it all comes down to risk and being prepared as others have said. Like many of you I have a brand new never been mounted original donut spare tire for my car. It still has every little "new tire" hairs on it. I would NEVER use it on the car because its 31 years old! Although if it does hold air still the air in it could be Irish! I also decided many years ago that since storage space is such a premium in our little cars that carrying it doesn't make much sense. So I took it out about 10 years ago and filled the space with emergency tools and parts like an extra fuel pump. I do carry a can of fix a flat but have never needed it. Thinking back, the last flat tire I have had was in about 1987. That one was even my fault! I was backing out of my own garage and hit a piece of lawn edging that I had leftover from a project I had been doing earlier in the day. It sliced like a razor through the sidewall. Point being I've driven from Colorado to Gettysburg and also to Vegas and put almost 40K miles on my car without a spare tire and just don't see the need. Yes our roads suck too but I do my level best to be attentive when driving any one of my 5 cars in order to AVOID road debris and pot holes. Do I care if anyone else carries a spare no. Good you boy scouts. Me... to paraphrase the words of the biggest antagonist on the list "my results speak for themselves and until I have a problem I see no need to change my procees!" Dan ------------------------------------ To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/