I had the unfortunate experience this weekend of running over a Phillips head screw on the road this weekend. As I was accelerating I noticed some

 

Aron, I'm not an engineer of any kind. I'm a pediatrician. All of what I know is from reading on line.

I would replace both rear tires with OEM SO2 205/50/16 WR92 tires.

I'm surprised your rears show so little tread wear. Many on the board have said they can only get 10,000 miles on the rears.

A competent tire store can repair that kind of damage from the inside. If it were in the sidewall it would be less reparable.

There is considerable disagreement on this board as to how safe those repairs are. During the Firestone/Ford controversy, I read a Firestone engineer talk about how unsafe patching was because air had already been between the layers and could develop there again.

The driver of this car attributed his losing control to a previously patched tire failing. Other S2000 drivers who were present were not so sure.



So, while you can get a debate going on this, I'd say the "remaining value" of your 10,000 mile SO2 tires is between $50 and $200 and you should sacrifice saving that value in the name of reliability.

The track is probably the last place to use the patched tire. Tame commuting would be more appropriate.

 

Go to Tire Rack and read about Speed Ratings and punctures. That's my advice to you. They are more of an expert than probally anyone here. They've got a pretty good info section.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Barry WY Silver/Black '01
[B]So, while you can get a debate going on this, I'd say the "remaining value" of your 10,000 mile SO2 tires is between $50 and $200 and you should sacrifice saving that value in the name of reliability.

The track is probably the last place to use the patched tire.

 

On the other hand, I have used patched tires at high speed events numerous times without a problem. I have never seen a tire fail from a repair of a small nail puncture.

Obviously a large puncture (screwdriver, big screw, etc.) will cause too much damage for a safe repair. But many nail punctures in the tread area are small, clean, and easily patched (not plugged). IMO a safe and effective repair is possible.

If money is no object we would just buy a new tire, but I will not throw out a perfectly good tire that has a small puncture. $200 expenditures must be justified in my budget and my experience is that patches are ok.

 

Yea, me too. I'd be more concerned about the damage to the sidewall from driving on it. Can't tell much about that from your description, though.

BTW, I'm sure you know that fix-a-flat is not a permanent repair. The fact that it's holding air, though, is an indication that your hole is not very bad.

The most conservative and safest advice is always to have new, perfect equipment. I'm sure that's what TireRack would say, even if they didn't sell tires.

 

At 10000 miles I was getting ready to replace my rears, and I drive fairly mellow 80% of the time. You are probably coming up to the point where you'll start feeling the compound change in the S02's and thus will want to replace them anyways.
just my .02c

 

Thanks for the lead, JRM. Here's a link to Tire Rack's opinion.

I thought it was pretty good.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/punctures.htm

By the way, aran, some of those in this thread who advise you to consider using your repaired tire are some of the members of this board I respect the most. My advice is purely armchair.

 

Guys,

Thanks for all the info, after reading what was posted on the TireRack website, I'll just chalk this expense to one up to the joys of owning an S-2000!

aran

p.s. I have read with interest the discussion about tire wear on this board, because I am not experiencing it at all. I guess I must drive very conservatively, because after 10k miles I still have a LOT of tread left

 

Just another point, I think someone said that those fix-a0flat sprays mess up the inside of the tires. Not sure if this is true or not, but if it is, I wouldn't trust that repaired tire at high speeds.