I am thinking about removing my spare tire as a way to add some cargo room and lighten the load. A can of "fix a flat", electric pump and AAA towing as a backup should handle most situations where a spare is needed....knock on wood.

 

I've used that Fix a flat stuff many times and it seems ok. CAA up here is good for most things. They're usually fine except for when I moved from Toronto to Waterloo and they didn't transfer my membership between clubs properly. I was stranded with a flat about 30miles from home and they couldn't give me a tow because my account was "defunct". They would have given me an instant regular membership but not a Plus and you need a Plus membership to get towed over 100kms. I was FUMING! Luckily I found a hardware store open (it was late on a Sunday) and picked up a can of fix a flat. It got me home OK.

Note that mechanics do NOT like fix a flat and if you ever use it, warn them because apparently the gas is flammable so if they don't completely empty the air out of the tire before working on it, there is a definite hazzard..

 

There alot of tire inflator products that are not flammable. Better to pick one of those and carry it around.

 

Do what you want. But here are a couple of things that would concern me about removing the spare.

1) Mant cars with a spare in the floor (like the Z) use the strength of the spare as part of the impact protection. Since the tire/wheel does double duty as rear strengthening it makes the overall package lighter. If you remove the spare and then get rear ended you _might_ end up with more damage/injuries.

2) The fix-a-flat stuff isn't a free ride. The stuff coats the inside of the tire and can settle unevenly. That throws off the balance of the tire. For high speed tires like ours most shops recommend that if you use fix-a-flat (or similar) that when you go to get the tire patched for real they should take it off the rim and scrape out all the crap inside.

I thought about removing the spare for weight and for more storage and decided against it. I guess it depends on your priorities.

 

I carry a radial tire patch (plug) kit and a pump. The big leaks are usually easy to find as they have some offending object sticking out of the tire. Unfortunately with low profile tires it is easy to miss the leak early on. If you drive at all on the flat tire it is ruined. With just fix a flat you're in for a tow, and then you have to find an appropriate tire. The Z's tires aren't one of the more common sizes and may not be readily available.
rich
'03 FX 45
'96 911 C4 Cab
'04 350ZR on the way