Small Stick Punctured Sidewall

[Bailes1992]

TPMS light came on driving home yesterday so dropped by the local fuel station to check all the tyre pressures and found the rear N/S tyre on 15psi. It was dark and I couldn't see much so carried on home. Looked this morning in the light to see a stick hanging out of the sidewall...

The tyre is a Toyo Open Country ATIII with less than 10k on it but unrepairable. Haven't done any off roading or green laning for a little while so not a clue where it came from.

 

[k1xv]

Tough break. Maybe there is a tree growing inside your tire, trying to get out for sunlight and fresh air.

 

[Kira]

Sometimes things just line up right...in your case, wrong.

I instantly thought of neighbors who had a lovely, trim retriever which, whilst bounding through the woods, drove a stick deep up into a front paw. Ouch.

Once, a hair of a wire got into a friend's tire causing a slow leak. The stream of bubbles it made in the tub were unbelievably small.
The question is...how do things like this have the strength to go through a tire?

 

[I<3oil]

Ouch that really sucks. how have you been liking the AT3?

 

[JavierH19]

I'm gonna be honest I'd try to plug it. It's at the very top of the wall and it seems to have gone in at enough of an angle to where it didn't go into the cables and that tire has a rather meaty upper wall so there's material for the plug to bond well to. Plug it deep, at worst air slowly leaks out but I've never had that happen to any plug I've done let alone a failure. They don't blow out like an 18 wheeler retread like some people imagine in their heads and start freaking out. Genuinely try to plug it. Use a good rope plug and lots of adhesive. I would only give up on plugging it if you can feel the cables but I'm fairly sure you won't though. A non rotted stick is strong enough to puncture thick tire rubber but steel cables is likely too much for it unless it's at a very high speed.

Edit: Before someone replies yes it's bad to plug a wall when 99% of the time the puncture is within the thin area of the wall. This looks like a 1% scenario. If the stick went in a half inch below where it did I'd junk the tire too. But the upper wall on this particular A/T almost off road looking tire is rather thick looking so plugging the thick upper most part of the wall isn't a crazy idea. Plugging a wall where there's hardly any material is obviously a bad idea.

 

[John105]

bummer....oddly 2X in 2024, we've gotten screws that just so happened to insert themselves in the outer tread. I've wondered if it's sabotage, meaning likely no, but it did cross my mind

 

[RooflessVW]

Jam a plug in it.

 

[burbguy82]

Jam a plug in it.

So much is said about sidewall damage and it repairability.

The tire did not blow up when the stick made penetration.

I would give it a shot, with any increase in air pressure to lessen the flexing of the tire, maybe 10 psi more. And keep it on the front.

 

[oldcodger]

I would try plugging it. This kind of thing was very common in my area before they paved the roads. About once a year the road machine would clean the ditches by pulling the dirt back into the road. Of course you got sticks, nails, glass and other junk pulled back into the tire tracks. We were guaranteed to have a couple of flats.

 

[RooflessVW]

So much is said about sidewall damage and it repairability.

The tire did not blow up when the stick made penetration.

I would give it a shot, with any increase in air pressure to lessen the flexing of the tire, maybe 10 psi more. And keep it on the front.

Better on the rear if you're worried about sudden loss of pressure. I wouldn't increase the pressure, just plug it and see how it does.

I have plugged that area with no problems. Flexing isn't going to bother a quality rope plug.

 

[JavierH19]

So much is said about sidewall damage and it repairability.

The tire did not blow up when the stick made penetration.

I would give it a shot, with any increase in air pressure to lessen the flexing of the tire, maybe 10 psi more. And keep it on the front.

Say the worst happens and the plug flies out which I highly doubt will happen. Wouldn't it be best to have it in the rear so steering isn't as affected and the front likely won't get scraped from going down too much especially given the small rims while the rear clearance is generally higher off the ground. And as far as pressure that makes sense but I wonder if less psi would help in not pushed the plug out. Not disagreeing, just curious if I'm not thinking of something.

 

[Pablo]

Broken off target arrow?

 

[JavierH19]

I would try plugging it. This kind of thing was very common in my area before they paved the roads. About once a year the road machine would clean the ditches by pulling the dirt back into the road. Of course you got sticks, nails, glass and other junk pulled back into the tire tracks. We were guaranteed to have a couple of flats.

+1 on attempting to plug it, looks possible.

It's true that it was more common but tires were a lot more different back then. They were usually retreadable with a thick thread and had a thick wall since tires were more narrow so to support the thread the walls had to be a bit thicker. I think the construction of the old bias ply made it to where it could be more repairable on the wall than the modern radial ply of today but that's all up for debate and if that's even a worthwhile thing to debate about is also up for debate.

https://www.cedarrapidstire.com/blog/tire-construction-radial-vs-bias/

 

[burbguy82]

Better on the rear if you're worried about sudden loss of pressure

Wouldn't it be best to have it in the rear so steering

My opinion is based of that it is a truck of SUV and could be loaded with weight or a trailer....and

Also, you have control over the front and where it goes, with or without a tire. In the rear, there is do control. You could fishtail and lose control. Some would agree and some would disagree.

Lock up your rear brakes and see how much control you have over where the car goes.

 

[JavierH19]

My opinion is based of that it is a truck of SUV and could be loaded with weight or a trailer....and

Also, you have control over the front and where it goes, with or without a tire. In the rear, there is do control. You could fishtail and lose control. Some would agree and some would disagree.

Lock up your rear brakes and see how much control you have over where the car goes.

That makes sense.

 

[Rmay635703]

I tried to avoid a small animal carcass (raccoon) and instead it hit the inside edge of the front tire, had a flat and a slice the next am

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

High speed and Iron wood?

 

[RooflessVW]

My opinion is based of that it is a truck of SUV and could be loaded with weight or a trailer....and

Also, you have control over the front and where it goes, with or without a tire. In the rear, there is do control. You could fishtail and lose control. Some would agree and some would disagree.

Lock up your rear brakes and see how much control you have over where the car goes.

Locking up your rear brakes and a sudden loss of pressure is not the same thing.

Sudden loss of pressure on front - car pulls suddenly to the left or right, and you lose half your grip to recover. You may loose control and drop off the shoulder, or into oncoming traffic. The car could flip if the shoulder is soft.

Sudden loss of pressure on rear - rear drops a few inches and the car will wiggle but you'll still have all your steering and braking grip on the front.

 

[TCL]

Michelin used to say when traveling at highway speeds and it blows out to floor the gas pedal to keep it straight and slow down gradually. They learned this from police chases. Then they tested it and it works....don't slam on the brakes.

 

[Cujet]

Tire plug kits vary greatly in quality. I've had good luck with the Slime brand and the Victor brand. Especially when the plugs and the rubber cement are fresh. I believe most plug failures are due to improper installation. I've never had one leak or fail.

I prefer the brown color, as it is easier to see how things are progressing during plug installation.