[cdrptrks]

You could sell the other good tire if you do get a set of rear tires for replacement. What is the new tread depth for those tires? You can look it up on tirerack.com.

For reference, I sometimes get 1mm of wear difference side to side on the rears by the end of their life and it hasn't caused any issues with the eLSD or driveability on the street or at track days.

[cdrptrks]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

Depends how deep it goes. If this thing is only in there a few mm, you may be fine. You can't tell until you pull it.

True, I was assuming that it was deep enough to cause a leak if removed. If not, there should be no harm in continuing to use the tire after removal. I had this happen to me within the last month and almost all of the nail's shaft had been broken off before it got into my tire and I had no leak when the tire shop pulled it out, followed by no issues driving on that tire at a track day afterwards.

[ariZona28]

If in truth misery loves company here you go. I call this my $800 nail. 5 days before my very first HPDE day I ran over this. Had to purchase two brand new Toyo 888s for the Z06. Not happy but had no choice. I think you'd be OK to just buy one with 8/32 remaining but it still sucks!

[cdrptrks]

Consensus is that you should be fine doing HPDE with a combination plug/patch professionally installed with the tire dismounted from the wheel and I have done it myself in my previous car reaching speeds of 125mph without any issues. The picture above shows a nail in the repairable area so "no choice" is not really accurate in that case. Some people do choose not to use repaired tires on the track for peace of mind.

[WhiteMale]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

The picture above shows a nail in the repairable area so "no choice" is not really accurate in that case. Some people do choose not to use repaired tires on the track for peace of mind.

agreed

[UnknownJinX]

I had this exact thing happen to me shortly after I got the car.

Just replaced the one tire and the car ran fine. No issues with eLSD. Come to think of it, your left and right tires will wear a little unevenly by nature. That's why you need to do tire rotations.

That nail looks a bit too close to the sidewall IMO, but you will have to get someone professional to take a look. If it is repairable, a full patch+plug job will ensure its integrity, assuming your tire is never very deflated before(as that will damage the sidewall). Right now I have a patched+plugged front tire on my car. Ran on the track without any issues.

[WhiteMale]

Tire rotations on a staggered 1LE...

[cdrptrks]

I do side to side rotations at track days (mostly just front tires) halfway through the day if there is enough time between sessions, or between the first and second day if it is a 2 day event to prevent more wear on one side than the other but being able to rotate front to rear would be more beneficial.

[jcaligood]

Originally Posted by Norm Peterson

I suppose you could pull it out, at which point there are two possibilities

(1) it's not leaking - do nothing.

(2) it is leaking - you could plug-repair it while you source new tire(s). This is not a long term solution (though it should hold up in the short run as long as you drive carefully and conservatively and keep an eye on the TPMS readout.


Norm

Originally Posted by ctrlz

Yes, not technically in the safe zone. No shop will touch it.

What I would do:
Hit it with soapy water and see if it bubbles. If bubbles, you know it went through. Personally, I would try to plug this and see if I felt the belts when reaming the hole. If so, I would plug it and drive on it, obviously checking the integrity of the plug for a few days.

If it does not bubble, just pull the nail. Sometimes these nails are short, or go in very crooked. Once you pull the object, hit it with soapy water again. If no bubbles you are done.

In my experience, I have never had a nail puncture that did not bubble unless it went through.

I would not drive on it with the object still in the tread. Eventually it may go deeper. So I don't agree with the advice to just drive on it if it's not leaking.

Just looking at the shape of the thing, looks like it went in crooked.

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

If you are just doing street driving you may get away with plugging it yourself but I would not use it for any track days or high speed pulls to be safe.

I found a nail in a similar spot on one of my tires when there wasn't much tread left on it and plugged it myself since I knew no one would fix it properly with the tire dismounted from the wheel due to liability and did an few autocrosses on it to finish off the tires without any issues but kept a close eye on it to check for any bubbles appearing in the tread or sidewall and initially used soapy water to make sure it sealed fully and checked TPMS to make sure it wasn't slowly leaking. The particular autocross location was pretty wide open so I was unlikely to hit anything if the tire blew out or the plug came out and caused rapid pressure loss during a run. It depends on your judgement and risk tolerance but the safest option is to replace the tire in question.

Here's the kit I used: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Slime-De...40-A/203349942

Originally Posted by UnknownJinX

I had this exact thing happen to me shortly after I got the car.

Just replaced the one tire and the car ran fine. No issues with eLSD. Come to think of it, your left and right tires will wear a little unevenly by nature. That's why you need to do tire rotations.

That nail looks a bit too close to the sidewall IMO, but you will have to get someone professional to take a look. If it is repairable, a full patch+plug job will ensure its integrity, assuming your tire is never very deflated before(as that will damage the sidewall). Right now I have a patched+plugged front tire on my car. Ran on the track without any issues.

Great response, all. Thanks for the advice. That why I love this community
I have hope that maybe this isn't too deep. I'm going to pull it out and have a plug ready. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again

[Scottyz]

Take it to the tire shop and pull it out there yourself. I bet it’s not deep enough. If it leaks at least it’s leaking at the tire shop and not far away from the tire shop. If it leaks walk in and tell them you will likely need a tire. Better at the tire shop than at home or elsewhere.

[UnknownJinX]

Originally Posted by WhiteMale

Tire rotations on a staggered 1LE...

Just left and right rotation, as others have mentioned. Obviously, with a staggered setup there won't be any front and rear rotation.

Originally Posted by Scottyz

Take it to the tire shop and pull it out there yourself. I bet it’s not deep enough. If it leaks at least it’s leaking at the tire shop and not far away from the tire shop. If it leaks walk in and tell them you will likely need a tire. Better at the tire shop than at home or elsewhere.

Any competent shops that repair tires will have a bottle of soapy water or the like lying around they can use to quickly spray around the damaged area to determine if there is a leak. I doubt anyone will charge you to spray some soapy water on the tire.

[Rock-It Man]

If the tire is not losing air pressure, you should pull the nail out ASAP, before it gets pushed in further.

If it continues to hold pressure, you're good. If not, the puncture is way to close to the edge for a repair.

[ariZona28]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

Consensus is that you should be fine doing HPDE with a combination plug/patch professionally installed with the tire dismounted from the wheel and I have done it myself in my previous car reaching speeds of 125mph without any issues. The picture above shows a nail in the repairable area so "no choice" is not really accurate in that case. Some people do choose not to use repaired tires on the track for peace of mind.

Sorry I inadvertently forgot to mention that when this occurred I was traveling at some rather brisk freeway speeds practicing my 4th to 3rd rev matching. Felt a slight vibration in the rear so I quickly returned to home base. By the time I got home tire pressure was about 5 lbs and the sidewall was fried and man did it stink like burned rubber!

[cdrptrks]

Oh ok agreed in that case the tire definitely needed to be replaced due to sidewall damage from driving on it at such a low pressure.