Spare removal?

[Gerardo de Kort]

Yes. In fact it was the first thing to go out of my Boxster.
Now I have 18" RUFs (rough price tags).
Our island is small anyway. Can't get too far from home and help is only a phone call away.
If it would happen to me I'd go home and bring one of the old wheel/tire to put on in (rather than drive on those narrow ones).

[KPD]

The spare tire tool set has a plastic bag for the flat tire. The 18" rear doesn't fully fit in the front/back trunks. It will sort-of fit in the front trunk, but the hood only closes to the first safety latch. Not really that safe. 1 Michelin Pilot Sport mounted and balanced and $435 later. Ouch.

[Tom Blue]

This has been a real eye opener. I'm going out today and purchase a can of inflator/sealant for a regular type flat and keep my spare for catastrophic failure. I’ve driven about 50,000 miles a year for over 25 years and have only had three or four flats and one blow out. Flats always seem to occur at the worse possible time and the blow gave no warning along a busy interstate at rush hour. A place I need to change the tire and get the hell out of and not wait for a tow truck. As far as leaving the wheel or passenger…maybe a coin toss.

[RandallNeighbour]

Someone said they pack a bungee cord and a small blanket in their car for long trips so they can drop the top, pop out the rollbar inserts and center windscreen, lay down the blanket, and put the flat tire and rim on the top of the car and drive it to a repair shop.

Seeemed like a good plan of action to me, and beats the crap out of leaving your rim or passenger on the side of the road. I took both on my trip to CA two years ago, knowing I could keep both trunks full of stuff, the wife in the passenger seat, and all my rims and tires with me as well as have the spare on the back of the car if needed.