is this possibly sabotage? no leak when discovered. when i tried to unscrew the screw its actually a long screw. my point is that if the screw lodged itself on road wouldnt it cause immediate pressure loss? seemingly this got screwed on thus no pressure loss? the screw flush to tire is how i discovered it. i unscrewed to that extent then took pic in second pic.
I once had a customer come in with a complaint of a knocking noise with each rotation of the left front tire.
Upon inspection, I found a 1/4" diameter x 4" long lag bolt stuck into the tread of the tire. And the noise they were hearing was the tip of the lag bolt hitting the inside of the wheel at each tire rotation.
The tire never lost any air.
Tester
It is incredibly hard for someone to use their hands to puncture your tire with a nail, unless they use a device, such as a hammer to do it, but that’s likely to increase the chance of being caught and I don’t think anyone would choose that method. If they turn the nail upside and position it under your tire for you to drive on it, that would be hard to determine without the use of a surveillance camera.
I think you are just unlucky like myself. When I had the Camry, I picked up two nails after each other and at a working zone.
its a screw not a nail. its peculiar that i had no pressure loss until i tried unscrewing it out and it did unscrew and upon unscrewing seeing the thread and also the length its quite a long screw. its suspicious that it got screwed in. it had to have been screwed in cause the damn thing caused no pressure loss and i lost pressure only when i unscrewed it.
Tester is correct. One of my tires with a nail never lost air but I could feel something bumping in the steering wheel. Thats how I learned about it.
As for screw, I don’t know 
I’d love to hear more on this subject from the community.
Interesting.
I had a screw in a tire recently. Stuff happens.
2 Likes
If it is on the right rear, you are 99% picking them up on the road. But loosing air is no indication of foul play. I picked up a 2 inch construction screw somewhere between Ohio and Illinois, and boy did I lose pressure. I also had a 16 d nail stuck in the side wall of my tire and never lost pressure. A little nail and lost about 10# a year on my trailer. Yeah, stuff happens. That’s why they have tire repair services, but that one looks pretty close to the sidewall and might not be repairable.
I used to see 10-20+ flat repairs a day, nothing abnormal about your screw in the tread…
Just take it to a tire shop and have it properly repaired with a patch-plug combo…
No conspiracy theory’s here, no need for the tinfoil hat…
1 Like
This is a simple case of bad luck and nothing more than that
1 Like
Especially for screws it’s not all that peculiar.
1 Like
A few years ago, after parking on the street in a nearby city, as I began to walk away from my vehicle, I noticed a LOT of drywall screws on the pavement that I had just driven over as I backed into my parking space. Because I was running late for a dental appointment, I didn’t have the time to examine my tires, and just had to hope for the best.
When I got back to the car, I checked my tire pressures, and they were all “normal”. When I got back home, I examined each tire very carefully, and–luckily–none of those drywall screws had lodged in any of my tires. But, the next person who drove over those screws might have been so lucky.
Debris tends to find its way onto the shoulder. Don’t cut corners when making turns. You might pick up nails and screw driving through an area more likely to have them on the ground. I used to work at a company with many buildings in a large industrial park. I had to go to some on the other side of the industrial park frequently. There was a metal recycling business on a corner where I turned to get to my destination. I picked up nails and screws there so often that I either walked or drove outside the industrial park, in the back way, and drove to work without passing the recycling business. All of my associates had similar experiences and avoided that corner too.
+1
If I am aware that a house in my neighborhood is having its roof replaced, I try to avoid that area for a few days.
1 Like
Yeah, I really cringe when I see a neighbor getting a new roof. My guys were very careful and used a magnet, still I bought my own and two years later I would still find a nail in the grass once in a while.
Contractors with trailers are another source. If the screws fall on the floor of the trailer they can fall out. The guys that built our cabin dropped a bunch on our parking area from the trailer. I’ll take a load to the dump maybe once a year or so and I’ll always stop and check the area before driving up to the dumpster. If a contractor had been there before, they aren’t that careful. So bad one time I told the operator they had better sweep the area. The nice thing about winter is the plows tend to clear. The roads.
Occam’s Razor - The simplest theory (random lost screw) that fit’s the equation is also the most likely.
The alternative is that some vandal / evil villan decided to take the time to insert a screw into your particular tire, as opposed to simply deflating/ slashing the tire.
I find screws of all sorts laying in the road. Common thing. Concur, most likely the cause is just bad luck.
If I was going to intentionally damage a tire, it wouldn’t require me figuring out how to put a screw in the middle of the tread. Much easier options…
3 Likes