So...I'm motoring along smartly Saturday morning for "Cars and Coffee" at a garage condo complex in a western suburb of Minneapolis when I heard a loud "pop" from the right rear....blown tire? Stopped, checked the tire...yup, flat...protuding out of the top of the tire was a piece of metal about an inch wide, about an eighth inch thick...big chunk...Dropped the spare..FLAT also..'bout that time a Porsche stopped to ask if I needed help...yes I did..flat spare...Porsche driver produces an air pump and proceeds to pump up the spare for me...When to local tire sotre and pulled out the piece of metal..approximately 1" X  5" x 1/8' !!!! Slotted with an oval shaped hole...Looks like a shim of some sort . Policeman friend suggested it might be a radar tuning fork! Tire is junk! Ordered two rears from the Tire Rack...Moral of the story? drop ypur spare tire and make sure it at 60 psi.

It's payback for sellin the '74, Wally...



It sux that it happened, but at least it didn't tear up the bodywork!
Get that Porche air outta that tire ASAP!!! Somewhere, there's a VW Bug sitting on the side of the road waiting for that same air!

sure does rot. when you are in that situation i don't care where the air comes from (heck i'd even use air from a ford). glad you didn't have to sit on the side of a lonely road. great advice about the spare. guess i should go check mine now. hmmm... now that i am thinking of it, i hope there is a spare tire there.

Joel..Ifen Mama woulda let me keep the '74, woulda never sold her. Talked to buyers recently, love the car, have had great fun with her..intend to start restoration this winter.

Dang that woman! 

Juss kiddin, Wally! Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do, and we all know..."If MAMA ain't happy..."

I'm trying to avoid a blow out story by getting 4 new tires, on the morrow.  A few months ago, while rotating the old tires (two of which are sorta bald, or racing slicks...), the mechanic checked my spare and it was flat, too.  Anyway, Tire Pros is putting new Country Sport XR 245-45s on the 87 beast, for $508, out the door.  I'm sure they'll find something else to fix, but that seems like a good deal on the tires, since I drive about 1500 miles a month and need shoes for distance, not speed.  Your story makes me glad I made an appointment to avoid my own little disaster, knock on wood-grain.  Sorry about your sorrow, but thanks for the lesson and good luck from now on. 

'92 coupe. I checked mine once during routine maintenance. Looked like a grenage went off inside it. Had never been on the car. Zero milage. If you have tires more than five years old Don't use them. Rubber / plastic deteriorates with time.  I'd post the pic's but I don't know how.

fldave--if you look at the icons above, you will see a box with a tree in it. if you  click on it and direct it to the pic you want and then hit post it will insert the image in the message body.

The tire rack is the only place I found the replacement for the spare tire I hit the tree button still can't get my pic