I have been freaking out for a couple of days now about my 2002 S2k (about 3 months old, came with these tires at 16000 miles) because it was pulling to the left, like an alignment problem. With some relief I discovered the driver/rear tire had about 12 lbs. with a screw buried in the tread. But this brought up a bit of a quandry and I would like some advice.
Tires are Bridgestone S-03 PP with about 75% left on front and 30% on rear.

Should I (in order of increasing expense):
1) Plug/patch (a little nervous about "spirited" driving on this)
2) Buy new S-03 for the rear (thinking about wait for fronts to wear down and change all back to OE S-02 at the same time)
3) Change all tires for a cheaper alternative now
4) Change all to OE S-02 now

I haven't driven the car with the OE tires, and wonder if it makes that much difference. I also wonder if the rear S-03 should be sized 245/45WR16 instead of the 225's on there now (came from the dealer with them.)

 

You won't wear down the fronts before the rears are dangerous.

If the puncture is in the tread part and not close to the sidewall, an internal patch is fine. Check the balance after.

Yes. Only OEM S02 rears should be of the 225 size.

If you're going to do this, buy 2.

Your other choices would involve throwing away good fronts. That becomes a personal choice.

 

yea just buy 2 for the rear.

 

This is what I plan to do. My fronts are fine right now and I'll need to replace my rears maybe in a couple months.

 

Moving to Tire/wheel forum