‘Anybody Got Any Idea What These Are?’ Mechanic Works on a Customer’s Truck. Then He Sees Something Unusual on the Tire

'Maybe it’s a truss plate from Temu.'

Photo by: TikTok

By: Nina Hernandez

Jun 24, 2025 at 9:00pm ET

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A mechanic is working to patch a tire on a customer’s truck when he notices something unusual. He doesn’t recognize the tiny pieces of apparent plastic that caused the damage.

TikTok user @sh*ttytire is a mechanic based in North Mississippi who posted a video asking for help identifying his discovery on Wednesday. In the video, he reveals that he is working on the truck of a customer who came in to resolve a flat tire. “Anybody got any idea what these are?” he says to start the video.

He explains that there are about five or six of the pieces embedded in the woman’s tire. “They’re just sharp pieces of plastic,” he says. “All the same shape and size. Just weird. I’m just not 100% sure what they could be.”

There Is One Important Clue to The Mystery

The mechanic says the woman told him she likely drove over the pieces when traveling down an old gravel road. “I just never seen nothing like that,” he says.

In the comments section, viewers engaged in a heated debate over whether the mysterious objects were nails broken off from a horseshoe or a truss plate, which is a piece of metal with spikes used in home construction. Others pointed out that it's not likely that the mechanic is correct in identifying the material as plastic.

“They’re not truss plate spikes,” wrote one person. “Those are tire puncture spikes and they kind of look like that old thing from the toy jacks. When you run over the piece [it] breaks off in your tire and that’s what the piece that breaks off looks like.”

The commenter continued, “They have like five or six of those sticking off of it so most likely they were deliberately put out on a road or it was a place people have been driving and they’re not supposed to.”

What are ‘Tire Puncture Spikes’?

A spike strip is a device used by law enforcement and military personnel to stop fleeing vehicles. When a car drives over the strip, tiny spikes embed into its tires. The tires deflate after a short period of time, rendering the vehicle disabled.

Use of the spike strip to protect private property, however, is a murky legal area. Attorney George Khoury notes that while you might technically be able to fulfill your “Home Alone” fantasy, it could potentially come along with some serious consequences. For instance, if your booby trap seriously injured someone, you could be liable for damages.

Of course, just because something isn’t advisable doesn’t automatically mean no one will do it. Stay safe out there, folks.

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Motor1 reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and direct message for comment.

Update July 11 9:30am ET: In correspondence with Motor1, the creator revealed, "I kind of told a little lie just to stir people up. They were aluminum lol.... Not really sure what they are tho."