Felt pretty severe pull to the left during acceleration and back to the right when letting off the gas on the way home today. I checked the rear left tire once I got home. It was running very low. With some assistance, I found the puncture, which is on the inside edge of the tire, very close to the sidewall. For the record, I have Star Specs. Here are the photos:




I have a road hazard warranty from America's Tire. This set has ~2,800 miles on them so far. My guess is given the proximity to the sidewall, they won't patch it. The warranty should kick in, but I believe it only covers the one tire. I'm guessing it's not a good idea to replace only 1/2 rear tires, especially on a performance car with LSD.

Can anyone tell me for sure?

The other thing that sucks is it'll probably take a day or two for them to get another set of these tires. When I got the new set, they had the tires overnighted from LA.

Oh well. At least I have the warranty, and I'm glad I was able to spot it.

 

They should definitely replace the tire, IMO it is way too close to the sidewall to patch. I would have them measure the tread depth of the good tire, its possible that the tread may still be at 8 or 9/32" and you might be able to get away with keeping it. If you are below 8/32" I would consider replacing both.

 

Patch that shit.

 

Is the tread difference not a problem for drive-ability / LSD?

 

They won't patch that, its too close to the sidewall where flex will drive the plug out. You can already see some sidewall damage, I wouldn't want that tire plugged anyway.

You need to get the tread depth of the tire and compare that to new. If new they were 8/32 and you are at/beyond 6/32, your best options are buy a new set of rears, or buy one new tire and have it shaved to the tread depth to match the undamaged tire on the other side. Otherwise you will strain the diff.

The tricky thing about shaving a rear S2000 tire is that they usually wear more on the inside, so shaving is not always possible. Depending on the alignment you run, it may or may not be an option, but you'd also need a place that can shave tires.

2,800 miles on a tire that usually gets 20k mi life is a lot different from 2,800 mi on a tire that usually gets 10k mi life, so its really about wear, not mileage.

 

As Saki GT state above, the inside sees more wear so...

If you get a new tire, put it on the right and have them remount the used one on the left.