I make frequent trips to Santa Barbara from San Diego and I've often thought about taking my wife and 4 year old daughter with me in the C2S (for a 3-day weekend). However, my C2S does not have a spare tire and even if I had a spare it wouldn't work because I have PCCBs (not to mention, I would be limited on storage space). Moreover, if I did have a flat, I wouldn't want to put my family at risk on the side of the road or in a shady part of town - in traffic or at night with no traffic. So this morning, I walk into my garage and for the first time ever, I have a flat tire - someone is trying to tell me something. My default rule for safety, trumps my wishes to take my family on this road trip in the C2S. That's too bad, because I don't like driving my wife's SUV.

 

200 miles one-way.

 

That's why you need a road side assistance program.

 

I have road side assistance. What are they going to do with no spare or an unrepairable tire? I can fill the tire with 'fix a flat' but, I'm not going to roll the dice. Even so, who wants to wait on the side of the road during when on a three-day vacation.

 

get run flats. problem solved.

 

True, but then I would hate the trade off

 

Well, it looks like the tire is a goner. It is not a puncture, rather a 0.5" slice due to some kind of utility blade or knife that I ran over. So now, I have to find a place that stocks RE-11s in 305s or I'll be down for a few days. But this could be the time for me to try out the new MPSS, again that assumes the MPSS are in stock. So rather than buying one RE-11 tire, I'll look into replacing both rears and then replace the fronts with MPSS later in the year. It would be a bummer if this happened during a road trip.

 

Run flats? On a 911? I didn't know they were available.. I had RFs on a 2000 Corvette I bought new. I might as well have been running concrete tires. Damn they were noisy..

Who makes 'em to fit a 911?

 

The new Michelins are getting good reviews...

200 mile one way isn't too big of a trip, no reason to be scared.

Does the route take known bad roads?

 

its too bad about the flat tire..

and its too bad u can't enjoy the C2S with ur family..

btw, if u get a flat in the SUV during the trip, u r family may still be "at risk on the side of the road or in a shady part of town - in traffic or at night with no traffic.."

have a safe trip and travel light

 

Plan your trip to avoid shady parts of town... don't travel at night... Make a list of tow truck companies, phone number and hour of operations between your starting and destination points. Think positive thoughts You only live once...

My rule for having fun while driving trumps the idea of driving an SUV ever...

I make frequent trips between Columbia and Chicago.. all good luck thus far... knocks on wood

 

It looks like the tire may be repairable, but my local tire shop will not replace my HK spacers for liability reasons after they repair/replace the tire - slight inconvenience. They did have two MPSS in stock in the 305s so that works. Unfortunately, I won't have time to repair or put on the new rear pair until after the weekend.

Question: The tire will go flat while the car sits in the garage until next week. Will this damage the tire?

 

The tire will probably be fine.

I go up to SB/SYV 2x a month and never hesitate to take my car. The canyon roads are way too much fun.

There are 1000 other things that can go wrong with a car in addition to tires.

 

If I were on driving on my own, we would probably cross paths in that part of the woods. But I don't think the the 911 is a family car for anything other than local travel. If, I didn't have PCCBs, I would have a spare up front and travel light. There are always trade offs.

 

True dat man - talk about shady. La Jolla, Carlsbad, Newport Beach, Malibu, Santa Monica, Ventura. PCH between San Diego and Santa Barbara is straight up bandit territory. I have no idea how you could do that trip often and live to tell.