Nail in side wall! AND A BIRD story!! intereseting reading!! (not)
 

I spotted a nail in the side wall of my rear tyre? i dont know if its punctured? no air is escaping? a tyre place told me they cant repair anything in the side wall?? and that it will cost 400 to replace the tyre! MY mate thats a mechanic reackons i should just leave it there? cause the tyres are new! AND only replace it if the tyre goes a bit flat?? at least im not wasting tread???? I am not sure what to do!! A SIDE note a bird flew into my windscreen today! WEIRD! never happened before!! it freaked me out abit! hehe THE bird was OK! if anyones wondering!

I'd get a new tire

Pull it out and investigate how deep the hole is. If it penetrates any of the sidewall reinforcing plies, you're stuffed. Don't mess with your life, ditch it.

Pull it out and it will probably leak, then you'll almost certainly need a new tyre.

Most lives are worth more than 400 bucks... Get a new tyre..

Re tyre -- what they said! Imagine spirited driving through corners with one tyre that has a potentially weakened sidewall. I'm surprised your mechanic mate would recommend otherwise. I'd hate for him to be doing the safety check on my car.

Get a new tyre.

There is really no way out of these. I know it is is a waste....

I wonder if the damaged tyre can be tranformed to an art piece at home. I have seen poeple did that and it is cool piece in your lounge room. May be use your imagination and make something out of that tyre, rather than throw in the bin. If that make you feel better :)

Stick it in a corner of your garden and plant a rubber tree in it!! :D

Seriously, I agree with the rest - don't chance it.

I was in exactly the same boat 2 weeks ago, got a screw in the edge of 4 week old tyres, it is not worth the risk, chuck the old one and get a new one.

i will get a new tyre! SO my next question is?? anyone in sydney know a good tyre place??

You will probably get mobbed on that question.....sorry about your tyre.......but get a new one.......however ...........back to the bird.........hit an owl once, doing about 140km/h on the Hay plains, on the way to a grand prix in Adelaide. Smashed the outside laminate & scared the crap out of my mates who were asleep in the car (old ford wagon)!! Sad to say it and the windscreen were cactus!

Do you want to get a Bridgestone or do you want something else.
Tempe Tyres are very good and cheap, you can negotiate with them on pricing. That would be my bet.

I guess if you are changing just one tyre, it has to be the OEM Bridgestone...prepare to be kicked in the hip pocket :(

Timbo & Gibbo!! its go to be bridgestone?? do you think 400 is fair??

Well there may be a lot of RE040 around town. Although there are only 2 cars with RE040 in 225/45-18 (ie 350Z front tyres and the RX-8s). There may be people that dumped them for 19" rims. Call around first before you pay for a new one.

Well, there is a lot of lore which says not to mix brands on the same axle due to different grip characteristics. You could probably ignore this to some extent on a $10K Hyundai that's not driven at all enthusiastically :eek: But you've just spent $60K on a performance sports car, so I would certainly be buying a new Bridgestone 040...and if I could find one (they have been in very short supply) and it only cost me $400, I'd be :D

The alternative is to spend $1600 on a new set of something that's more common, such as in the 245/40 range :(

I had to pay $460 at my local tyre place after a puncture too close to the sidewall. $400 is a good price. If I had been in a position to shop around I may have been able to source for that price, as I wanted it done that morning so I could get to work I paid the extra.

As everyone else has said, if you don't want that tyre you will need to replace at a minimum the tyre on the other side and ideally all 4 tyres. Your choice.