Sweet! Flat tire a week before lease return.

[FC]

Rear right RFT on E91 has zero psi. If I pump it, it bleeds at .5psi per second. Seems like a puncture on inner side wall.

As a result, the tire is trash.

Here are the questions I have:

1) Rear tires have 0.140" of tread left (fronts have 0.160). I'm over the .125" min, but will they bitch about tread depths being so different?

2) What's the best way to gou about it, just get the new tire from tirerack and be done, or does the dealer have to replace it? I suppose I could pump it to 50psi, and limp the 5 miles to the dealer the day of lease return but I don't see how that doesn't cost me more AND make me look like a dick.

Thoughts?

Oh yeah, and of course, today is the day my wife dropped off the MCS for the dipstick/timing chain issue. So right now our only serviceable car is the 997.

[bren]

I can't answer your questions, but props for puncturing the most inaccessible part of the tire - that takes talent.

I wonder if the dealer would notice a plug.

[FC]

Originally Posted by bren

I can't answer your questions, but props for puncturing the most inaccessible part of the tire - that takes talent.

I wonder if the dealer would notice a plug.

I don't know how the hell that happened, but I can tell you it's trash because I had a very slow leak from that tire for the past few weeks. Last night the low pressure warning came on in the hwy a few miles from home. I went to pump it this morning and the psi was so low the gauge wouldn't even activate. I put some air in and got to read 7psi. The leak is audible from 10 feet out.

So my guess is that I must have had a small puncture but the object was blocking it and it came out last night, wrecking the tire. I feel air not just from the puncture but also from between the rim and the wheel. But to be fair, I'm doing this blind.

Regardless, I don't know how I feel about trying to get away with that (even if it were feasible). Bad karma. For all I know the dealer sells it as is and some family has a catastrophic tire failure doing 80mph.

[FC]

Upon further review, this might have happened during our trip to NH, which might explain why the car felt funny and at times as if a tire were out of balance. We've just used the car so little since - especially me, because the MCS has been on the DL for a month and my wife has been driving the E91 - that I just didn't think much of it waiting to return it.

[JST]

Originally Posted by FC

I don't know how the hell that happened, but I can tell you it's trash because I had a very slow leak from that tire for the past few weeks. Last night the low pressure warning came on in the hwy a few miles from home. I went to pump it this morning and the psi was so low the gauge wouldn't even activate. I put some air in and got to read 7psi. The leak is audible from 10 feet out.

So my guess is that I must have had a small puncture but the object was blocking it and it came out last night, wrecking the tire. I feel air not just from the puncture but also from between the rim and the wheel. But to be fair, I'm doing this blind.

Regardless, I don't know how I feel about trying to get away with that (even if it were feasible). Bad karma. For all I know the dealer sells it as is and some family has a catastrophic tire failure doing 80mph.

If it's a puncture on the sidewall, a plug isn't possible.

You could try to fleabay a used tire. That would save you a lot of money and would minimize the difference in tread between the two sides of the car. Downside, of course, is that the car is out of commission for longer and fleabay used tires are very much caveat emptor--I had a friend who tried to go this route and ended up with a couple of tires that were bubbled or otherwise junk.

At the end of the day, there's the right way (which is also the easy way) and there's the cheap way (which is probably a bigger pain in the ass). I would probably just buy two new tires, call it an investment in my karma/cost of doing business/thing that inconveniences me least, and be done with it.

You don't have to do it from the dealer. You could go with tirerack, but I found a local place that sells basically at tirerack's cost with a small markup for installation, and it's worth it to not have to screw around with making two phone calls (plus, let them have their margin).

[FC]

Originally Posted by JST

If it's a puncture on the sidewall, a plug isn't possible.

You could try to fleabay a used tire. That would save you a lot of money and would minimize the difference in tread between the two sides of the car. Downside, of course, is that the car is out of commission for longer and fleabay used tires are very much caveat emptor--I had a friend who tried to go this route and ended up with a couple of tires that were bubbled or otherwise junk.

At the end of the day, there's the right way (which is also the easy way) and there's the cheap way (which is probably a bigger pain in the ass). I would probably just buy two new tires, call it an investment in my karma/cost of doing business/thing that inconveniences me least, and be done with it.

You don't have to do it from the dealer. You could go with tirerack, but I found a local place that sells basically at tirerack's cost with a small markup for installation, and it's worth it to not have to screw around with making two phone calls (plus, let them have their margin).

Nah, I don't think I'm willing to buy a used tire from a stranger. You are right. I should call around locally for pricing.

But will the dealer force me to buy two tires? If I'm not required, I won't. I mean, the other tire is good by their own standards, and not really all that marginally.

[bren]

Just buy a new tire and do a bunch of burn outs. With that open diff it shouldn't take long to even them out.

[equ]

Forums, eBay, craigslist in that order. Plenty of lease returnable used tires on the mkt

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[FC]

Originally Posted by equ

Forums, eBay, craigslist in that order. Plenty of lease returnable used tires on the mkt

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

You know what? That makes sense. I'll take a chance for $150 and will have a tire that better matches the tread. I am not in the mood to drop $800.

[dan]

a tire costs $800?