Emergency tire help in victor, NY needed!

[mhackney]

I just blew my right rear tire in victor, ny. Triple A is on the way in an hour or so. But I only have the inflatable spare, no good jack and no compressor. This is just "Plan B" but if there is a Pelican in the area that can help if we run into trouble that would be great. At the least I'll need to get this tire plugged if possible or a new tire to get back to Boston. I come here several times a month, I should have a jack and compressor! Lesson learned.

Please pm me and I'll reply with cell number.

Cheers
Michael

[mhackney]

An update...

Adventure, it's what keeps life interesting. I'm in Rochester, NY visiting my company's office and driving to the hotel tonight I feel a thump and hear a KABooM. Right rear flat tire. Of course I don't have a real jack and no one uses the "jack of destruction" that Porsche included 33 years ago (my car is a 1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabriolet). And my spare is the original 33 year old donut that needs inflating - and of course I have no air pump (but I had tested the tire last year). AAA to the rescue. 90 minute wait, 10 minute inflate and change. I drove 2 miles to my lucky Subaru (another unrelated story) dealership who's service dept is open until 8. But my tire is toast - sidewall damaged after the blow out. So they recommend a Continental tire dealer 12 miles away. Closed of course but I thought it safer to drive thee tonight and leave the car than drive during rush hour. Took a cab back to the Chilis next to my hotel in Victor and here I sit with a Blue Moon and a burrito. Life is Good! And I'm impressed that the 33 year old spare worked great!





So now I have to wait until Dunn Tire opens at 7am to see if they can get a tire for me quickly or if I'll have to figure out how to get home.

[brianlay]

Porsche advises to use that spare only on the front. You mount it on the front and move the former front to the back.
The compact spare doesn't have the load capacity for the rear.
Glad you made it

[mhackney]

Yeah I know. I had no choice and took a calculated risk. I'm glad I made it too. Not the best day and it isn't over yet but it is what it is!

[Bill Douglas]

My SC manual recommends not doing over 160 km/h, that's about 100mph.

LOL, it would take a man braver than me to travel that fast on a space saver tire.

[mhackney]

The spare actually said 100 km/hr on the yellow label you can see in the photo. I kept it under 35mph and decided to drive to the tire store and leave it there tonight so I wouldn't have to deal with rush hour traffic in the morning. There was very little traffic and it was smooth sailing so I was lucky. Now I just have to call the tire shop at 7am when they open and see what they can do. Great fun!

[mhackney]

Got up at 6 so I could call the tire shop when they opened at 7. They were helpful and said they'd track down the tire/s and call back. Got the call back an hour later that they could get the Contis but not until tomorrow. Could be worse! My co-workers will just have to put up with me another day.

Meanwhile, its time to figure out an on the road jack and get a workable air compressor. I couldn't write too much last night since I was on my iPhone but the reason I was stuck with putting the spare on the rear ( which Porsche says NOT to do) is because the tow truck's jack was too tall to clear the front jack points on my car. We could just barely get it in on the rear.

What do folks use for emergency jacks? Is there a scissors jack that I can attach the special jack plate too so I can jack at the midway jack points? That seems like it would be the best/easiest solution.

[brianlay]

If the factory jack points are still in good shape then the factory jack is a good solution. It works regardless of how low the car is.
You won't find anything lighter or more compact

[mhackney]

Ok thanks. The jack points are in good shape. I've read that the factory jack is tricky to use and can damage the door. Perhaps it is an "experience" thing that I should try at home to get familiar with it.

[darrin]

factory jack is surprisingly versatile and sturdy -- you should definitely get experience with using it in a controlled environment -- while not the IDEAL tool for the job, I successfully used my factory jack to swap between summer and winter tires for years -- just be sure to loosen the lug bolts slightly before you jack up the car

[mhackney]

Home at last! Dunn Tire in Henrietta (a Conti dealer) pulled through for me and went the extra mile. A big shout out to Sam there. When I called them on Wed morning he took the call and an hour later called back to say they would get the tires in the next day and have the car ready by 3ish. I asked when shipments normally arrive and he replied before noon. So shortly before noon yesterday I reached for my phone to ensure the tires arrived and it rang before I touched it. 11:45am. Sam called to say the tires arrived, installed and the car was ready to pick up. I was able to hit the road 3 hrs sooner than I thought - which was good because a big storm was blowing through and I was able to stay ahead of it with only light sprinkles here and there.

Here's a photo I took accidentally from my PCarMount-ed iPhone just as I hit the road:

[Mark Salvetti]

My car came with no tools or jack. I ended up buying a Craftsman scissor jack. Wrapped in a towel it easily fits in the space behind the front bumper. I also have a jack pad for the receivers in the rockers, but with the scissor jack you don't need it. The jack easily slides under the suspension arms and you just lift from there.

Mark

[Cooper911SC]

Originally Posted by brianlay

Porsche advises to use that spare only on the front. You mount it on the front and move the former front to the back.
The compact spare doesn't have the load capacity for the rear.
Glad you made it

This is a VERY common misconception. It's been debated and clarified here on Pelican before.

The only 900 series cars/ owners manuals that stipulate this are C4 cars and some LSD cars.

The REAL reason being that it will damage the vicious couplings for the AWD units. This is due to wheel speed difference NOT due to load ratings.


Cooper

[porsche930dude]

i use a scissor jack under the suspension arms. I welded a nub on top so it fits right in the drain hole at the bottom of each arm. that way it wont slip out when jacked up. only down side is you have to really get under the car to do it but its nice because you only have to lift the car an inch or so. Youre not lifting the whole car off the suspension like with the side jack port. a cheap little air compressor is a no brainer. even if you dont plan on using it on youre space saver. most of the time you can limp somewhere by filling up every 10 minutes or whatever

[sugarwood]

So, the key to this happy ending was that the rear wheel was not bent during the blowout, right? I was expecting this to be a "I need a Fuchs" situation. Glad it worked out.

[mhackney]

Wheel was fine. I didn't drive very far after the blowout and there was no tell-tale thumping until I stopped at a sign. I pulled over immediately.

I really thought I ran over something since there was no immediate flat tire thump. But, there was only 1 pop/thump and not the usual 2 when you run over something (front wheel - rear wheel).

So now that I'm home with new kicks on my rear, I have some comments...

1) My 33 year old spare really was remarkable. There were no cracks or brown rubber. It looked as new. It inflated easily and I scrutinized it for cracking and other issues. I did use it on the back for a total of 15 miles of <35mph driving.

2) The tire shop had no problem deflating the spare so it fit back into its well. I looked it over closely yesterday and it looks fine for another emergency event if needed (but see below).

3) I practiced jacking the car with the original jack. It really wasn't the scary event I anticipated. I'll use it in the future. But, a piece of 12"x12" 3/4" plywood to place it on will help on soft ground/mud, etc so I've made a piece ready to go.

4) Finally, after doing some research on tire flats I came across what looks to be a really nice system - the Slime tire repair kits. There are lots of really good comments on many auto forums about this system. I ended up getting the Power Spair system. It comes with a nice 12V compressor that has attachments for both the cigarette lighter and clips for direct connect to the battery (my preference). It also comes with valve core remover and spare cores, and a reamer, plugger tool and tire plugs - all in a really nice zippered case that has strips of velcro on the back side so it won't slide around in the trunk. The case has a hazard triangle in reflective tape and the compressor has a large bright LED light at one end for night time use. It really is a nicely put together kit. They make several other less expensive kits without the plugger but I didn't like the plastic looking compressor these had. The compressor in my kit is quite nice with a metal casing.

[boyt911sc]

Originally Posted by mhackney

Home at last! Dunn Tire in Henrietta (a Conti dealer) pulled through for me and went the extra mile. A big shout out to Sam there. When I called them on Wed morning he took the call and an hour later called back to say they would get the tires in the next day and have the car ready by 3ish. I asked when shipments normally arrive and he replied before noon. So shortly before noon yesterday I reached for my phone to ensure the tires arrived and it rang before I touched it. 11:45am. Sam called to say the tires arrived, installed and the car was ready to pick up. I was able to hit the road 3 hrs sooner than I thought - which was good because a big storm was blowing through and I was able to stay ahead of it with only light sprinkles here and there.

Here's a photo I took accidentally from my PCarMount-ed iPhone just as I hit the road:

Michael,

Is that you in the photo? It looks like a younger brother of Alec Baldwin. Good to hear you are back home. Next time you travel, don't forget to bring a good lug nut wrench and flashlight. The OEM jack is reliable if you know how to use it properly. Thanks for sharing your travel adventures with us. Hope to meet you someday.

Tony

[mhackney]

Yup, that's me Tony. Never been compared to Alex Baldwin before but I'll take it!

I had a good lug wrench and flashlight. I had not ever tried the OEM jack so I was not comfortable with it. But I've practiced several times this weekend and made a wood pad for it to rest on (I routed a little rectangular recess in the middle for the jack foot to rest in so it won't slide off).

I am now prepared for flats! I have a little compressor, know how to use the jack, have tire Slime and plugs and I know my donut spare still works. Hopefully I'll be ready next time.

I am sure I'll be coming through PA sometime in the next year or so. I'll make sure to call ahead for a visit. And of course, you are always welcome to stop by on your way to Maine or north.

[evan9eleven]

Glad it all got sorted. Nice people come from the Rochester area, I should know, its my hometown, though I'm oh so very far away now...

[mhackney]

You are far from home!
Yeah, I like the Rochester area. I drive my 911 there 2 times a month during the spring-summer-fall for work. 800 mile round trip. I am an avid fly fisherman and there are some great streams and the lake for Steelhead fishing. In fact, the Steelhead fishing is world class there. Not a bad gig for me!