Yesterday morning I went out to the Boxster, turned the key and saw the dreaded "flat tyre" message. Sure enough, a rather large nail was protruding from the right rear tire. My first thought was to try to pump it up with the air pump supplied by Porsche and see if it would hold air long enough to get me to a tire dealer. Unfortunately, the pump only worked for about 2 minutes before it stopped. ( I later figured out that the pump was OK but a fuse had blown). Then I thought I had never used the bottle of gunk supplied Porsche. I had always assumed it was one of those pressurized cans which would not only seal the tire but also provide enough air to get to a service station. I was really surprised when I pulled it out and saw it is not pressurized, that you have to remove the valve stem, pour in the stuff, replace with the new valve stem supplied, and then pump up with the air pump. With no operational air pump, that would not work.
Finally, I called 1-800-PORSCHE. Oddly, they will only take you to a Porsche dealer (which was about 25 miles from where I live) rather than a tire shop (only about 3 or 4 miles). If I wanted to go to the tire store, the price was $119.
Pretty good service after that. A flatbed arrived in about 20 minutes, the driver was polite, experienced with Porsches, and knew what he was doing in loading the car. He told me that his wrecker company had about 20-30 wreckers and contracted with most high-end makes such as Porsche, Ferrari, MB, Bentley etc. to provide road service I have to admit the service was the best I had ever received from a wrecker company. The wrecker was even clean inside!
Luckily, the dealer had a replacement Michelin PS-2 and replaced it in a little over an hour. At least I was able to get some work done on their WIFI while I waited.
I had thought that I had wasted my money when I bought a rather expensive 5 year tire and wheel warranty when I bought the car. However, this is the second rather expensive tire to be replaced - so I guess it was a good deal after all. It was nice when the dealer handed me an invoice for $0.00. I wonder if it would have been that easy to get the tire store to take the warranty??
Overall, only a morning wasted - but it did occur to me it would be a real pain if it happens when I am in the mountains of NC (where I spend most of my time) rather than in metropolitan Atlanta. When I replace these tires, I am thinking about buying a cheap wheel and mounting one of the "take-offs" on it. I can't carry it with me but at least someone could bring it to me if I happened to be in some remote place at night or over a weekend. If I do that, can anyone tell me if a front wheel and tire work on the rear, and vice versa, for a short term emergency?