[Hal Copple]

i carry a small air compressor,which might let me refill and limp to safety. And on longer trips, when i might need to take the wheel off and take it to get plugged, i carry a Sears sissors jack. I would't trust a bottle jack unless it had a saddle instead of just the little steel tube holding up the frame. If i ever absolutely have to escape a dangerous place, i do carry two cans of that run-flat stuff. It would be my last resort. But my 15inch tires are cheap, and i would not hesitate to ruin it by driving on it flat, either.

I can't actually recall when i actually had to change a tire along the roadside in any of my cars. After all my years in the Army, i "pull maintenance" every weekend on each of our cars, tire pressures and fluids, that sort of thing. Sometimes i find a low tire, and then search it and find a slow leak due to a small nail or screw. So i am unlikly to be stranded out on the road.

My son, this summer, just put new Assimetrico Pirelli's on his Boxster, and in a week unknowling cut a sidewall, but could not tell it on the interstate due to the very low profile of the 40 series rear tire. Until some Chicks pulled up and kept waving at him, he was flattered at first. Then figured out the cause of their attention. Had less than a thousand miles on the tires. He called Tire Rack, where i have ordered my tires for 25 years, and they replaced it at cost, or about 2/3 of the cost of a new replacement tire. We decided to not risk having it repaired.

I do keep a new unmounted spare for both the front and the rear of my SPF, so if i have to get one immediately, i only have to drag it out and have it mounted.