Yesterday the icon for add air to tire came on. I just wondered how others have handled a flat or blown tire when you are not close to a dealer? The say dial 1-800-porsche. Just wonder how it has gone for those who need this service. I assume no spare to save weight or money or something. I notice Bridgestone offers a tire good for 50 miles if flat. I am not sure their tires will fit a targa 4 s.
thanks
drjay2

 

I had a flat with only 365 miles on the car. Somehow I found a gigantic bolt in the road that not only punctured the tire but it also damaged the rim. So I had to replace both. Porsche sent out a flat bed to pick up me and the car. They said my dealership was not "secured" so they suggested I either take it to the secure lot of the towing company or to my place. I chose my place. Once I found a tire and the dealer found a new wheel I called Porsche back to have the pick up the car and take it to the dealer. I'm just glad this happened 10 miles from my house and not on a cross country trip.

 

Why was the dealership not secured? Were they closed?

 

FYI, you CANNOT use a runflat tire on a car unless you have a pressure monitoring system to tell you there is a problem with one of your tires. If you are running on a tire that is up but has no air in it, you want something there to tell you so before the tire starts coming apart or you try to take a curve too fast.

 

Porsche told me that my dealership was considered unsecured because it had no locked gated area. It would have been fine by me to tow it there since there were a dozen new cars all around, but towing it to my home was okay also.

 

You need to figure out just how 'prepared' you need to be.

For example, I have the TPMS on my 06 car and it alerts me to things like nails that are slowly leaking pressure. I then can run it home and pull the nail out, plug it, and then see about replacing the tire. If it is a catastropic failure like a blowout or a big hole then there is little you can do aside from carrying a spare tire in your trunk ALL THE TIME, along with a jack, and wrenches, etc. (You also have to be able to find a place to put the bad tire/wheel).

I also have 100% wheel and tire insurance on my vehicle. It also accomodates me with trip interruption insurance. Perhaps this is somethng that people should consider when they buy their car.