Why in the world did I remove my spare!

charlee

charlee

Experienced Member
Joined
26 January 2005
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Curves and Bends
I was getting ready to take my weekly stroll last saturday when I notice my rear rear rubber was a little low on air. :rolleyes:

Shrugging my shoulders, I thought what the hell and took it out for a nice drive. :confused:

Needless to say, one hour later, my rim was riding on my tire and I permanently damaged my newly purchased toyos. :eek:

There I was sitting on the side of I-5 waiting for my wife (90 minute wait). Thank god, I am blessed with this beautiful woman.

It started to rain, I left my top at home, and no spare in the car; fortunately I was able to pull over under Convention Center overpass and was able to stay dry. :redface:

A state troopers pulls behind me and kept me company by talking about my car. He was interested in the performance. :cool:

I am posting this to help others by not making the same mistake I made. Our tires do no hold much air at all and if it is low, take care of it right away. Come to find out, my stem was leaking.
 
Comptech made an oversized spare, but I have no idea where to find one. Pretty sure the stock spare won't work, which sucks since I have big brakes.

I think maybe a better lesson is to either check your tire pressure or carry a compressor in the trunk. Mind you, I've almost ruined a tire or two myself that way.
 
Well just goes to show you there is a reason they give you a spare! Porsche doesn't even give you one anymore. Some folks take it out for weight saving - to me that's a silly mistake and what can you possibly feel with that wieght loss in the seat of your pants... :rolleyes:

The spare in the late models is bigger than the one in the early models. Another wonderful thing I carry - Griot's tire repair kit, although it wouldn't have fixed the leaky stem. I would say that is something that your warranty should take care of on the new tires. The other thing I have that Griots sells is a small air compressor - that is a wonderful thing. So if I pick up a nail, I can pull it on the road - jack up the car - find the nail, pull it, plug it with the handy dandy repair kit and refill the tire with air our of my cigar lighter portal - now that's just as good as AAA anytime. Especially if you're out in the middle of nowhere!

You also don't have to wait! There you have it - safety tip for all and the tire kit and air compressor is around 100 bucks all together or less. Check it out dudes- be safe! :wink:
 
I only put my spare in for trips over 100miles or so.

I usually just keep a can of fit-o-flat and compressor as well as my AAA card.

But why were you driving around without your roof?
 
tbromley said:
Well just goes to show you there is a reason they give you a spare! Porsche doesn't even give you one anymore. Some folks take it out for weight saving - to me that's a silly mistake and what can you possibly feel with that wieght loss in the seat of your pants... :rolleyes:

The spare in the late models is bigger than the one in the early models. Another wonderful thing I carry - Griot's tire repair kit, although it wouldn't have fixed the leaky stem. I would say that is something that your warranty should take care of on the new tires. The other thing I have that Griots sells is a small air compressor - that is a wonderful thing. So if I pick up a nail, I can pull it on the road - jack up the car - find the nail, pull it, plug it with the handy dandy repair kit and refill the tire with air our of my cigar lighter portal - now that's just as good as AAA anytime. Especially if you're out in the middle of nowhere!

You also don't have to wait! There you have it - safety tip for all and the tire kit and air compressor is around 100 bucks all together or less. Check it out dudes- be safe! :wink:
Click to expand...
good call on the tire repair kit, never thought of that, I'll have to pick one up
 
One of the first things I did when I got my NSX was remove the spare due to the weight savings. Now, I am re-thinking that choice. There is another thread where Ross from STMPO suggests that the spare is a critical crash safety component of the car and removing it puts you in real danger in a hard front impact. I was also talking to Frank (fthuy) at the NSXCA dinner last month and he mentioned that removing so much weight from the front end could throw off the balance and handling dynamics of the car as well.

The dilemma of course is that for us NA owners, weight savings is about the only inexpensive way to improve the performance of the car. Indeed, once you add headers, anything else means some real $$. The more of these threads I read, even with my AAA membership, the more I am thinking about putting the spare back on... :frown:
 
e.pie said:
good call on the tire repair kit, never thought of that, I'll have to pick one up
Click to expand...

Guys it's paid for itself about 3 times over. I've fixed about 4 or 5 flats in several of our cars. Just the convenience alone is worth it and you can pump you tires up at home - takes a little longer than the gas station but it's free once you pay for the pump - convenience is worth a heap to me and the safety factor is undeniable. Plugs work too - I won't go into this absurd argument about patching with a plug vs patch from inside but you KNOW i could. I have a story bout that, just in case anyone needs it.:wink:
 
bbk=AAA.:wink:
 
I am very curious about this. Why would someone want to remove their spare tire to gain some "weight reduction" to drive around the streets? I just don't get it. What type of driving are you doing on normal streets that would want to make you this type of weight reduction?:confused:

Plus, leaving your top at home? I don't have an engine cover, but if I take my top off, it goes in the trunk.
 
Honcho said:
One of the first things I did when I got my NSX was remove the spare due to the weight savings. Now, I am re-thinking that choice. There is another thread where Ross from STMPO suggests that the spare is a critical crash safety component of the car and removing it puts you in real danger in a hard front impact. I was also talking to Frank (fthuy) at the NSXCA dinner last month and he mentioned that removing so much weight from the front end could throw off the balance and handling dynamics of the car as well.

The dilemma of course is that for us NA owners, weight savings is about the only inexpensive way to improve the performance of the car. Indeed, once you add headers, anything else means some real $$. The more of these threads I read, even with my AAA membership, the more I am thinking about putting the spare back on... :frown:
Click to expand...

Well if you remove the spare and nothing else than yes it is possible to throw off the weight distribution. If you have changed out your headers and exhaust you will be losing similar amount of weight in the back end which basically evens itself out.
 
Dtrigg said:
I am very curious about this. Why would someone want to remove their spare tire to gain some "weight reduction" to drive around the streets? I just don't get it. What type of driving are you doing on normal streets that would want to make you this type of weight reduction?:confused:

Plus, leaving your top at home? I don't have an engine cover, but if I take my top off, it goes in the trunk.
Click to expand...

I'm with you.unless you can shed at least 100 lbs, any of this 10-50 lb savings means nothing on the street,but could be providing great psychological benefits:wink:
 
Dtrigg said:
I am very curious about this. Why would someone want to remove their spare tire to gain some "weight reduction" to drive around the streets? I just don't get it. What type of driving are you doing on normal streets that would want to make you this type of weight reduction?:confused:

Plus, leaving your top at home? I don't have an engine cover, but if I take my top off, it goes in the trunk.
Click to expand...

You know what your problem is Doug, you think with to much logic and make to much damm sense.
In other words, a real _____ disturber! :wink:





































Keep up the good work.:smile:

Jack
 
Last edited:
docjohn said:
I'm with you.unless you can shed at least 100 lbs, any of this 10-50 lb savings means nothing on the street,but could be providing great psychological benefits:wink:
Click to expand...

Exactly. I always wonder why people are so obessesed with weight saving on a car that is driven on the street - most likely to Starbuck's or a meet where the car is parked longer than it is driven. For the track, sure weight savings matters, but for the street? :confused:
 
Dtrigg said:
I am very curious about this. Why would someone want to remove their spare tire to gain some "weight reduction" to drive around the streets? I just don't get it. What type of driving are you doing on normal streets that would want to make you this type of weight reduction?:confused:

Plus, leaving your top at home? I don't have an engine cover, but if I take my top off, it goes in the trunk.
Click to expand...

I have bbk now so my spare dose not work on my car but, I like the feel of weight in the front of the car, I do have Gold AAA it's a good thing.....Bill
 
charlee said:
I was getting ready to take my weekly stroll last saturday when I notice my rear rear rubber was a little low on air. :rolleyes:

Shrugging my shoulders, I thought what the hell and took it out for a nice drive. :confused:
Click to expand...

Sounds like a pretty dumb decision. You are lucky all you got was a flat tire. It could have ended with you and your girl injured.
 

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