Newbie tire integrity question.

[Squirrely Dan]

Do you guys worry about small tears in the superficial rubber of the sidewall? Hard to tell from the pic but this flap is about the width a penny. So like 1.5mm deep at most. FYI these are E rated AT3s.

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[Willysfan]

As long as I have a spare, I’m cool. I would probably replace it before a big trip though. Error on the side of caution.

 

[AZJeepGuy]

Swap it with your spare.

 

[Squirrely Dan]

Swap it with your spare.

Good idea. Then just do a 4 tire rotation and keep this one for emergency use.

 

[azwjowner]

No because on an E tire there are either two or three physical sidewall plies. As long as the inner one is undamaged, it's fine. However, it will make you more susceptible to damage in that same location.

Furthermore, if you do any regular offroading, you will experience this fairly often. You can't reasonably replace a tire every month whenever you get a new gash.

The long-term solution would be to (1) adjust your driving style, if possible, to be more careful with sidewall rubbing on rocks; (2) be sure your air pressures are low enough (reduces sidewall damage because the tire can deflect out of the way); and (3) switch to a thick carcass mud terrain like the Cooper STT Pro or Nitto Trail Grappler if you are still experiencing gashes and want to avoid it.

For example, @wibornz has run thousands of miles on his Mickey Thompson Baja Boss tires with sidewall gashes: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...mpson-baja-boss-at-20-000-mile-review.112425/

 

[Squirrely Dan]

No because on an E tire there are either two or three physical sidewall plies. As long as the inner one is undamaged, it's fine. However, it will make you more susceptible to damage in that same location.

Furthermore, if you do any regular offroading, you will experience this fairly often. You can't reasonably replace a tire every month whenever you get a new gash.

The long-term solution would be to (1) adjust your driving style, if possible, to be more careful with sidewall rubbing on rocks; (2) be sure your air pressures are low enough (reduces sidewall damage because the tire can deflect out of the way); and (3) switch to a thick carcass mud terrain like the Cooper STT Pro or Nitto Trail Grappler if you are still experiencing gashes and want to avoid it.

For example, @wibornz has run thousands of miles on his Mickey Thompson Baja Boss tires with sidewall gashes: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...mpson-baja-boss-at-20-000-mile-review.112425/

Super helpful. Much appreciated.

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