TPMS saved me today.
 

I was tooling along in the boxster and hit a bad spot in the road man hole that was about 3" elevated over the surface, I think. It's not unusual around here. Less than a block later, my TPMS alerted me to being 11psi low and 17psi low by the time I found a place to pull off. I used the Porsche supplied goo and inflator. The inflator couldn't get much over 29psi. I think the problem is that the inside of the sidewall got pinched and cut. I was fairly close to home, never got over 30mph, but by the time I got home I was at 12 psi.

Without the TPMS, I probably wouldn't have noticed until I was much farther from home.

Fortunately, when I bought the car, I bought their tire and wheel protection. I've got free tires (if damaged or puntured) and repaired or replaced wheels, for the next 5 years.

Kind of sucks that it didn't happen during the day on Fri instead of later afternoon on Sat. I guess I'll be doing the mad dash to get it on a flatbed and to the dealer early Mon morning.

Glad it didn't go worse but,
kind of sucks that Porsche doesn't have a spare.

It would have really been bad if it happened while you were out of town on a holiday weekend...

My 997 has 19" wheels. Where are you going to put a spare?

The wife's i3 doesn't have a spare, and a cut sidewall ended up being a 6+ hour roadside "assistance" journey from hell. On a plus note, the GTI I just picked up actually has a freakin' spare :D

yep. My car is a certified pre-owned, so I think I have free roadside, but I didn't want to wait for the tow truck. I'm hoping that the drive home distributed the sealant and I'll be able to put air in the tire now, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the sidewall on the inside, and I don't think any amount of sealant is going to help that.

My car is also running 19s. I've considered getting a set of 18" wheels to get the extra sidewall and cheaper tires. Sadly, my favorite OEM wheels are the 17", and I don't want to step down that small, although I'm not sure why not. I guess I'm thinking much less tire and traction.

My wife's X5 didn't come with a spare. I bought one. Later I got rid of the "run flat" tires.

Bad day for Houstonians - my water pump or hose or something blew today. Lost all my coolant. I had the water pump replaced last year...something happening again so soon is UGH. Took 2 hours to get a freaking tow truck...flat bed was bending my front bumper from it scraping. Had to get it towed home in reverse.

Will put it on the lift tomorrow and see what caused it...

Bummer, that sounds worse than mine. Hope it's not too bad to fix.

Thinking of one for my RV, it doesn't have a spare or a jack. The jack would be huge.

Waa waaaaa waaaaahhhhh. And apparently, a new kit of the sealant is going to run $78.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1415502473.jpg

No where until auto makers go back to allocating space and weigh for a proper spare.

Masraum: that wheel has a cut in the inner lip that looks ugly. Is that OK to use?

Hugh, get a 20T rated bottle jack. That's what we always carried in the cranes to swap a tire on them.

It's funny, the X5 had the space all setup. Just needed to fill it!

Thanks but no place to put a spare, other than bolting one on to the back of the rig. Its too new and nice to do that.

I "think" the wheels are torqued to something like 250 ft-lbs. Those aren't going to come off with a regular lug wrench. I check TP every time I take it out (80 psi). Friends tell me to swap out the tires every five years, regardless of miles. I've had it not quite two years. When I got it I put in real, semi-truck rear inner tire valve extensions, not the cheap flex ones that leak that they sell at Camping World. I couldn't believe Coachmen put in dual rears with no real way to check the inner rear tire TP. It runs a Goodyear 245R/70/19.5 shoe, so a light weight truck tire compared to the BIG RV's.

Of course, as a car company, you can find room for a space saver spare, if you really care about it. Having 19 inch wheels doesn't mean you have to run a 19" spare. Just something that clears the brakes / hubs with a lot taller rubber on it, which - wait for it - folds up like it used to, when inflated! ;)

I think it is ridiculous to sell a car without a spare. It may work in Germany or central Europe where the next town is always 5 miles away, but in the US, if you get to the flyover states, you are going to be HURTING waiting for a tow truck. I just drove from Salt Lake City to Reno ... you will lose many hours getting stranded, and if it is the wrong time of year, you may get hurt by hot / cold weather if you don't come prepared.

G

Had my TPMS go off on my truck once. I had just pulled out on to the interstate and got up to cruising speed when it notified me that the left front tire needed attention. As I looked at the message for about 2 seconds the tire went boom and shredded. Of course the TPMS was ruined and I had to buy a new one for about $50.

The TPMS in the newer Porsches (and other cars) is great, with individual tire pressures per wheel. Except it triggers my OCD when my front and rear pairs aren't exactly the same.:p

Yep, per wheel reporting on the dash. I normally keep mine the same side to side, but I wouldn't expect a Porsche whether it's a 911 or Boxster to have the same inflation front to rear, so I'm OK there.

Everything is getting cheaper and chincier. New is not necessarily better - and that's true for just about everything, not just cars. I find that "new" stuff is largely junk. It's more expensive and you get less. Great for those corporate profits but terrible for everyone else.