TPMS showed an alert and turns out my front pass tire has a big screw embedded into it and its pretty close to the sidewall (looks like will need a new tire).
The lease is ending next year in September, what are my best options to go about it ? I was thinking of getting the same brand with similar tire depth used off ebay (will this cause a problem during lease return) or should buy a brand new tire of same brand just for the damaged side (And then get it shaved from tirerack to match depth of other tire)
You definitely don’t want to mess around with tires that are different ride heights. Although an AWD system is much more accommodating than a 4x4 with a transfer case, I was once assured by Costco (in South Florida, so they don’t have 4x4 or AWD that often) that I could only replace 2 tires. It completely destroyed the transfer case in my Grand Cherokee, but Costco did end up paying to fix it.
It’s also really hard to find a lot of the Pirelli tires right now due to the rubber shortage, so keep that in mind.
It’s hard to tell for sure but it looks like that screw missed the sidewall. I would give plugging it a shot. As long as you didn’t run it without air for long, and the screw didn’t tear into the sidewall you should be fine.
I’d go with @steevo on this one. A name brand place probably will say no on patching it but Joe’s tire & wheels on the corner will do it in 20 minutes for $15.
Lease or not, have a relationship with a good local tire place. I’ve been to mine twice in my XC60, they didn’t charge me either time, I always leave a 5-star Yelp review and generously tip whomever worked on it.
There is a reason why ‘Name Brand’ places don’t patch Sidewall or near sidewall punctures. The patches fail and cause accidents that they are ‘liable’ for.
OP has 1.3 years left on his lease. I would not recommend this advice. Get the tires replaced.
@Firstkill I do drive aggressively and that is one of the reason I am looking to get it replaced for peace of mind.
Now the question is weather to just replace that one tire with a new one or get the new one shaved to match depth, could not find any used matching tires in the market. Don’t want to replace 2 tires, have driven 12k miles till now.
Edit: Typically how much I should expect to pay for replacing the tire, also do I need to perform alignment too ? Any recommendations for good tire shop in greater Boston (Northshore area) ?
No need to get 2 new tires to match ride height. Do you think roads out there is purely flat and 100% leveled? Most roads are lower to the shoulder so the car is never leveled. Unless you’re so concerned about the traction differences, you should get 2 but contact points on both tires will probably have uneven surfaces and traction control will adjust that too. No need unless you’re racing for a living.
Second this. Bestusedtires.com doesn’t have any used tires for my 2020 XC60 with 255 45/20 tires. Utires has the OEM Continentals for $300 for a set of 4.
Might be a one-off experience, but they sent me a tire with a decent chunk of sidewall off of it. Luckily, their customer service was prompt and they ended up issuing a full refund, so it worked out alright in the end. I eventually decided to just purchase a new tire from the BMW dealer (which, ironically, was cheaper than one from other reputable retailers).
