Hi, there,
This Friday, when driving on road, the tire pressure light was on. Then I went off the car (a 2008 toyota 4runner sr5) and check the front right tire (it is Dunlop at20, P265/65R17 110S).

A screw was in the tread but was less than 1/2 inch to the edge of the tread area (I mean, when you stand the tire on the ground, and look directly facing the treads, the screw was close to the edge but not on the side).

I checked the pressue of this tire. It was 22psi (normally it should be 32psi) and I drove 5.3 miles with max speed 35miles without sharp turns at this pressure to the dealer.
The dealer replaced it with the spare tire on my car which is of the exact specification.
All four wheels (not the spare one) have milage 4184 miles.

My questions are:
1. Did driving with 22 psi cause damage to the rim of the wheel of the punched tire?
2. Should all wheels be balanced and rotated since the new spare tire was put on?

Thank you and regards,
-Chee

Welcome to the forum Chee!

1) Take your rim and tire (with the screw) to any tire guy in your area, they will check the tire and see it if they can patch it.

-if the tire needs to be patched from the inside that will be good because they have to remove the tire from the rim. When they do that they can inspect the rim and check for any damages. Most likely your rim will be fine! (if you dont see any damage from the outside) but the only way to know 100% for sure is to take the tire off the rim and inspect it.


2) No you do not need to balance your tires.

Good luck, I have 42 K mils on my At 20's and they still have a lot of tread left. They are really good ON ROAD tires.

Hi,MICA4R ,
Thank you very much for your kind and detailed reply!
-Chee

I would like to ask one more question:
After I drove back (5.3miles) from the dealer with the spare tire in place of the punctured one, I checked its tire pressure, which turned out to be 28psi. I had thought that the dealer should have inflated the spare tire to 32psi when they put it on.

Qeustion:
did driving with 28 psi cause a concern to the spare tire or the rim on it?

Thanks and regards!

Nope your fine

@ zachb NW: Thank you! So nothing to worry about the spare tire or its rim?

I have taken a picture (attached) of where the screw is, and it seems the puncture tire (mounted under the trunk) is unrepairable, right?

Thank you again for your help and suggestions!

Attached Images

 

That's what's called the shoulder of the tire. Most places won't patch a nail in that spot (including myself). That section of the tire flexes the most so patches don't hold well.

@ Acidmeld: Got it! Thank you!
Tomorrow I am going to order a new tire from the dealer. Do you think I should use the new tire instead of the spare tire? Can I ask the dealer to check the rim for the punctured tire?

You can have them check but I very much doubt there will be any damage to the rim. Just driving on a low tire will not hurt the metal. I generally run lower pressure when I wheel and I haven't hurt the rims yet.

Your spare should be the same as the rest of the stock tires, all 4th gens come with a full size spare.

So what you should do is have that tire patched if possible and use it as a spare.

And I seriously doubt you damaged the rim at 22psi, I go off road at 18psi and I hit much more extreme obstacles and turns with no damage.

Thank you two again! (maybe I am too worried!)

No problem Chee,

Unless the dealer is giving you a good deal, I dont think its a good idea to order a tire from the dealer. (they charge too much $$) What I would do personally, is replace(or patch if you can) the tire with a screw with the cheapest tire you can find and use it as a spare instead.

Don't worry too much about it... You'll probably never use the spare anyways.