Tire bulge - road hazard or defect?

[efusco]

My wife noticed this tire bulge after getting a low pressure warning on her Model X a few days ago. We/she hasn't had any hard impacts with curbs, pot holes, etc. that we recall. You can tell there's otherwise no sidewall or rim damage/wear. But when I reached out to our service manager he said they see this a lot and that it's not covered by warranty and is considered a road hazard issue. Says it's unsafe and the tire will need to be replaced at our cost.

Can someone confirm that that is accurate? For the record, we have a good relationship (the service manager and I), and I don't have any good reason to doubt him other than my gut instinct told me this was a manufacturing defect.

 

[Darren Donovan]

If the tire has never had an impact with anything, that's a manufacturing defect. The bulge area is a weak spot, the tire is not safe to drive on. I've had it on a previous car, I got the replacement tire at no charge.

 

[bkp_duke]

It's road hazard most likely. The lower-profile tires are much more sensitive to it, and if the car has air suspension you might have hit a significant enough pothole to cause it and never noticed.

Pay it, understand it is the cost of having low-profile tires, and move on.

 

[efusco]

It's road hazard most likely. The lower-profile tires are much more sensitive to it, and if the car has air suspension you might have hit a significant enough pothole to cause it and never noticed.

Pay it, understand it is the cost of having low-profile tires, and move on.

I really wanted to click "dislike" to your post...but you're most likely right....I just don't have to like it!

 

[bkp_duke]

LoL. Yeah.

Sadly, been there several times. . . . oddly enough, it's always the wife's car. And she "swears" she didn't hit anything.

 

[efusco]

LoL. Yeah.

Sadly, been there several times. . . . oddly enough, it's always the wife's car. And she "swears" she didn't hit anything.

Since my wife doesn't read this forum...I think it's safe to say...same.

 

[snellenr]

Looks like there's a scuff on the top of the "N" in the first picture -- guessing that when the tire hit the far side of the pothole (or whatever), the sidewall collapsed enough to let the "N" rub along the edge of the pothole (or whatever).

 

[SDRick]

I have had luck getting them replaced through a tire dealer or manufacturer depending on the age and brand of the tire. It's worth a try.

 

[sillydriver]

For two seasons I used Pirelli Sottozero snows mounted onto the same 21" wheels I use for summer tires on my MS. After two winters the service center people pointed out that one of the snows had two serious looking bulges, and another had one. This past season I bought 19" wheels and winter tires and there have been no problems so far. I think very low profile tires are just not good on potholed winter roads. It's also possible that winter tires have weaker sidewalls than high-performance summer tires.

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I'm pretty sure that's a defect. A pothole big enough to damage the wires in the sidewall to the point where they bulge should also cause a fair bit of damage to the outside of the tire in a much larger area than you're seeing.

If you're driving along, hit a pothole, and it deforms the sidewall enough to break the wires, there should also be some scrapes/etc ahead of and behind the bulge given how fast you would have to be going to cause that damage. It can come from hitting a curb too, but like you said you would also see damage to the wheel.

This pdf has a good example of separation causing sidewall issues under "Damage Induced Sidewall Separation".

http://www.euroratas.lt/galery/_eur...cija/radial_tire_conditins_analysis_guide.pdf

If the tire is newer, I'd also use that to push it being a defect. You can reference this tirerack article.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=159

If they still won't budge, and you still want to push it being a defect, have the tire replaced and make sure they give the old one back to you. Do not leave until you have it. When you do have it, check the inside, if there's no obvious damage/distortion there, that's just one more piece supporting a defect.

If they still won't budge, cut the sidewall open along that side. If there's no evidence of damage to the interior layers of the tire or the wire spacing is off, that again points to a defect. If they still won't budge after all this, you'll only be able to resolve it by either contacting corporate or by contacting the manufacturer to ask them if the damage is representative of hitting something like a pothole at high speed.

If you do find damage on the inside of the tire, it probably was a pothole. If the department of transportation lets you file claims for damage caused by unrepaired problems with the road, ask the shop if they can pull the logs and get you info on where the damage likely occured.