I have about 3000 miles on the OEM tires (8-9/32 tread depth left) and managed to get a nail through one tire less than a week after switching from the winter tires.

Is it possible to get a single new tire from tirerack and have it shaved down to match the rest? Is that the cheapest alternative?

If I do replace more than 1 can I do 2 or is 4 still the recommended best practice?

I was hoping the manual would mention what kind of differences were reasonable but the tires are almost new and I don't want to dump the 3 good ones just because I got a nail through one.

Yeah that sounds like I'm being cheap, but hey, I probably am

 

I think you can go to a tire shop and get the hole fixed/plugged...Forgot what they use is called.

 

Why don't you just plug it? That's what I would do, I've never had a problem with a plugged tire.

 

It's fine to buy one tire and get it shaved down from Tire rack.

In MA there are NO SHOPS that shave tires anymore.. I've called around a billion shops. Even though they say they *May* have or *used* to.. in the end nobody has the equipment.

Buy the tire from tire rack. Some people have mentioned up to 2/32 difference is the max you'd want for the tire rotation.


Whoops I'm slow... but for the tire plugging, that's all good and fine, but you cannot use it to race on any road course or auto-X.

I've plugged many tires with an autozone kit.

 

In you sig you say you drive an E46. So the question is; are we talking about a AWD car or 2WD? If its a 2WD car and the hole from the nail can't simply be plugged, consider replacing the tire on the opposite side at the same time.

Replacing tires at the same time is all about saving the differentials. But if this is a RWD BMW and the front tire has a nail, just replace it and move on. If its the rear consider replacing both of the rears.

If this is a simple puncture in the tire, not involving the sidewall, just take it to a tire shop and have it repaired. I'd be shocked if it cost over $10.00.

Good luck.
-clamps

 

Thanks for the responses, I fixed my sig, I drive an '06 Evo IX

I should have mentioned that I do track events once or twice a year but a plug won't do for them and I don't want to stop going to track events

Hence the option for shaving ... so I guess what I was looking for was that with 8/32 tread left, I could buy one from tire rack, have it shaved down and still be ok to change only the damaged tire?

 

cant be a big of a nail to it cant be plugged.

 

The tire could be possibly patched, which is different than plugging.

Don't know if patched tires can be tracked though. I would think if you erred on the side of caution, you'd want clean tires for that.

 

plug it and call it a day

 

FYI, you don't put plugs in the tires of performance cars. You patch them

 

Patch it from the inside. I did it once on my last set and had absolutely no problems for 10k miles. But, I still would have rather replaced it.

 

So I keep reading how bad it is to have mismatched tires on the car. Ok, I get it, different rolling speeds/distances and all that.

But seriously, 12 miles on a set of mismatched tires and I'm getting crap about it from everyone I meet about how I'm going to screw up the car. Anyone want to chime in on that? Seems a little ridiculous to me that AWD cars are that sensitive. I could be wrong though, I get the theory, I'm just wondering in practice what people do when they get a flat? Call for a flatbed and haul it away?

Sorry, bit of a rant there.

Anyway, I was also fishing for some comments about getting a single shaved tire.

 

+2 On that. I had a nail in my right rear tire two weeks ago and my guy at the tire shop said that in performance applications you never plug a tire because the plug can come out at high speed. Instead, he removed the tire from the rim and patched it.

 

If you read my original post.. YES get it from tire rack and get them to shave it.

 

plug it and call it a day. I had mine plugged and it went through the whole tire around 7k. Make sure they remove the tire from the rim, haven't had any issues at all. Don't waste your money on a $270 new tire then have it wasted and shaved. Plug it for around 10-20 bucks and move on.