Coming up on my first year of owning my first P Car. Been thinking about how many times I’ve checked this board and the time and money I’ve saved.

For me, I can put all the miscellaneous year 1 into one bucket and that would not equal the amount of learning’s I’ve had from tire/wheel issues. Call it bad luck, or whatever but FOUR trips to the shop in my first year has been enough to really bug. Three from random flats from road debris, and one flat + busted rim from a nasty manhole cover @ 10PM at night in downtown city traffic – impossible to avoid. I anticipate year 2 will be better now that I've learned from mistakes, and become more aware of how to prevent issues.

7 tire/wheel findings:

1. Do your homework. Nobody tells a first time sports car owner (in advance) to anticipate changing tires every 12,000 miles. Most new p car drivers are “used” to getting 30-40k or more for their “other” cars/suvs. Those days are over LOL…Depending on the price per tire, that’s $12,000 - $20,000 during your first 100,000 miles for tires, installation, disposal etc. It’s a good deal of coin.

2. Look for and avoid debris wastelands: The best rule is to say away from the sides & middle dividers on ALL roads. Those areas are "wastelands" for all the $hit that flies off construction trucks, flatbeds, etc. I can absolutely guarantee if you spend time on the shoulder of any road you will pick up flats. (Examples: cars backed up at a traffic light, and you squeeze by on the right shoulder to make a turn. Or entering the freeway, car in front is going 40, and you impatiently pass on the inside left (no lane there, just shoulder). There are also "diamond shaped" collections of debris that gather in middle of traffic light intersections. These “collections” accumulate from car “drafts” and can be easily veered into. Look out and avoid them. Bottom line, understand where the scrap “wastelands” collect the roads.

3. Pressure readings: For $10 I picked up a digital tire pressure reader. Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Michelin-12279-Digital-Programmable-Gauge/dp/B00139YMUQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1281414428&sr= 8-2. Works great.

4. Inflator: I bought this Husky tire inflator: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xgl/R-202018100/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053. It takes only a minute to start up and can inflate your wheels in seconds. Also good for all the other inflatable stuff in the garage.

5. Porsche’s built in tire repair kit/inflator. 911’s don’t come with spare tires. Under the hood there’s a kit with a “green goo” material which you “inject” back into the tire to plug the hole. This (in theory) should be dense enough to temporarily plug the hole long enough to drive to the repair shop. In my one experience using it, I found this totally worthless and a waste of 1 hour. IMO, roadside assistance is the only way to go and is very inexpensive.

6. TPMS: I can understand why people don’t want to spend the money on Porsche’s Tire Pressure Monitoring System. It’s a lot. I will say however the TPMS immediately picked up every flat, and gave me enough time to pull over. In two cases, had the alert NOT gone off I would have done a lot more rim damage than the cost of TPMS. Summary: it is worth the money.

7. The Dealership: Don’t bring the car to the P dealership for any tire issues. Period. They will simply replace the tire.
* First Flat: 10PM @ night. Had towed to Dealer. +/- $550 for tire to be REPLACED. Only 3,000 miles on it. Overnight fix, ready @ 5PM next day. Bad experience.
* Second flat: 10AM. Drove to Cain's Tire Repair in San Rafael, CA. $34 to patch the tire. Ready in 45 minutes. Good as new. Outstanding experience.

Just a few to start the conversation...

 

I disagree with this .

1) Patching the tire on a performance car of this caliber will still leave a weak spot in that tire and at the speeds that this car is capable of it is simply too much risk.

2) Most dealerships offer tire service as a way to provide convenience to a customer . It's not even that much higher than the private tire shop and they can be a heck of a lot more accountable if a wheel rim gets damaged .
In my case --I even get a loaner car free .

Tires are very important . This is NOT the item to save money on . In fact if I get a flat on one tire I replace both so that even wear is retained .

 

If a guy can find a tire shop willing to 'hot patch' a small puncture, then I'd say go for it. Unfortunately, due to current litigation concerns, many tire shops will no longer patch a tire.. they'd rather you buy a replacement so they don't have to stand next to you in court when you wreck the car and blame it on their patch.

I chose to buy tire & rim insurance when I purchased my P-car two months ago. It only added a couple bucks per month to the monthly payment, and the thought of dinging a rim or damaging one of those low profile tires and paying for it myself made the decision an easy one. As Mr. Gregory pointed out above, hitting a pot-hole at night can easily happen. It might be a $1,000 mistake if you end up replacing the tire and rim out of your own pocket.

 

When I had the C4S, I purchased the tire insurance at the Porsche dealer......... worth every penny. I had a ever-so-small leak from a nail that would go down about 15psi overnight. I'd say purchasing a rear and the mount/balance would bave been about $500-600. Granted it may never be used, but, the day you do go over something more substantial and a wheel takes damage it's nice to know you are covered. (Especially the mysterious pot-hole, those steel plates used for covering street repair that 50% of the time are in not such a great position........and lets not forget the new neighborhood under construction with all those lovely roofing nails that have fallen out the back of someones truck)

So I've had it on that car, then the 09'..........and now the GT3RS.....

On the "on-road" safety side I have carried my motorcycle patch kit (plugs), large slime container, portable compressor and always a good tire gauge. (And these are when I plan on being away from the local area, mostly in the mountains for a drive or the longer road-trip)

 

I have had tires patched in the past without problem. The plugs that some shops insert into the hole aren't as good as the patch on the inside of the tire. If the patch isn't done properly, the worse that will happen is it will start to deflate itself. I suggest you find a tire guy that you trust and deal with him on all you wheel and tire needs.

 

Porsche is the razor. Wheels are the blades.

CA, TX, NY/NJ, IL, MI, and FL have absolutely filthy highways.

If road debris, potholes, construction bumps, and manhole covers are really that ubiquitous where you live, then you might want to adjust your driving style. Give yourself an extra car length of space between you and the person in front. Cars and trucks are so much taller now than they were a few decades ago, that it is more difficult to see what is coming.

 

I have a 2006 997 S with 40,000 miles. Just on my 3rd set of fronts & 5th set of rears. No flats as yet, probably a minor miracle on NY roads, but I have had the rear wheels repainted twice and the fronts once. One welded repair for curbing a wheel. Tires are generally the most expensive periodic maintenance on a 997.