hey fellas - happened to notice this slight bulge on the front pass side tire in the sidewall, P-0's

they have about 7500 miles on them. any thoughts on the seriousness of this?

thanks

 

I would immediately take it (slowly) to the place you bought them and have it replaced. No tire anomaly is good (or safe in my mind).

 

It would appear that the inner wall of your tire is damaged so the air is pushing a "bubble" out. These can happen from a hard contact to a curb, a railroad track or alike. At least it doesn't look like the wheel is bent from the pictures. Or it could be a flawed tire from the outset. You've already gotten good advice - take it in and get it replaced. Drive carefully!

 

thanks to both of you for replying, much appreciated. this is my DD and i take my kid to daycare, so agree, wont risk riding too much longer and will get it replaced.

 

It looks the sidewall layers are delaminating internally and allowing the air to push out to the side.

Like someone said, this could be caused by hitting something or just a tyre defect.

I would highly agree with everybody to get the car to a tyre shop asap.

 

I'd replace it.

 

Make sure you have the tire shop check the wheel for damage prior to having the new tire mounted. If the bubble was caused by an impact, the wheel was probably bent. Wheel shop can repair the wheel and mount and balance the tire for you.

 

thanks and will have them check rim. no obvious to my eye, however may be subtle bend in rim which unless straightened will probably increase risk of tire damage again.

 

Correct. When it comes off the rim you will see damage to the inner liner of the tire. Replace it. It's only going to get worse.

 

7500 miles is toward the end of its life... replace it - and be thankful it didnt happen to 2 runflat tires on a new SUV with 400 miles on it (ask my wifey how we know)

 

Aren't the sidewalls on runflat tires built to be driven without air anyway? If the tire did fail, it would behave as it is supposed to and you could drive it to safety or a garage.
AFAIK if you drive on a deflated runflat it destroys the tire and if you stop and get it towed no shop will repair them (either way if you get a flat you're buying new tires).
As a single use item what would be the harm in driving on a bulged sidewall?

 

This happened to me @ 2000 miles. I replaced it immediately, $300 is cheap life insurance.

 

Im pretty sure they are not designed to hit a tall curb at speed though - sidewall bulged and they were declared destroyed even though they still held air

 

There are two different conversations here. Theoretically a run flat tire could not have a bulge on its sidewall because it is constructed with special sidewall that supports the tire without air. I suppose it is remotely possible for that special sidewall to develop a crack and allow a bulge to happen. But highly unlikely because how it is designed to support the weigh of the car.

The bulge that started this thread appears to be on a conventional non-run flat tire. And I think everyone agrees that it needs to be replaced asap.

I only have two sets of run flats in my fleet. All the rest (8 sets) are conventional tires. I have no particular preference for which type. They each have their advantages and disadvantages. I can tell you the run flats are much heavier than their same-size counterparts - it's that special heavy duty sidewall.

 

Runflats will get you home, but they usually slowly sacrifice themselves to do it. They get so hot you can hardly touch them. 50 miles at 50 MPH is all about all they recommend them for.