| Author |
Message |
    
Scott Kopiec (Skopiec)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 10:03 am: | 
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When washing my truck after an off-road trip I noticed that there were some good sized cuts/chunks out of the sidewalls of all of my tires (BFG AT's). None of them appear to be down to the belts, but are relatively deep nonetheless. When do you guys replace your tires? They only have about 18K miles on them, so I'd hate to ditch 'em, but I will if they're unsafe.
Scott |
Scott Kopiec (Skopiec)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 11:55 am: |
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I looked at the tires again and I think I'm gonna replace 'em - better safe than sorry. If I went to a slightly larger size, like 245/70 or 245/75, would I need to buy the same size spare? I know that having mismatched sized tires with a limited slip is bad, but I wasn't sure about the open diffs on the disco. |
Blue (Bluegill)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 01:33 pm: |
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sidewalls get chewed when you off-road. no way to avoid it. If they're still holding air, then they're OK. Of course, they may have been weakened a bit, but I wouldn't drive around in fear of a catastrophic blowout. Those BFG's sidewalls are made to take some abuse, but the outer rubber is going to lose against rocks every time. It's what's beneath the rubber that counts. |
Leslie N. Bright (Leslie)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 02:02 pm: |
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Yes, you need to buy a 5th tire, though, when you change sizes, FWIW....
-L |
DaveB
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 02:39 pm: |
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If your BFG/AT sidewall looks like this, you better get a new tire!
-Dave |
p m
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 03:11 pm: |
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how deep's the cut, Dave?
my BFGs seen worse and are still okay.
peter |
DaveB
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 03:32 pm: |
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The cut went all the way through- Trashed a new BFG/TAko with about 2k miles. Thankfully I had the extended warranty that covered repair or replacement of any road hazard damage. Got a new tire free. The extra $20 cost for the extened warranty sure paid itself off. The tire shop didn't seem to care about the damage happening off road.
Another lesson learned:
Carry two spares when traveling in remote areas if you are not traveling in a group of similar vehilces. I was out with a friend with toyota... not a disco. If I got a second flat, which could happen, I would really be stuck.
Dave |
Scott Kopiec (Skopiec)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 03:38 pm: |
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The cuts/chunks are pretty deep (maybe 3-4mm deep), but they don't expose any cords or belts. I stopped by the tire shop on my lunch break so they could take a look. They thought it looked OK - with the 3 ply sidewalls of the BFG's, it shouldn't be a problem. However, they certainly look worse than the above photo!
Scott |
p m
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 04:06 pm: |
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Scott,
on my brother's jeep, he had a circumferential cut on the sidewall, all the way to the 1st cord layer. The tire didn't show any changes in geometry, and lived happily for another few hundred miles.
peter |
Scott Kopiec (Skopiec)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 04:07 pm: |
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A few hundred miles? Then what happened?
Scott |
Curtis N (Curtis)
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 04:15 pm: |
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Scott,
If the tire shop (whose business is to sell tires) is telling you it is OK, then it probably is. I get cuts now and then. Nothing you can do about it. Just drive and be happy until you lose air. If anything, I guess you could move the worse one to the spare.
Curtis |
Jake Porter
| | Posted on Monday, May 20, 2002 - 06:14 pm: |
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I received some pretty large cuts myself BFGs 265/75 before I realized the body was cutting my rear tires due to the wheel well not being trimmed. I thought it was worth mentioning.
Good luck Jake... |
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