - quirks and all. Just gotta be more sensible/realistic about using it.

997_rich

Or you just buy a collapsible spare (that the car should've come with) AND maybe a tire plug kit? It fits in the frunk laying down if you relocate the bose amp. Still room for luggage.

LlBr

Flat tire and wheel will fit in back.

OTOH:

I saw this recently on TV. A guy cut the radial tire off the wheel rather easily - steel belts and all - with one of those serrated pocket knives.

IOW, to save space cut the trashed tire off the wheel and leave rubber by the roadside (sorry for littering but you have no choice thanks to Porsche).

997_rich

Serrated pocket knife with a laser attachement?

Give it a shot at home as a test. Have you ever tried to cut tire before? You might as well wait for porsche service- it'll take you a day to cut the tire. I haven't cut one for some time (I cut a few for a local playground years ago). But even with power tools (sawzall and cut-off wheel) it was NOT easy. I'm not sure about these but some tires have a thick wire band in the bead.

ADias

Name a late model sports car with a spare. Some run runflats, but runflats with a side gash do not last long.

Those concerned can install runflats in your P-car. Do you want to do that?

ADias

I did not want to comment, but you said it all. Good luck with cutting, and good luck avoiding rim damage.

LlBr

The bead is left on the wheel (Duh). The sidewall is what was sliced thru. The sidewall radial wires are individually thin and weak, collectively they have great strength.

Again, saw it on TV. Intuitively it would seem easy to cut thru LIGHTWEIGHT tires like ours. They're not armor-plated and they're not thick gauge stainless steel (i.e. very tough) wire.

Only way to know for sure is for somebody to try it. Any volunteers?

zanwar

They need to engineer decent run flat tires for these cars. I punctured a tire at the track and it was almost a five hour process to have the car delivered to my dealership (70 miles away).