So I'm on my way to hop into my girlfriend's car to go to the airport when I look over at my 2004 4Runner. I took it through the car wash to clean up it before my flight. So... what do I see. In the front driver side tire there's a thumb tac hanging there. I thought this was rather amuzing so I called my girlfriend over to take a look at it.

Thinking it was simply stuck there, I proceeded to pull it out. Next thing I know, I've got the thumb tac in my hand and air pouring out of my tire. I was SO PISSED. A THUMB TAC !!!! I've only had the car 3 months !!!! I ended up calling Toyota and they sent roadside to change out the spare for the flat. So now, I have to wait to get back from my trip to replace that stupid DUNLOP out of my pocket!!!!! The tire barely has 3000 miles on it.

DUNLOP

The thumbtack was stuck in the sidewall? That sucks. Yet another reason to never use automatic car washes.

Thats nasty, to bad you didn't have it last week. I just gave away my stock dunlops

Been there done that. I got a big chunk of metal stuck in the rear tire of my MR2 Spyder. at the time only had 1800 miles on it. cost $150 bucks for a new tire.Now that sucks.

It's a good time to upgrade all the tires!! Well, not really, but still it's a reason to upgrade now! Street-biased tires have thin sidewall. If you want tough tires, then look at the BFG AT KO's.

Mine had about 5k on it when I got a nail in the tire. I ad seen it in there while I was washing it, but figured it wasn't hurting anything, so I just kept an eye on te tire pressure for about a month. It never leaked at all. I just happened to have some time and was by the NTB so I went in to get it plugged. My f'ing luck, it was right on the edge of the tread, so the plug/patch would hold. I had to replace it. The amazing thing was that it never leaked. I had even been out on the track at Talladega doing about 120.......i had forgotten about it until I came off the track.

Yours goes 120!!! Mine's still new, so haven't tried to see how it does at high speed, or how fast it'll go.... and the highway patrol is really clamping down out here these days

BUT, I've read that the 4Runners have govenors on them, that keep them from going much over 100MPH. Have you altered yours, or am I reading incorrectly.

120!? My governor kicks in at 115 or just a little past the 110 mark (I found out on the freeway). How did you get it to go 120, and what do I need to do to keep up?

I just had the pedal down.......I was looking more at the track and the pace car in front of me, but when we came off the track the pace car driver was telling me the top speed. I kept about a 40 yard distance between us, but it was the ame distance all the way around.

When I get back from my business trip I'm going to have to replace this tire. Should I go to the dealer with an already purchased replacment tire for mounting?? I'm concerned about the air pressure sensor not working properly if I take it to some local shop to mount the tire.

I would dismount tire,patch inside,remount.

BFG AT KOs are excellent tires. I had them on and they did well in snow and ice. Excellent offroad also.

Had a flat tire on a gravel road the other day. THe tire shop said it looked like a rock poked a hole right where the sidewall meets the tread.
I know the tires on the new 4R are 4 ply with 2 ply walls; will heavier duty tires impact the overall ride of the vehicle?
Thanks

I have heard comments in a couple of places from people who think the BFG AT KO have relatively easily punctured sidewalls.

I wonder how the sidewall puncture resistance of Bridgestone Dueler Revo's in, say, LT-C load rating would compare to BFG AT KOs of the same load rating?

Rotated my tires the other day and noticed a nail or screw in the tire, looks like it went right through, I left it and so far it is holding air and no problem on the highway, it's in the center