Side wall damage

[RoadWarrior]

I noticed a small cut on my front passenger tire side wall, From what I can see no wires are showing. These tires are around 20k miles worn. Hoping for some feed back whether to replace this tire or not and if I replace it should I replace the 2 on the front or bite the cash bullet and pay for all 4...

Thanks guys

 

[RoadWarrior]

Here's a few more images

 

[ArthurKotb]

Steel belts are under the tread. The sidewalls are a different construction but it is possible that there may be a layer of material with some steel.
What's In a Tire | U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association

I would hazard a guess that you ran over something that tore into that sidewall. It could be a piece of metal that was at an angle so when you ran over the one side, the other side damaged the tire. It was some kind of road hazard that you didn't notice. (angle iron, bungee cord "S" bracket, etc.)

If it were me, if all of the tires are the same age I would swap the fronts and rears, staying in the same directional travel of rotation. Tires are pretty tough.

I know tire shops aren't allowed to patch sidewalls but another option is to put a new (make sure you watch them put a NEW) inner tube in the tire. I was driving around some new construction homes many years ago and got one of those carpet hold down nail things (big square metal head on a nail) in the sidewall of a brand new tire. The mechanic put in an old tube with a dozen patches on it and charged me for a new one. I put 50K+ miles on the tire without any issues, but it was on the back axle.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Hard to gauge the depth of the cuts, the first picture of the 3 smaller ones you posted looks somewhat deep though.

Depending on how deep and how much material got scooped out; they might be fine, they might need to be replaced.

 

[Something_Awesome]

I think it'd be fine, assuming it is a good tire. I had sidewall damage on a set of Michelin pilot sport 4S's. It's the best-of-the-best. It endured perfectly fine.

Look at this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=160&v=UgBqXsKNRGs&feature=youtu.be

Toyo At3's with sidewall damage. The guy still goes off-roading with it. Some manufacturers, for some tire lines, over build/engineer their tires. Not all tires are equal, and some will fail where others don't given the same damage. If it's a budget tire, I'd probably replace it. Judging by the damage, if it's a trusted tire, I probably wouldn't worry.

 

[Jeremy556]

That's nothing. Keep an eye on it in case it starts to bulge or show any other signs of problems.
I got this gash on my first outing with these tires and ran them for 30k miles until the tread was worn out.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

[MENTION=134398]RoadWarrior[/MENTION]

This is the only one that would concern me and only because it's hard to tell by the picture if it's just superficial or if it's an actual deep cut.

If you can't see the belt of the sidewall or it's not actually deep slice, then I wouldn't worry about it as it's just a superficial scuff. I think I have worse ones on my own sidewalls.

 

[RoadWarrior]

[MENTION=134398]RoadWarrior[/MENTION]

This is the only one that would concern me and only because it's hard to tell by the picture if it's just superficial or if it's an actual deep cut.

If you can't see the belt of the sidewall or it's not actually deep slice, then I wouldn't worry about it as it's just a superficial scuff. I think I have worse ones on my own sidewalls.

All the images are the same cut, I was using a flash light to trying to get a clearer picture looks like that one came out looking worse because of the shadows the light was casting, the tires are falken at3w passenger rated hopefully they have thicker side walls than some other tires, I would say the 2nd picture is the most accurate and i think its around 1/8th inch deep, the tire is on the front passenger side, all the feedback reminds me just how great this community is

 

[Gclark949]

1/8” deep is not bad. It will be fine.

 

[lewdog998]

Put a piece of scotch tape on it. Be sure you go at least 1/4 inch past the cut and clean surface with baby oil first to ensure good adhesion.