After a night out, I was driving home on the local roads and suddenly I hear a thumping noise coming from my driver's side rear tire. Thankfully I hadn't hit the highway yet, and I was able to immediately pull into a Shell station. I look and see a nail sticking out from the tire. So I'm like "aww, sh*t...I'm screwed."

I then noticed it had gone in sideways from the top of the tire (not through the sidewall), and I was able to feel the bulge it created on the tire. I was also able to tell that only about a 1/4 of the nail penetrated, which I know is nowhere enough to cause a leak once I pull the nail out.

Thankfully, one of the employees at the gas station had pliers and after a few minutes of struggling, I pulled the sucker out. It's about 2 and a 1/2 inches...take a look at the pic. But anyways, I still had about a 5-6 mile drive home on a very bumpy highway, and was worried that if there was any damage to the tire, I might run into problems.

I had the PSI Monitor on and was able to constantly monitor the rear tire and after about 5 minutes of driving, I felt very relaxed knowing the tire is fine. Had I been in the Audi when this happened (it doesn't display PSI), I'd have probably been very nervous and worried about how the tire was holding up.

The PSI Monitor has always been one of my favorite features about my car, and I still think it was a very bad move on Nissan's part to remove it for the 07+ Zs. It very much came in handy today, truly a useful tool when you need it.

 

Agreed. Anytime I hear a questionable noise from the tires i always turn it to the PSI readout and watch it like a hawk. Great feature

 

Haha, I frequently have a pebble wedge itself in between the tread, and when I hear the *tickticktickticktick* as I drive, I immediately check my PSI display.

 

Neat.

 

Lucky you. I got a 3 ****ing inch thick threaded screw through my stock tires a few days ago... through the SIDEWALL and into the tire. irreplaceable and losing 5psi every night and i'm sure the head would have ripped off (was not flush at the penetration point) and caused a flat out irreparable leak.

New PS2's on today. Lucky you though, i was so nervous driving it around... I miss the readout too, I have an 07 and all I got was the stupid general light telling me 'something' was wrong with my tire pressure.

 

I agree 100%. I check my monitors constantly and has saved me quiet a few times. I don't know why they'd put the monitors in without having number readouts.

 

Probably to stop all the complaints about them when they were off by a PSI or two. That and the issue of reprogramming or swapping sensors when swapping wheels.

 

I do not have TPMS so I have to look at the tires. Yes its sad but I can handle it.

 

So you can handle sticking your whole body out of the window at 30 or 70MPH, turning your head around to see a flat tire while you're moving? And what happens if the problem is on the passenger side? There's more to it than just looking at the tire before you get into the car - problems occur while you're already on the road.

 

i find myself becoming more and more cautious, almost overly, with the psi guage ha. I had a screw in mine a few days ago and luckily it didnt puncture. Plus ive never owned a car that was loud in many ways from the factory so i get a lil paranoid at times. but ya the psi sensors are def a huge plus.

 

So do you do all of this mentioned above in your Audi?

Us normal people just pull over to the side of the road and examine the tire.

 

Funny, let me see you "pull over" on some of the highways nearby my parts; I'll give you a hint: there are no shoulders, so if you hear a funny noise from your tires here, there's no pulling over - it's tough sh*t until the next exit. This is why I was thankful it happened before the highway, and right by a gas station. Where I live is a far cry from Suffolk roads and highways, friend.

Again, I didn't discover the nail because of the PSI monitor. I heard the nail clunking about. I only used the PSI monitor to make sure the tire wasn't losing air. Checked on it this morning after it's been sitting for 10 hours, and it's still perfect.

 

What does Suffolk have to do with anything? I don't live in Suffolk.

I was born in NYC and grew up in NYC and still travel all over NYC by car to this day. The longest you will ever have to travel without having a shoulder or an exit in NYC is going through the Lincoln Tunnel and its only about a mile and half long. Unless you have a tire blowout, in which case checking your PSI monitor isn't going to tell you anything you can't already feel, you can safely maneuver a vehicle to a safe spot should you need to examine your tire.

Like Davidv said those of us who don't have TPS or have not installed it in our aftermarket wheels (as myself) can handle it.

 

What? The LIE has a "shoulder" between exits 21 and 30, but not one that's usable for our Zs - especially those with drops, it's an extremely sharp curb. What about the Jackie Robinson? No shoulder. The Grand Central near Astoria (which is where I was at), also has a non-Z friendly shoulder, which comes and goes. So it's not like you can just stop anywhere at anytime, chances are you'll still have to drive a bit until you can get to a safe entry point that won't damage your car.

And again, I think you and Davidv fail to realize I'm not stressing the importance of the TPMS in this situation, so much as I am stressing it as a tool that ensured me my tire is perfectly fine after I pulled the nail out. Yes, I'd have realized a flat or that nail in my tire either way, but I'd sure have been very worried while driving home without the peace of mind the system brought me.

 

Yeah the engineering that went into this car is amazing.