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I am waiting on the arrival of a 2018 Panamera 4 with standard 19-inch Panamera wheels, which I want to use on long cross-country road trips.
I've decided to buy a full-size front wheel/tire with cover to put in the boot when I go on long trips as an emergency spare (but will keep in in the garage when I'm just driving around near home/work). I'm shocked that Porsche doesn't offer spare wheels/tires in their options list, as they have so much other stuff that's much more useless in comparison!
I had a blow-out in the mountains with my 2015 Panamera after hitting something metal in the road; tire was shredded to pieces, and I had no cellphone signal -- was a nightmare. Had to get a ride to get to a phone to call Porsche Roadside Assistance, which took the better part of a day to arrive and take me 150 miles to the nearest dealership, where it sat through the weekend as the service center was closed (and, being a Saturday afternoon, likely no independent shops could have helped me until Monday). I also learned that it's uncommon for any service center (whether Porsche or independent shops) to have Panamera tires readily on-hand; they typically take a day or two minimum to order. The lesson from that ruined weekend is to always have a full-size spare on hand for long-distance trips.
Trunk with spare and jack
I have done just that, but with a 20” front wheel and tire (I have ceramic brakes that need the 20” wheel). I have also added an electric jack, lug wrench and special lug posts for removing and replaceiing the the wheel with out damaging the fragile ceramic brakes. Be prepared to have little trunk space when traveling with the spare.
BTW, my 993 and my 986 (Boxster) have spares, but little or no room for the flat tire.
Trunk with spare and jack
I have done just that, but with a 20” front wheel and tire (I have ceramic brakes that need the 20” wheel). I have also added an electric jack, lug wrench and special lug posts for removing and replaceiing the the wheel with out damaging the fragile ceramic brakes. Be prepared to have little trunk space when traveling with the spare.
BTW, my 993 and my 986 (Boxster) have spares, but little or no room for the flat tire.
Thanks for sharing that photo. Is the tire-rubber smell not strong without a cover? I'm wondering how hard it might be to anchor down a spare tire with a cover on it...
I have a cover, but it does prevent use of the tie down straps. The spare tire is new, but I have not detected an odor issue.
Most new cars from Europe do not have spare tires. I have had my share of flats over the years, so to me it seems like an essential item.
I have a cover, but it does prevent use of the tie down straps. The spare tire is new, but I have not detected an odor issue.
Most new cars from Europe do not have spare tires. I have had my share of flats over the years, so to me it seems like an essential item.
The current Cayenne (non-hybrid) and Macan have collapsible spare tires; non-hybrid Volvo SUVs and wagons also have spares.
It may well be true that most non-SUV, non-wagon European cars lack spares...
Hi, I think the people mentioning Road Side Assistance are ignoring the point that many dealers don't carry the Panamera sizes in inventory, so you are looking at a few days without a car. In my case, blowout was on last night (Wednesday) and I am not getting my car back until Tuesday. This is now the second time in 2 years that I've had trouble. Previous was in a remote part of Texas, a 4 hr drive to dealer, tow-truck wouldn't take my family with them, so we got a hotel booked for them, while I went with tow-truck to Dallas where I also got a hotel then a 2 day wait for tire
All for the sake of a little spare tire.... So for sure I know I want to buy something. Except I'm confused about the front and rear tires being different sized. Does that mean that I need *two* spare tires?
All for the sake of a little spare tire.... So for sure I know I want to buy something. Except I'm confused about the front and rear tires being different sized. Does that mean that I need *two* spare tires?
No.
The second number on the tyre is a percentage of the width. so say 305 35 zr21 the wall height is 35% of the width -so in this case 106.75mm.
If you do that calculation for your tyre spec, you will find that its the same tyre wall height, hence the one spare of the corresponding total diameter or radius will fit either front or back.
My mom settled on getting a full size front for her spare tire. I tested and the fromt will work on both fromt and rear to get you out of a jam. I also purchased a set of Porsche wheel covers to cover up the tire. She also got a 911 jack and 19mm socket and breaker bar. This works great for her. When they go on a long road trip, they fold down the driver side rear seat and put the spare there. There is still plenty of room for their stuff.
Around town she just has the tire goop stuff but really will just call AAA.
see post 12 above for more details of our spare solution. Good luck!
I got the full-size front spare (which costed an extra $2400, but my dealership kindly spotted me the difference) for my Panamera 4 Sport Turismo, when I got the car. Here's a photo of it in the back. As I had a blow-out far from any Porsche dealership when on a long drive with my 2015 Panamera, resulting in a very long flatbed-truck "tow", and I also had to wait days to get a new tire, and as I bought this car for long-distance, cross-country trips, I decided that I want to haul along the full-size spare. As "squawbum" says, you also need a jack, 19-mm socket, and leverage torque bar if you want to change it all on your own -- if you're in the middle of nowhere with no cell reception (as I often am during trips through the Rocky Mountains). I leave the spare in my garage during normal local driving; it only goes into the "boot" for the long trips, and yes, it is quite heavy. And, yes, as somebody else noted above, you can use it as a spare for the rear wheel also, but it's best to replace a blown-out rear tire as soon as you can after putting on the front spare wheel/tire. (If I was never out of cell reception, I'd forgo the jack and instead just call AAA to come replace the wheel/tire -- negating the need for extra equipment in the car.)
I love that picture CometGuy. My road trip with 2015 Panamera was Houston to Breckenridge with family and skis. Driving there was awesome experience. Driving home was great until chunk of ice blew out tire while in some tiny, tiny town [at least we had cell-phone reception]. What was surprising to me is that even inside Houston a blown tire translates to a 5 day car rental. Sucks....
Ok, I am inspired this is exactly what I will do.
Also, I am going to swap out all the safety-locking lug nuts for a regular lugs because I always misplace the bloody key.
My mom settled on getting a full size front for her spare tire. I tested and the fromt will work on both fromt and rear to get you out of a jam. I also purchased a set of Porsche wheel covers to cover up the tire. She also got a 911 jack and 19mm socket and breaker bar. This works great for her. When they go on a long road trip, they fold down the driver side rear seat and put the spare there. There is still plenty of room for their stuff.
Around town she just has the tire goop stuff but really will just call AAA.
see post 12 above for more details of our spare solution. Good luck!
That's actually worth considering for a long trip......buy a replacement front tire and mount it on a inexpensive wheel for a spare, and when you need to replace both front tires, buy another of the same, remount the spare onto the oem wheel, and keep the best of the two worn tires onto the spare wheel as the just in case tire. It may be worn, but still a better option then having no spare, or having a $200-300 tire collect dust. Of course, you would have to be pretty sure of your tire selection for the future change.
That's actually worth considering for a long trip......buy a replacement front tire and mount it on a inexpensive wheel for a spare, and when you need to replace both front tires, buy another of the same, remount the spare onto the oem wheel, and keep the best of the two worn tires onto the spare wheel as the just in case tire. It may be worn, but still a better option then having no spare, or having a $200-300 tire collect dust. Of course, you would have to be pretty sure of your tire selection for the future change.
Exactly my thinking: I got Goodyears from the factory, but will get Michelins when the Goodyear tires wear down; my spare thus is a Michelin. I'll keep the least-worn front Goodyear tire for the new spare when the tire change occurs.
My mom actually bought a spare wheel on eBay. It is the exact 20” Porsche wheel she has that came with the car, for the front. It cost around $500.
Then I had my tire giy mount a tire that matched the correct size for the front, bit is was a cheapo one and not a Michelline. Tire cost around $80, mounted.
Sorry in advance if I mixed up tire and wheel before.
Normally it's just two of us on long, cross-country drives, so the huge amount of space taken in the cargo area for this large, full-size spare wheel/tire isn't such a big deal; there's still plenty of room even behind the rear seats if you take out the cargo-cover system, and lots of room in the back-seat area (whether seats are up or down). I wish there was a collapsible spare like in the Macan or Cayenne (and I hear that the new Cayennes won't even have that anymore), but in the E-Hybrids, there isn't be the normal storage space below the cargo deck because that's taken up with batteries.
The collapsible spare (with pump) takes up less space than a full-size spare; however, I'm not sure how far you can actually drive on a collapsible spare without worrying about problems.
04-05-2018, 04:15 PM
