Strap it down. What's complicated about that? Either way, many people have been killed in that situation versus waiting 4 to 6 hours (a common occurrence) on the side of a freeway and getting hit there. Check the number of people (including police officers) who have been hit and kiilled while tending to disabled vehicles on the side of a road, street, or highway, The numbers are surprising and shocking.

 

The 2004 -2006 GTO spare is a 17 inch rim which can be used on the front. The only solution I can think off that would be proper on the back, and could be used in a pinch on the front would be a standard size rear 18 inch rim with tire. I carried my GTO spare on a 4400 mile, 9-state trip, but I'm contemplating getting an extra "stock" rear rim/tire. I had to wait 6 hours one time and 4 hours another time for AAA here in Florida. Dangerous to wait that long if you are on the side of an Interstate, or even a 2-lane road.

 

After reading all of this, I'll keep my runflats, thank you.

 

Sit by the freeway with trucks whizzing by, and you will seek an alternative, I would guess. I agree that space is an issue, so I will only carry it on rare occasions when I travel out of state. As far as traveling up to 3 hours away, I'm stuck either calling AAA or calling a relative to bring me the extra tire/rm and jack. Corvette owners on another forum who live in certain western states tell me that AAA isn't an option for them, as there is no cell phone service in large swaths of the Rocky Mountain and Mojave Desert areas.

 

So the Goodyear donut you used only "replaces" the 295-width ZO6 tire? It doesn't match the height of my 285/40 stock tire on my C5 coupe (non-ZO6)?

 

That looks like something out of Mad Max.

 

The engineers didn’t design a safely locked spare. I would rather wait 1-2 hours for AAA at the most than to have a high speed collision cause a heavy tire and rim to fly forward at the occupants.
Plus, with staggered sizes, your spare would only be 50% valuable. You could get a flat in the rear and only have spare for the front.
I’ll stick with AAA.

 

That is the exact reason, safety, to use a stop leak and inflation to get the heck out of a bad situation as quickly as possible. Changing a tire on a busy high speed road is not my idea of time well spent, being well aware of how some people function , and knowing they don't turn suddenly into prize winners once they get behind the wheel.

i

 

Very glad you posted that. I didn't know that two cans would be enough, so decided to go with a mini pump and sealant, which has the significant disadvantage of the time needed to hook up the pump when you need to get off of a hazardous roadside.

I used to work with a woman who often did weekend runs into the high desert to visit her mom, and she said she used a flat fix in a can on her Toyota pickup and never had any problems, just left it in, and ran the truck. That road is long, hot and fast, so I was impressed at how well the stuff worked for her. I started using the stuff on a car with inner tubes, since it got a lot of flats, and it was always quick and easy. I suspect the quality of the tubes I could source was the main problem.




When I worked for the California auto club, they said their tow service, nationwide, was the best because they had the longest established contracts with the tow services, so got priority on service calls. I couldn't speculate about the truth of that statement, since a company paying a higher rate could upset that scene, but I suspect, like most businesses, all pay as little as possible. So if a service has bigger fish to fry, expect a wait.

I do think their point worth mentioning, they are so well established in the industry that most tow trucks come new with the blue and white livery of the auto club as standard , because the paint job establishes some credibility ,and because so many tow services are contracted by the auto club. Most insurance offers roadside assistance , and free is a tough feature to better, and all probably use the same tow people for the area.

My car is lowered, so without a flatbed, pretty much the normal tow truck in my area, I am well screwed. And even then, I have to depend on whatever wood scraps the tow driver carries, or might have found on the way over, by the looks of things, to mitigate the angle into the bed.

 

I went through this with the Challenger I had before the C5. It was easy though as they had at one time been offered with a spare so the hold downs for the tire and jack were present.

This ironically also gave me the solution to the C5 issue...The Challenger originally came with an inflator and sealant so I tossed that into one of the cubbies in the back and also carry a plug kit. No jack and lug nut tool though. I may try to remedy that as it would be difficult to plug one on the car.

Ironically I got the Challenger's spare because I got a flat. First time in years. Then I got a flat on the Corvette driving it home from buying it. I was replacing those tires anyway as they were 12 year old Bridgestone run flats. I didn't know it was flat because the TPMS batteries were dead. I heard the hissing when I stopped. I was replacing all that anyway so no big deal. It is a tradeoff, but the car rides so much better on normal tires that it is one I am willing to make. I daily mine except for once every couple weeks when I drive my F150 to keep the battery charged.

 

And it is a slightly different pitch circle diameter. Not much, but enough to put an undesigned-for "bending" load on the studs when the nuts are tightened. Years ago, BTW, I read of owners using C4 spare wheels. Other issue is to make sure any spare will clear the front brakes.

As to diameter, match the rear. A bit off at the front can be compensated for, but running different diameters at the rear for any distance is not recommended (diff wear).

 

The problem with carrying a spare, a jack, and tools in a C5, is that there is no easy way to secure it.

While the Hardtop/z06 and convertible would be a little safer, there are still no tie downs.
In a coupe, those heavy, dense, loose items could kill you in an accident.

I’ve seen an umbrella kill a person coming from the rear of the car in an accident.

 

Alright race fans happy to say I just received my Modern Spare and it is exactly what I needed and expected. A good quality Pirelli 135/80/18 temporary "tyre" mounted on a buggy wheel universal rim. It stands 26.5 in tall and maybe 5 in wide. Good enough to get me home or back to the trailer. The carry bag is a little snug, had to wrastle with it a bit on the living room floor but it does have a nice carry strap that I was able to cinch to my roll bar to keep it in place. I have the tool/jack kit with my Z/28, I can swap it over as required. Applaud or criticize, this is what's available. Under $400.

 

Very nice set up ariZona06, I have something similar, a deep spoke rim spare in 265/35/18 size. It clears the larger brakes and fits front and rear. The person that had my car built supposedly did the One Lap of America and had to have a spare. I just kept it in there and bought a cover, now that the carpet has a nice black circle, lol. It's strapped to the roll bar also and hopefully it will not get past it in an issue. Without the roll bar, would be iffy unless you can bolt it to the frame or something. Jack and stuff in the center storage.

 

My question if for anyone who's had to have their vette towed. Was it a problem? was it a ramp truck? or traditional tow truck. is the angle on the ramp truck accomodating to the low vette front end? I went to a vette show, before i owned one, and they were trying to get a vette up a ramp truck. I don't know the outcome as i was driving out of the show, but it didn't look like it was going to work. the angle looked to steep.

Dave

 

With wood, all things are possible. Mine has been on a flatbed twice since I owned it. Once for a flat tire and once because a caliper bolt backed itself out after a brake job. Both easy fixes, towed it home, dealt with it myself.

 

I had the steering column lock with the wheels turned all the way left and the flatbed driver used some little dollies under the front wheels to winch it onto the truck. My car is lowered now and some flatbed drivers won't attempt to move it. So far only one tire has gone flat on the C5 in 100,000 miles, the tire pressure warning went off and two miles later it read zero psi but it was nice to drive another five miles home on the runflats.

 

I was on a flat bed once, when I broke a valve spring, was running terrible, didn't want to chance it driving it home and I didn't know the issue. The only problem I saw, was if your car is not drivable, they would have to winch it up. With out a tow hook, they wanted to hook to the structure below, I limped mine up on it, rolled it off. With the pieces of wood at the bottom of the ramp, it worked out, even lowered. I have a tow hook now.