Gash in my front offside tyre!

Basil_Fawlty

BobToo wrote:

It would be practically impossible to damage the tyre casing when the wheel is off the car. Even a sledgehammer would just bounce off an inflated tyre. You really need the weight of the car behind it to do any real damage. I think it must have been kerbed.

Personally I would have had no qualms about driving on the tyre with the cut but I wouldn't drive on a tyre with a bulge.

But the wire casing/mesh could have been damaged beforehand? That tyre is only a few months old so I wouldn't have noticed. Well I didn't notice till the Kwik Fit bloke pointed it out and I ran my hand across the sidewall.

sk1n

hi Spaceage,

As an Ex- Tyre fitter i have seen hundreds of these kinda thing, i can say 100% that it wouldn`t have been done when u had the wheels balanced, the hammering u heard was the tyre fitter putting the balance weights on to the wheel rim & this in no way would do ANY damage to the tyre.

It is quite a gash & i would say that it has been done whilst driving, (am more convinced of this by the angle of the gash).

If this was on my car the first thing i would check for is to see if there was any of the tyres cords/rayon exposed, if there is its a defo MOT failure & illegal to drive on, u may have to poke arond in the gash to see this but as long as u don`t put too mush force on the instrument u are using then u won`t do any firthuer damage. If ur satisfied that u can only see (black) rubber then the tyre is still legal, One thing u need to make sure is that there is no "bulge" in the side wall of the tyre, This would indicate that the tyre has sustained severe damage & will need changing immediatly.
If u are still worried about then u can put the tyre on the rear of the car as in the unlikely event of a blow out all that normally happens is that the car has a tendancy to fishtail which is much easier to control than a flat on the front.

If u still have concerns then change the wheel for your spare and take the tyre to an "INDEPENDANT" tyre shop, avoid the likes of Kwick Fit & ATS like the plague they just want to sell u a new tyre at greatly inflated prices. They will be able to inspect the tyre & give u a hopefully honest opinion & wether or not the tyre needs replacing.

Sorry for the long post but seeing the length of this thread i thought it was needed to clear up the issue for u.

Thx Sk1n.

PS if u could post a pic of the tyre with a bit of the wheel in view would help to guesstimate the size of the damage, cause at second glance of the pic its not as harsh as i first thought.

Wig

The bulge makes the tyre an MOT fail anyway. If you try to get a manufacturers warranty on the tyre and they say no then you've lost the tyre completely.

If you put it on the rear and keep driving, and change it when you MOT it, you will atleast get some more use out of it, possibly until it's bald. You never know how long it will last, it sounds as though the blister is slight, and it may not get bigger, then again it might. But imo your worrying over nothing.

The gash could have been a bit of glass or a nail you would not remember driving over it. The blister IMO has to be either manufacturer defect or kerb damage. Of the two the blister is definately the more serious but still not serious IMO, but that's me.

sk1n

No disrespect, but if there is a blister on the sidewall of the tyre this is a serious thing, the composition of the tyre is such that if u have a "bulge" in the sidewall then it indicates that the actual structure of the tyre has been badly damaged and is both illegal & potentially dangerous, u will be able to feel if it has a bulge by running your hand along the sidewall of the tyre.

For more legal defininition check here : http://www.etyres.co.uk/uk-tyre-law

Wig

I agree with you, but I would not be bothered by it.

Basil_Fawlty

Cheers for that sk1n - here's a pic of the tyre as you asked - hope this is what you wanted!






I've indicated where the bulge is but of all the pics I took, this one shows it up the best. Hope it helps! :T

By the way the bulge is kind of oblong from top to bottom, not circular which it may appear from the circle I drew around it

sk1n

i wouldn`t worry too much about the cut it doesnt look that big when shown in the context of a whole tyre, but put it on the back if your at all worried.

As for the bulge it is one of 2 things, either it is damage to the tyre or it is where the casing of the tyre joins, to tell this if there is a similar bulge on the "inside" wall of the tyre (ie...dead opposite but inside of wheel) then its a manufacturers join & nothing to worry about, If its just on the out side then its most probably a damaged tyre in which case take it to a "independant" tyre dealership & get it checked out.

The tyre looks quite new & would be a shame to waste but i have seen tyres with just a few miles on that have had to be changed for similar damage.

Hope it helps
Sk1n

Wig

Why not email Dunlop with your photo? See what they say.

highet

sorry, i wouldn't risk my life and others for the sake of £45

Basil_Fawlty

Today I visited Kwik Fit who again said that I should really replace it due to the "blistering" - I then went to a mate's recommended place, it's a little independent garage doing basically what kwik fit do - the guy took one look, had a feel and said that it's where the tyre joins up and there was indeed a similar "lump" on the inside wall of the tyre. "Nothing to worry about mate" was his opinion. He didn't say anything about the cut either so I'm forgetting about it. :T

Cheers guys for the help, sorry it went on for so long but hey I've learned something about tyres and I've also learned that I should never touch Kwik-Fit with a bargepole. :rotfl: I hope none of you will either! Kwik Fit are a bunch of charlatans!! :mad: They should be termed "Krap-Fit" :rolleyes: