I think my blood pressure went up to exploding point today. Last week I had a set of Falken Azenis installed on my car for tracking. My first event for them is this weekend. I’m driving them around to get a little wear on them. Today when I got out of my car at lunch I discovered two screws in the left front and one in the front right. OMFG! Now I know you shouldn’t track tires that have been plugged or patched so I start freaking knowing I just spent big bucks and would probably not be able to track them.

I pull into Kauffman Tire (closest tire shop) to see if there is anything I can do. They put it on the rack and circle 6 screw heads in 3 tires. CRAP! I’m really pissed now! So I request they pull the screws and lets see how long they are hoping they are short enough not to puncture the metal or break through the inside. The screws were right at 1/2” and no air escaped from any of the locations.

For about one hour, I think I was just about as mad as I’ve ever been. I’m starting to calm down now. That was one close call and I have no clue where the screws were picked up. It just seems strange that I would get 2 in each tire.

I was told that there should be no problem with them at all since the tires were not punctured all the way through. All but one was on the tread in the with plenty of rubber and one was angled into the side of the tread (not the side of the tire). Could I have someone on here please verify that I should be OK?

 

I can't tell you much about how the tires will hold up to track heat and friction. But you and I have talked about this on the phone already.

But this is exaclty why I have a set of wheels and tires for track, even thought they are just a little more aggresive street tires. And this should serve as a good advisory/lesson to everyone else who tracks their car. Get a spare set of wheels and tires, your track weekend would be ruined pretty quick if you blew a tire, or picked up road debris on your way to the track.

 

I blew a tire at a track event once... during the 1st of four sessions. Towed into lancaster, got a tire for the subaru and drove the last 2 events of the day.

Another track day in the Mazdaspeed Protege, my girl ran over a missing manhole cover which popped 2 tires and banged up the rims pretty good. A few days later another tire got a nail in it. That weekend was interesting on 4 different tires... the front left was the worst and would lock up going into turn 3 at willow springs.

The following week, the car recieved 18" Konig Uknowns and a new set of P-Zero Nero M+S... not a good track tire, but a decent street tire.

 

silver if it was me and my car, i would not get on the track with tires that have had 1/2 inch screws taken out. Would be ok for the street. Track pressures and stresses just too high in my opinion. Why take a chance--we are hitting serious speeds out there. I do admit I am on the conservative side. My o40 street tire got a glass cut in the middle of the tire at RA, didnt go all the way through but I could see the steel belts. I bought a new set of Kumhos. They only had about 2-3000 left anyway.
Tough luck my friend
Olddragger

 

Mate, I have these tyres as well and have to say that I would be iffy about using them on the track after having a screw go through them.

Firstly you have added a weak point to the tyre. You will probably be running at about 40psi hot (at a guess) which added to the weak point I think would be to much. Lastly the constant heating/cooling that goes into these tyres will just exagerate the weak points.

I know you dont want to hear it and its the worst luck you could have but its just not worth it. I had a similar scenario where I hit a gutter, cracked a rim and also the steel belt. This left a bubble in the tyre...a 5000km old tyre. I wanted like buggery to believe the tyre would be OK for track. It wasnt for many reasons, but the main one is that you will end up second guessing yourself out on the track. Thats something you dont want to be doing. You may as well not race.

On a better note, you have yourself some nice street tyres

Whatever you do, have a great weekend and be safe.

Cheers

Andrew

 

OD, These have about 300 miles on them and there were no leaks. One of our Ga gang mentioned to me that when driving in the mountains that the locals put stuff in the road like gravel, nails and such just to cause grief to people who come up to drive the curvies. I did notice spilt oil on the road in a strategic location around a curve. I thought at the time that it looked fresh and intentional. I suspect that our friend is correct in suggesting that it was probably deliberate and was picked up in the mountains. I also saw locals driving slow and turning around to go back up. They would drive just fast enough to not let you get buy. I'm pretty confident that is what happened.

I'm running at Road Atlanta this weekend. I have a brand spanking new set of azenis with semi-compromised tread but no plugs or patches. I also have Potenzas with at least one plug. I will sleep on it for the next couple nights and see what kind of feedback I get here and make my decision Saturday. I do appreciate any advice.

 

Thanks Andrew, this is getting tough for me.

 

It SUX big ones I know. Hey did you buy them on Credit Card by chance? If you did does your card have extended insurance?

Cheers

Andrew

 

Yes I did purchase with a CC and I don't know about the extended insurance but that is a great question. I will call tomorrow and find out.

 

I was told once and this is going to sound weird so think about it, that nails and screws end up in rear tires. That is because they are laying on their side on the road. The front tire rolls over them and disturbs them. Some of them land in the perfect position to be picked up by the rear tire. Some how rain also fits into the equation. You are more likely to pickup nails on a rainy day.

 

Doesn't sound strange to me. Not sure I understand the wet.

In this case, I had two left front, two right front and two right rear. I think based on the number of pick'ups I got, there was probably a box full down on the pavement.

 

Silver, for what it's worth I also picked-up a 1/2 inch staple on one of my Azenis about 1 week after having them installed...

The staple was in sideways through one of the threadblocks so I pulled it hoping very hard that there would not be a leak... That was back in late February. Since then I have abused the crap out of them on the track and accumulated 12k street miles without a single slow leak or any other problem.

My Barber 3 days and 400 miles of tire torture was those tire's swan song as I turned them into slicks. I drove them home from B'Ham Alabama with still no problem whatsoever. (Would not want to be on the downtown connector on a rainy day though..)

Do what you want but if the screws were through the treadblocks and not the carcass my experience has been positive with no problem. If you think about it threadblocks wear off or sometimes chunk and that does not necessarily compromise the integrity of the tire.

I chunked one the left front @ Barber on the first day, I rotated it, modified my driving style, and proceeded to abuse it for another 300 or so track miles with no problems

By the way, if you think they are not safe for the track in controlled conditions and run-off areas I would not feel too good about them in rush hour traffic with 65,000 lbs semis driving around me either..

Of course your actual milleage may vary, do what you think is safe and reasonable.

Sorry about your luck man that sucks !

My 2 cents.

 

TA2, Thanks for your feedback. I spoke to Kieran at GranTurismo and he told me I should be OK. I explained that the screws did not penetrate the metal and no air leaked. He said I should be good to go. So I will go with a clean conscience and brake like hell for 10a and pray as usual in turn 12. I will do a little testing and a lot of pressure checks along the way but I feel pretty good about it. I appreciate everyone’s response and I will update you Sunday evening when I get back from the track.

 

I'll add my two cents worth since I've had a lot of experience with tire "situations." You should not have any problems. Think of the the impressions left by the screws as just additional sipes in the tire. The carcass was not compromised.

I hate to admit it, but I did our DE event at CMP with a "plugged" tire that caught a big screw a couple months earlier. Of course, I only did this because I have the tire pressure monitoring system and I kept a close eye on the tire's condition.

 

6 sessions, 2 tanks of gas and no problems with the tires at all. They were awesome! Helped me to knock 10 sec off of my lap time.

 

I asked my mechanic about plugging a hole on my old bmw. He also does tire work and preps race cars. He said a patched tire could be used safely on the track but not a plugged tire.