Bulges in tyre sidewalls

[djhampson]

One of the tyres on Dad's RRS has developed a number of bulges in the sidewall. They stick out about 20mm or so and are only occuring on the outer wall.

Anyideas whats gone wrong? have we hit something? Faulty tyre?

The cars only got 3000km on the clock but it has done a few km off road (Fraser Is mostly).

Should this be fixed under warranty?

[spudboy]

In my experience, it is difficult to get tyres done under warranty. They always have a good excuse as to why you drove over something or ran it flat etc.

However there may have been a bad batch of tyres, and you'll be in luck.

Get it back to the dealer, but I'd not be all that hopeful of a positive outcome. At least that way you can be pleasantly surprised!

[djhampson]

Yeah, they'd better play nice because in the first 2 weeks it had to go back to the dealer for 3 separate faults.

Rear tailgate became jammed, the towing electrics weren't installed and then the turbo died.

[spudboy]

And you pay how much for "Pre-delivery"?....... :mad:

[V8Ian]

One of the tyres on Dad's RRS has developed a number of bulges in the sidewall. They stick out about 20mm or so and are only occuring on the outer wall.

Anyideas whats gone wrong? have we hit something? Faulty tyre?

The cars only got 3000km on the clock but it has done a few km off road (Fraser Is mostly).

Should this be fixed under warranty?
Could be separation, for which no doubt will be attributed to underinflation.

[Grumbles]

Take the car back and show them. And I'd be optimistic. It wasn't that long ago that I had a tyre problem and returned to the tyre retailer with whom I am a long term customer. My tyre problems occurred at about the 5000km mark. An inspection and a friendly discussion resulted in him immediately replacing all four tyres free of charge.

[nice1guv]

3000km is hardly an acceptable mileage from a tyre before failure.

As mentioned it could be due to low inflation whilst offroad, but is still unacceptable on a new car that is a 4wd.

Rips/tears/chucks are more likely in the sidewall before buldging.
Buldging is more likely due to material failure (possibly from manufacturing) and usually occurs in older tyres (which these are not).

Get it back to the dealer quick smart as they are a ticking time bomb.

[JDNSW]

I would say faulty tyres - warranty claim. Had one years ago on a company car that was accepted.

John

[twitchy]

get it off the car & take it in, these can go pop & become an ugly situation, what he has got should be no problems with a warranty claim. Sidewall sppos shouldn't happen this quick or usually at all.
I was a rubber monkey for a few years & it is not good to keep running on!!!!!!!!!!

[CraigE]

I have had a Bridgestone and a Dunlop do the same. Bridgestone was less than a week old and had only done 200kms. Dealer initially said I had run it flat, to which I replied well, you fitted them and inflated them 4 days ago. It was the old Toms Tyres and he reckoned he was not going to replace it. I rang the state Bridgestone manager and he said it would be replaced no problem and to take it back and he would arrange everything. Good service from Bridgestone, but lousy from Toms Tyres, he was still whinging when my Dad took it back in for me. Needless to say they went out of business less than 12 months later. My cousin had new tyres on his XA Falcon coupe, but had his steer blow out at speed writing off the XA. We found evidence the tyre that blew had done similar and his spare was the same. Bridgestones limit of responsability was to replace the set of tyres. Some time later we found out Bridgestone had had a bad batch of SF330 Eagers delaminating (our batch). Also had a Dunlop tyre do the same on my XD ute, Beaurepairs replaced it immediatelly (3 weeks old) but did so on the proviso it as sent back to Dunlop and if their genuine findings where it was damaged through impact then I would have to pay for it (it had not had any hard impact. Did not hear anything more.
There is usually 2 ways this happens :
The first is the tyres are not cured properly and the layers delaminate causing bubbles to form between the layers.
The second is the same but usually caused by severe impact such as hitting a gutter hard. Usually there are tell tale marks of an impact.
I would be expecting them to at least explore the damage and they should replace. There have been numerous cases of delamination in many tyres around the world with some fatal results. I would cite some of these.
As said get it off the car ASAP as you do not want a worst case scenario at speed if it goes.

[djhampson]

Oh yeah I changed the tyre as soon as I saw the first bulge...

What worries me is are the other tyres going to do the same thing? I can't see anything yet but who knows.

[V8Ian]

Oh yeah I changed the tyre as soon as I saw the first bulge...

What worries me is are the other tyres going to do the same thing? I can't see anything yet but who knows.
What brand and size are the tyres? Low profile do not take kindly to reduced pressure.

[nice1guv]

Oh yeah I changed the tyre as soon as I saw the first bulge...

What worries me is are the other tyres going to do the same thing? I can't see anything yet but who knows.

On the tyre sidewall see if there is a DOT marking.
Something like DOT AB 2CDEF 1508.
The last numbers, 1508, mean the tyre was made in the 15th week of 2008.

See if all the tyres were made at the same/similar date, if they are try and get the whole lot replaced as the batch may be faulty.


What brand and size are the tyres? Low profile do not take kindly to reduced pressure.

Since it's a (new?) RRS I would've thought the tyres are probably lowish profile.

[djhampson]

I dropped the trye off at Austral LR for them to look at.

The tyre profile is 255 / 55 / R18. They're Goodyear Wranglers (Craplers as I prefer).

I'll check the batch numbers when I get home.