nail in tire - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

kiwi M & M · 6th September 2003, 06:13

Got a nail stuck near the sidewall of my rear tire

People shouldn't leave things on the road

.

Took it in to amerca's tire co. and they said it's too near the sidewall and can't fix it.

So because of some idiot left a nail on the road, I have to replace the tire. To replace with pilots, it's going to be about $300. Thought about going with kumhos for $500 by replacing all 4 tires but I still got quite a bit of tread on the other tires so prob. going to replace with the pilots.

And what's with ppl carryin matresses on their roofs. Saw awhile back on the news that some senior citizen drove over a matress on the freeway, flipped his car and got killed.

Just a long shot, does anyone have an extra 275 35 18 sitting around?

-Jay

schnelleM5 · 6th September 2003, 07:16

I know how you feel

Last Saturday, my wife was driving our 540 around St. Paul and made a call to me on the cell phone saying that there was an increasing noise coming from the rear of the car. I told her to pull over immediately, and as she goes around the Interstate transition ramp, the entire tread of the left rear tire flew off into the grassy median area, DSC kicks in immediately and she was able to pull over without any loss of control. When I arrived on the scene and recovered the tread I discovered not a nail, but a screw! imbedded in the tread approximately 1/2" from the sidewall. The head of the screw showed very little wear prompting me to think that the puncture caused a rapid rather than a slow deflation/overheating/tread separation.

Replaced all four tires despite adequate tread due to the fact that they already had close to 29,000 miles on them(Conti Touring Contact).

I still cannot figure out how a screw or nail could cause a puncture just sitting in the road. The physics just don't seem to add up. Sabotage was the first thing that crossed my mind.

This incident makes me wish we could retrofit the tire pressure monitor in the 540 and has prompted me to make a visual inspection of all four tires every time we return to our car when out and about.

jeeperjohn · 7th September 2003, 09:32

Al,

You're right about checking the tires for nails and screws before you drive away. You should do a quick walk around before driving away and look at the tires, use a gauge, or tire hammer. It's real easy to ruin a tire if you run it under-inflated. The usual way a nail gets into a tire from laying on the edge of the road is that the front tire kicks it up and the rear tire drives over it while it is standing up. Good idea to stay away from the edge of the roads and not to drive in the median.

Sometimes the sidewall flexs so much form the under-inflation that it chunks the inside of the tire and ends up exposing the cord even though the nail is in the center of the tread. Pretty expensive nail hole. No real easy way to keep from getting a nail in a tire since they will always be out there with all of the construction going on.

John

schnelleM5 · 8th September 2003, 07:25

Thanks, John.

Your explanation makes sense, and is what I was hypothesizing.

I ALWAYS visually inspect all tires before leaving home to head up to the Twin Cities, and perform pressure checks with a tire gauge once a week, but only occasionally inspect the tires when between errands or stops. Since our incident last week I am now walking around our car for a quick visual inspection EVERY time we get back to our car.

kiwi M & M · 9th September 2003, 02:49

Yea, I check the tires as well. The tire wasn't really underinflated when I checked. Apparently, it's a very slow leak. Lose about 1.5 psi over 3 days. Makes me think if I should just keep it in there

(j/k). But ****, the amount of money it's costing me for one little nail....

-Jay