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Taking the '09 S on a road trip to an out of state golf deal. With the other P cars my old 951 space safer was a cinch along with the aluminum sissors Jack. My P car expert said better the check since 997.2 S uses the Turbo front calipers. Sure enoug tried it. No fit. Tried a 18" Turbo twist had. Caliper fits but it's a rear 11" so not so good up front. Not even going to try a 16" Fuchs I have. So, anybody got an idea for a cheap fix? Nothing in my inventory works.
996 spare. I bought one for $150 or so shipped with the tools. Fits in frunk at an angle or behind the seats. There are a couple for sale on eBay for $100 or so.
This is a very complex problem. Sadly, many manufacturers today are deleting spares because (1) tire failures are few and far between, (2) most areas are in cellular phone reach to the world, and (3) they save a lot of space which is completely wasted by packing a spare.
The real issue is when you get a flat--worst case, a rear. WHERE ON EARTH do you put the take off? Will it even FIT inside the car? For a cabriolet you can get anything to work, but try to get a rear 19 inch rim into the backseat of a 997. Good luck. As in my case, with PCCBs, there is nothing that will fit over those brakes.
Best option--travel with another buddy in another Porsche. They can always get help for you.
Unfortunately, many European auto manufacturers don't get it. In the USA we still have many very remote places that are simply out of reach of cell phones. This is not central Europe.
Friend of mine with a 2015 Boxster S had a lovely afternoon drive in the mountains turn into a 3 hour wait for a flatbed followed by a three hour trip on the flatbed back to a dealer, followed by another hour and a half getting home. A relatively small rock in the road caused a blowout of the sidewall. The can of goop did nothing. A spare tire could have had him on his way in 15 minutes. Of course the absurdity and uselessness of 19 and 20 inch rims are also part of the problem. The post-2004 911s are perfect examples of what Nassim Taleb describes in his book "Antifragile."
Johnireland, the very short super thick, stiff sidewalls of a Porsche style tire should make them impervious to a sidewall blowout, in fact the larger the wheel size, the shorter the tire sidewall. This may make for more curb rash etc on the wheels, but the tire sidewalls will be pretty stout. I’ve never heard of a sidewall blowout in a modern low aspect ratio tire, but I guess anything’s possible. Also, there is probably more to this story because a ‘little rock’ couldn’t cause this.
Mr Goal, if you have a spare that only fits the rear, you might be ok, as 90% or more flats will be a rear tire. Most flats are caused by a nail, spike, screw or other flat long pointed piece of metal. Typically, a nail or screw will lay flat on the road. As you haplessly drive along on a collision course with said nail, your front tire will harmlessly pass over the prone nail, but the tires passage will flip the nail up. Sometimes things just don’t go your way and the flipped-up nail lands upright at the exact same time that your rear tire arrives on the scene.
As Edgy01 points out a 305x19 flat tire/wheel takes up a lot of room and won’t fit in the frunk. If you have a lot of golf crap on the rear seats it might be a tight squeeze. Also, consider that a spare tire must be very close in height/circumference to the car’s tire or the differential/LSD and/or all wheel drive system won’t be happy.
Your car is equipped with an air compressor and a large bottle of tire sealant for this contingency. Cleaning out all the sealant goop will make the tire shop very unhappy with you and if it gets inside the TPMS will cause all kinds of mayhem.
Our 2012 997.2 GTS is similar to your car and we use it for all our road trips (we leave in 6 days for an over two-month trip from Canada to southern California and points beyond, total mileage about 5 thousand miles) We carry an easy to install screw-in tire plug, because all flats happen on a dark and stormy night. This is the type of kit we carry in preference to the conventional string/mushroom plug kits. http://www.bellautomotive.com/Victor...-5-60207-8.htm
Pushing a glue in plug into the tire takes a huge amount of force. Without a jack installing a conventional plug in a rear tire while laying on your back, arm twisted like a pretzel in the wheel well may not be possible. Several tire techs recommended the Victor screw-in plugs as a temporary repair. They said you can drive a fair distance at a good speed with them and the tire shop can easily unscrew them and do a permanent repair. Also, beware of the seemingly easy tools that shoot a mushroom plug-patch into the tire. They are for motorcycles etc. and won’t easily, if at all, get through the stiff Porsche style tire’s steel belts.
Johnireland, the very short super thick, stiff sidewalls of a Porsche style tire should make them impervious to a sidewall blowout, in fact the larger the wheel size, the shorter the tire sidewall. This may make for more curb rash etc on the wheels, but the tire sidewalls will be pretty stout. I’ve never heard of a sidewall blowout in a modern low aspect ratio tire, but I guess anything’s possible. Also, there is probably more to this story because a ‘little rock’ couldn’t cause this.
Impervious - that's funny. As someone who has had a blowout in the middle of nowhere, I was very glad I had a spare. Also once had a valve stem failure - no fixing or patching that and again, was glad I had a spare.
Google (images) low profile tire sidewall failure. They do happen and a roadside patch won't fix them.
My daily BMW had no spare and one of the first things I did was buy a spare for the trunk.
One reason I'm doing this is my side wall experience this past week. Wife's 2016 Infinty has 19" 245 aspect Bridgestone tires. She nipped a saw cut curb with her right front in a construction zone. Dealer also noticed a sidewall bubble in the right rear. I ended up starting over and doing Michellins all around. Lucky did have a space saver spare.
The 996 C4S featured an inflatable spare tire. It was stored under the floor in the bonnet, along with a small 12v compressor to inflate it. That tire was designed to be used on the front only. If you experience a flat tire on the back, then the front tire is supposed to be moved to the rear and the spare tire is supposed to be mounted on the front.
You might be able to save a little space by finding the inflatable spare and compressor from a 996 C4S or turbo.
Friend of mine with a 2015 Boxster S had a lovely afternoon drive in the mountains turn into a 3 hour wait for a flatbed followed by a three hour trip on the flatbed back to a dealer, followed by another hour and a half getting home. A relatively small rock in the road caused a blowout of the sidewall. The can of goop did nothing. A spare tire could have had him on his way in 15 minutes. Of course the absurdity and uselessness of 19 and 20 inch rims are also part of the problem. The post-2004 911s are perfect examples of what Nassim Taleb describes in his book "Antifragile."
Similar happened to me - turned into an unintended mini-vacation in Montgomery, AL and I was very lucky the Porsche dealer there had the right tire and I could get in there early the NEXT morning on Saturday. I was also lucky I still had RA under warranty because it would otherwise been about $1000 flatbed charge!
I got the Suncoast 997.2 spare kit after than experience. What to do with the take-off tire if it happens again? Pretty sure as soft as the tires are, I can just cut the rubber off around the sidewall and take the wheel. Will sort that out if it happens but at least I won't be stuck on the side of the road.
FYI, available spares are for the front only - if you lose a rear, you have to take a front off, put the spare there, then put the front onto the rear.
Wife's ex5 had run flats. Found a great deal on some new take off. Replaced the run flats, with run flats. Mostly because I did not think my wife could deal with plug or goo. She burnt those off the car. I have now replaced them with Continental's. Non runflat. First problem with the run flats for the BMW? $2400. Second problem with the run flat. 8lbs a tire heavier per tire. Continental's are much nicer. Quieter, very happy.
In the trunk is, goo, plug kit, scissor jack, air compressors, wheel wrench, drop cloth, gloves. Really, is it any extra effort to run non run flat tires? A run flat is only good for 50 miles. When you get your 50 miles? What are you going to find? Your 50 miles closer or farther away from your solution. And wherever you do land will never have your 305/30/19?
"We'vs gots a 185/70/13 ? four ya?".
Being snow country. I now keep one off season tire and rim at the cottage. So at least a spare is half a trip away. o/p even if you can get a spare in your frunk, or back seat. What would you do with your flat 305 in the back and all your trip cargo. We are all doomed to worry. If you're coming through the smoke on your trip, I could have a spare for you...
10-23-2016, 08:46 PM
997.2 Spare Solution?
