Tyre sidewall damage advice pls...

Hate · 20 Feb 2012 at 14:22

Now, normally I would say ANY sidewall damage to the tyre then it should be binned as it's not safe, however I just had an argument with a kerb and have taken a *small* chunk out of my passenger front. As you can see it's about the size/depth of a biro point and you can't see any cords underneath, is this tyre still safe to drive on if say I stuck the flap back down? Or shall I just bin it and replace? Annoying as it still has a decent amount of tread left.

rodenal · 20 Feb 2012 at 14:26

It's too hard to say with your picture - if it's literally a mm or so deep I really wouldn't worry about it, but if it's enough that you can see a proper chunk from the tyre then it's not really worth risking imo. I had a similar situation recently which seen me have to bin a perfectly good sport contact 3 for a new one at £120ish, not what I had in mind for January but these things happen!

Rybo89 · 20 Feb 2012 at 15:22

When in doubt, sort it out!

Muncher · 20 Feb 2012 at 15:32

If you can't see any cord and there are no bulges then it is fine.

ci_newman · 20 Feb 2012 at 15:55

Go for a test run down your local motorway. If you hit 150mph and it doesn't blow out, you'll be fine.

Siliconslave · 20 Feb 2012 at 16:29

Muncher said:
If you can't see any cord and there are no bulges then it is fine.

I've been told this by a tyre garage I trust, the fact they didn't try and sell me a new tyre would lead me to believe they weren't having me on

Type_R · 20 Feb 2012 at 16:31

Muncher said:
If you can't see any cord and there are no bulges then it is fine.

Is that view based on any evidence?

Because using that rule I should be fine driving on this on the motorway:

mjt · 20 Feb 2012 at 16:34

The one above ^^, no thanks.
Hate, yours will be fine IMO.

Type_R · 20 Feb 2012 at 17:15

mjt said:
The one above ^^, no thanks.
Hate, yours will be fine IMO.

Whats the difference? Slightly larger cut, no bulging and can't see any cords!

Amoeba · 20 Feb 2012 at 17:20

I've had a big chunk out of one of my tyres for over 12 months now. A few mm deeps for about an inch long. No cords showing and the MOT garage told me it was fine..

bledd · 20 Feb 2012 at 17:22

^And someone has tried to tipp-ex out the mistake..

ganesh · 20 Feb 2012 at 18:13

Muncher said:
If you can't see any cord and there are no bulges then it is fine.

What this man says, i damaged a sidewall in a similar fashion and took it to the local tyre place. They had a quick look and all was fine, however it will fail an mot.

[TW]Fox · 20 Feb 2012 at 18:18

ganesh said:
They had a quick look and all was fine, however it will fail an mot.

Surely if it will fail an MOT all is quite obviously not fine?

ganesh · 20 Feb 2012 at 18:22

[TW]Fox;21307839 said:
Surely if it will fail an MOT all is quite obviously not fine?

You'd think so, however the tyre man had a look and said as the cords aren't exposed then it's nothing to worry about. I continued to drive on it until the next mot and no bulges appeared, so it seemed ok to me.

[TW]Fox · 20 Feb 2012 at 18:24

ganesh said:
You'd think so, however the tyre man had a look and said as the cords aren't exposed then it's nothing to worry about. I continued to run drive on it until the next mot and no bulges appeared, so it seemed ok to me.

If there was nothing to worry about why would it fail the MOT?

I wouldn't trust the advice of a tyre man any more than I'd trust the person on the checkout at Tesco to tell me which wine was best with whatever I'd just bought.

A tyre man sells tyres he doesn't manufacturer them or test them or anything else that might give his opinion on safety any more weight than anyone else in the street.

johnny6 · 20 Feb 2012 at 18:27

I may have used the above before or not who knows

Type_R · 20 Feb 2012 at 18:47

I think the only way of settling this is to call Goodyear and find out what they think. Ill give them a call tomorrow and report back!

Dogbreath · 20 Feb 2012 at 19:18

Type_R said:
Is that view based on any evidence?

Because using that rule I should be fine driving on this on the motorway:

It may be ok, though it is significantly larger and it does look quite deep.

Type_R · 21 Feb 2012 at 16:09

Dogbreath said:
It may be ok, though it is significantly larger and it does look quite deep.

Just had it replaced by http://www.toptread.com/NewToptread/ tyres in High Wycombe. When the tyre came off clearly one could see a cord and so it would have been an MOT failure.

Also I would seriously recommend people staying away from Toptread tyres as they ripped me off. Charged me £15 for changing the tyre and then asked for £25 to 'sand down' the alloy edge which was 'cutting into' the inside of the tyre. When I came to pay I assumed that it was £25 all in (cash) but they apparently actually meant £40. So I ended up paying £35 for one tyre change/balance/ and 10 seconds of sanding. Never going back there again!

red eye · 21 Feb 2012 at 16:35

Hate said:
Now, normally I would say ANY sidewall damage to the tyre then it should be binned as it's not safe, however I just had an argument with a kerb and have taken a *small* chunk out of my passenger front. As you can see it's about the size/depth of a biro point and you can't see any cords underneath, is this tyre still safe to drive on if say I stuck the flap back down? Or shall I just bin it and replace? Annoying as it still has a decent amount of tread left.

if you can see chord then scrap. but I think a cut sidewall is still an mot fail