Tire damage

[somedude922]

37x12.5x17 BFG KO2s. I have had these for appx 5k miles since new. They were originally mounted black lettering out. I went in for my first rotation and asked to have them remounted as I wanted originally with white lettering out. They rotated and remounted and away I went. Fast forward 1 week and I was washing my jeep and noticed the worst one first. After closer inspection there are 3 tires with “damage”. I have not been off roading with these and have not hit a curb that I can remember. Could this be damaged from the remounting?
3 different tires, one of them was rotated to the spare position.

**UPDATE**
Took it to the tire shop this morning. Within 30 seconds of looking at the tires, the manager said this was caused by the bead breaker. They replaced all three tires. Other two were fine which I agreed as well.

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[aldo98229]

Given that you have 3 tires with damage on what was the “in” side of the tire, my guess would be your tires are rubbing against something pretty hard.

The damaged tire that is now a spare, was it on the ground too?

 

[Mac]

Might have happened when they broke the bead on the tires to change them, based on how the damage looks it looks like it could match the piece that pushes down to break the bead.

 

[XJfanatic]

Those look like marks from the bead breaker…

 

[cosine]

i wouldnt be driving on those tires with sidewall damage.

 

[GtX]

Do they hold air?

 

[BRuby]

Question also is why did those sidewalls crack at 5k? Check your DOT manufacturing date first. Sometimes “new” tires have been sitting in crap non-optimal storage conditions outdoors for years silently degrading.

But yeah it looks like the metal bead breaker disk could have caused the sidewall to tear, if in fact this was the cause. If not otherwise caused from road damage. There is a lot of damage though with no off-road use or heavy curb impacts.

Contact the shop and politely ask them why they proceeded to remount your tires with all that sidewall damage? They better have a very good reason - as many would probably not. Instead most would ask that you pay for a new tire or set of tires and deem it unsafe otherwise from a liability perspective. Very surprised of that much cracking. You should replace or risk a potential blowout.

 

[somedude922]

I never thought about them rubbing something on the inside. The third picture is the original spare, which was never on the ground. I should add I have a rubicon with 3” lift.
I have moved the worse one to the spare position

They all hold air.
Date code is 0521, so pretty new.

 

[Zandcwhite]

The uniformity and repeatability of the damage has got to be the tire machine, I can’t invision an in use scenario that would leave the same marks on 3 tires. It’s speculation at this point, but if the tire shop guy was breaking the beads with the valve core in, you’d see similar damage.

 

[Hogdreamer]

My first thought is someone is slashing your tires because either they don't like you, your Jeep or just for fun. But it the cuts aren't deep, that would seem unlikely.

Did you happen to op for the road hazard protection when you purchased the tires? I always have when I get tires at Discount tire.

In fact I added the protection to my newest tires when I had to replace a set that had less than 2,000 miles on them due to tar residue on a road near me.

I've had nail punctures repaired and tires replaced when they weren't repairable using the road hazard protection.

 

[somedude922]

The uniformity and repeatability of the damage has got to be the tire machine, I can’t invision an in use scenario that would leave the same marks on 3 tires. It’s speculation at this point, but if the tire shop guy was breaking the beads with the valve core in, you’d see similar damage.

Can you elaborate on breaking the bead with the valve core in? How would the damage be caused? (I sincerely dont know)

 

[somedude922]

The first tire has more damage all the way around the tire too. Updated pics

 

[Zandcwhite]

Typically the valve core is removed so that the valve stem is open. I could see a new hire reinstalling it after deflating the tire. Problem there is that the tire is squeezed by the machine to break the bead. That squeezing would build pressure causing the tire to be harder to push off the bead.

 

[somedude922]

For anyone following along: took it to the tire shop this morning. Within 30 seconds of looking at the tires, the manager said this was caused by the bead breaker. They replaced all three tires. Other two were fine which I agreed as well.

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