are our space saver spares still safe to use?

[Monkey Wrench]

Mine came with what I believe is the OEM space saver spare. Being 35'ish I dont know if I should inflate it or find another wheel that fits with a normal spare , or maybe since it's been out of the sun it's OK.

I wondered if others are still relying on their old one or if they have a solution to assure it's safe to at least get home with.

I think I can inflate it and then fold it back up after, but I haven't tried yet. I have an aftermarket electric pump, maybe a bicycle pump would work as well without needing a lot of space.

[TheSecondChris]

I would definitely suggest that you inflate it and see if it holds air overnight. I don't think there's any guarantee that such an old tire will be safe enough to get you home, but it might be OK.

It looks like you could get a new one from Porsche. It has a 928 part number but fitment shows it works for the 944.

[Eskozki]

How about using that stuff new cars have? There is no spare tire in most modern vehicles, its just a can of tire sealant. My car still has the original space saver spare and an aircompressor. But I wouldn't spend nearly 500 dollars for new a spare tire. Of course the can won't help much when you get severe damage on the tire but a small puncture is not a problem.

[walfreyydo]

Regarding tire sealant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i62mtZ4zNQQ

TLDR - make sure you let the tire place know you used sealant on the tire in question. Tech's absolutely hate the stuff due to the mess, so giving them a heads up allows them to take proper precautions. It will also leave a huge sticky mess on your rim which the tire place isnt likely to clean up for you.

If you can avoid using sealant by removing the wheel/tire and taking it to the tire place while leaving the car sitting, thats the most ideal option.

Obviously if you have no other option and you are on the side of the road in dangerous traffic with no jack, you gotta do what you gotta do.

[djnolan]

Before I would use that spare I would limp to a safe area and call 911 and request assistance from the highway patrol.

however first test the pump, many are dead. And inspect the spare for obvious cracks. you can probably get a serviceable replacement from one of the 944 recyclers for a fraction of new. If you want to test inflate you may have difficulty deflating it to get it back in the storage area.

[Rasta Monsta]

Consumer Reports says you should consider a space saver expired after ten years.

[v2rocket_aka944]

Originally Posted by Rasta Monsta

Consumer Reports says you should consider a space saver expired after ten years.

they also sometimes recommend that people buy Nissans, so we know they aren't trustworthy.

[Monkey Wrench]

Originally Posted by djnolan

Before I would use that spare I would limp to a safe area and call 911 and request assistance from the highway patrol.

however first test the pump, many are dead. And inspect the spare for obvious cracks. you can probably get a serviceable replacement from one of the 944 recyclers for a fraction of new. If you want to test inflate you may have difficulty deflating it to get it back in the storage area.

I guess we should at least test inflate them. I think if the valve is removed it might not be too hard to fold them back up but I've never tried.
here in Canada 911 is an emergency number and they would hate it if you called that for a non emergency issue like a flat tire. It's emergency dispatch for police fire and ambulance.

I have a can of that tire inflation stuff but I don't know if it's any good as it's old too. I guess they might be replaced after time as they can't really be checked unless you tried to discharge a bit and stop. then maybe the can wouldn't seal right? not sure. maybe replacing that is good insurance.

If this sort of fold up spare is used in newer cars , maybe other makers use them too and they might not be so hard to get at a wrecker..

all the volvo's I owned had a "special spare" it was a cheap tire with limited speed rating. The storage was large enough for the real spare though so I'd usually just discard it and use a real tire as my spare, often a winter tire.

[mncdriver]

Having a spare tire inflate and hold air is great to do. In no way would I trust the tire to drive down the road. I opp'd for a 996 spare tire and wheel. For me it is piece of mind, I will be able to limp the car home or at least get it safely to a tire store. I won't be waiting 3 hours for AAA.
Biggest issue now is that although it fits in spare tire well, the carpet won't fit. The tire is just too tall. Looks like some sort of custom carpet solution is in my future.

[TheSecondChris]

Originally Posted by Monkey Wrench

I guess we should at least test inflate them. I think if the valve is removed it might not be too hard to fold them back up but I've never tried.
here in Canada 911 is an emergency number and they would hate it if you called that for a non emergency issue like a flat tire. It's emergency dispatch for police fire and ambulance.

I have a can of that tire inflation stuff but I don't know if it's any good as it's old too. I guess they might be replaced after time as they can't really be checked unless you tried to discharge a bit and stop. then maybe the can wouldn't seal right? not sure. maybe replacing that is good insurance.

If this sort of fold up spare is used in newer cars , maybe other makers use them too and they might not be so hard to get at a wrecker..

all the volvo's I owned had a "special spare" it was a cheap tire with limited speed rating. The storage was large enough for the real spare though so I'd usually just discard it and use a real tire as my spare, often a winter tire.

I have inflated these and deflated them and they fold right back. There's no trick to it - just depress the little plunger in the valve and let the air escape and it will be folded back in a few minutes.

[Monkey Wrench]

Ive had a couple of old tires that had great tread but some cracking visible on the sidewall. what happened to both was that the tire tore all the way around the sidewall. In both cases I should have replaced them but put things off until I had the issue. in one case I had been doing some fast and hard freeway driving and it was when I slowed down the tire came apart and pretty much fell off it's rim because it had no sidewall on one side of the tire, the outside. Where the sun shines on them.

I think the sun is most of the culprit here..
My 944 came with nice looking tires with no wear on them but they have the same issue. Ok to hold it off the ground until I get it working but they are, like Ralph Nader said.. "unsafe at any speed"

Sun covers might help if a car is parked outside , maybe even green garbage bags.

[Peter Graham]

Ozone is the great killer of rubber products so even stored indoors (garaged) with an ozone generator (like a HVAC fan motor) in proximity would deal death to tires. FWIW, some vehicle manufacturers say six (6) years from date of manufacture is the life expectancy of automobile tires (including Porsche, Mercedes, others) while some advocate ten (10) years. Either way, our space-savers are way older and even if they air up should only be used to creep off the road and directly to a tire shop.

My short safety lecture: tires, brakes and steering are important; pretty much anything else can break and will not leave you dead.

Peter

[Monkey Wrench]

interesting point. Ive rented an ozone generator before and used it in the house, they kill spiders and smoke smells , and rubber too I guess. I treated most of the areas and after that I had way less spiders for quite a while.

I often work in plants wit a lot of motors and you also won't see a lot of spiders near big electric motors. anywhere there is sparking , like motors with brushes, they create ozone.

we used ozone generators in printing factories to reduce static which causes nuisance ( jam ups) to machines that handle paper. things that use a hot wire , like old photocopiers mad lots of ozone. it's the smell ( or lack of smell) you can sense after a thunderstorm. printing presses have a lot of rubber rollers and they are critical as to size change and hardness change, as they harden they need to be replaced and it's a major expense.

I had always thought more about the rubber degradation coming from UV than from Ozone but maybe this is a valid point.

will covering the tires of a car help them last by blocking ozone? I'm not sure.

[mepstein]

Ozone will affect rubber. Also not good for your lungs.

[J1NX3D]

I've used mine twice in 15 yrs and it's been fine. Nearly 3 yrs ago I had it painted to colour match my car and the tyre shop I use said it's in very good condition for it's age and there is low risk of using it in an emergency. I quite often don't carry it so it does into cold, dark dry storage for long periods. What I realised a while after painting is I probably can't use it anymore- can someone please confirm if the turbo/S2/968 ones are bigger to fit over bigger brakes? I have 968 brakes now.

[Monkey Wrench]

That's a pretty color !

I saw a guy pulled over by a cop, he had some little Honda or something with 4 temporary spares! His low budget attempt at lowering it, I guess. It was good for a morning laugh.